Is Your Life Filled with “Dead Time?” Here’s How to Fix That

How much time do you spend on your smartphone each day?

How much time would you say you spend on social media?

According to recent data, the average person spends 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone daily, and 1 in 5 smartphone users spends upwards of 4.5 hours on their phones every day. The typical social media user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes daily using social platforms.

That’s 143 minutes per day.

If we multiply that amount by seven days, we have over 16 ½ hours devoted to scrolling per week. And that’s only the social media number.

And let’s be honest: most of you aren’t using social media to create content for your business. You’re doom-scrolling like the rest of the world.

This behavior is a prime example of what the renowned best-selling author Robert Greene calls “Dead Time.”

Whenever we find ourselves operating like most of society, we must stop and question our actions and what we’re doing. 

We must examine how we’re using our most precious resource: time.

We only get a certain amount, and it’s fleeting.

Here’s how you can convert your “Dead Time” to “Alive Time” to make the most of your time to break free and achieve your goals.

What is “Alive Time?”

At one point, Robert Greene, the best-selling author of The 48 Laws of Power, was on the board of the fashion company American Apparel at its height.

American Apparel’s head of marketing, a young, spry 20-year-old, dropped out of college to take the job and was floored when he found out his favorite author of all time was on the board. To him, Robert Greene was the greatest nonfiction author ever, and the 20-year-old wanted to be a writer. He had to meet him.

The 20-year-old eagerly introduced himself to Mr. Greene and sang his praises differently from typical fans. Greene grew to like the kid and would indulge in his writing questions from time to time.

Finally, the kid told Greene he wanted to write like him. He didn’t want to be a marketer. He wanted to write books. He had a year left on his contract and asked Greene what to do.

Robert Greene said, “Look…what will this next year be for you? Is it going to be ‘alive time’ or dead time?’”

Greene was asking the kid if he would just phone his year in (like most do) or if he would spend his time improving.

The kid understood the message.

“Alive Time” means utilizing time for self-improvement to achieve your goals.

The kid worked his ass off. He read better, wrote better, networked, and applied himself like never before.

Four years later, the kid sold his first book.

That “kid” was Ryan Holiday. Now, a best-selling author and the creator of the massive brand The Daily Stoic.

The key here is that Holiday didn’t just listen to Robert Greene’s advice. He implemented it. He put the advice to action.

We hear advice from successful people all the time. But how many of us apply it?

Most don’t. Most people hear the advice, feel good temporarily, and then return to their doom-scrolling, submitting to a life of “Dead Time.”

An Example of What’s Possible When You Create “Alive Time”

Malcolm Little wasn’t a good person.

He was a criminal who was a thief, a boozer, and ran a prostitution ring. He liked fighting and would get into scraps at bars nightly. This guy was bad news.

He eventually got arrested and was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Those ten years could’ve been what they are for most prisoners: ten years of “Dead Time.”

He could’ve watched the clock on the wall tick away the seconds of his life.

Not Malcolm Little, though. He chose a different path.

One day, he decided to go to the prison library and check out a dictionary. Then, he went to the commissary to buy a pencil and a notepad.

He began to copy the dictionary–word by word–until he completed the whole book.

He taught himself to read in prison.

Then, he moved on to books about philosophy, religion, and history—everything he could find.

In this process, Malcolm Little is, in effect, transformed into Malcolm X–the civil rights leader.

Why did Malcolm X wear glasses? Because he wore his eyes out in prison.

An interview once asked him after a passionate speech:

“Where’d you go to college?”

He simply replied: “Books.”

That is “Alive Time” in action.

Those years in prison transformed Malcolm Little from a low-life criminal to one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement.

He decided he would use that time productively. He would be made better for it.

You have the power to make that decision as well.

Tips to Create “Alive Time” in Your Life

As the statistics above show, our excessive phone use is the culprit in robbing us of our time.

So, let’s fix that to create more “Alive Time” in your life.

Tip #1.

Assess the amount of time you’ve been spending on your phone.

You can locate your screen time through the settings icon, whether you have an iPhone or a Samsung.

It’ll show a breakdown of how much time you spend on your phone and where you spend it.

Regardless of what the number is, write the number down on a piece of paper.

For this example, let’s say it’s 55 minutes.

Write “55 Minutes” on the paper in black marker. Circle it.

Now, here’s the important part.

Write above the number “WASTED TIME.”

That time is gone. It’s never coming back. That’s the time that went to the social media gods and a device that does nothing except rob you.

That is also time that could’ve been used to apply yourself to your goals.

Now that you are aware, your goal is to reduce the number of daily minutes you spend on your phone–especially if it is not helping you achieve your goals.

Tip #2.

Turn off your notifications.

Smartphones are always going off. Pings, dings, bells, whistles, tones, and songs are constantly blaring out of their speakers.

Social media sites were created by the most intelligent people alive to get you addicted to their platforms. They manipulate your attention by hijacking the dopamine centers of your brain.

Go to your phone’s settings icon again, and turn notifications off.

Bonus points for deleting the apps during your working hours.

Tip #3.

Create visual accountability reminders in familiar places.

This concept is similar to what David Goggins calls the “Accountability Mirror” in his book Can’t Hurt Me.

Take sticky notes and write reminders on them. Put them on your bathroom mirror, your car’s dashboard, or in your office space.

Whatever you write on these notes has to resonate with you to inspire change.

Examples could be:

“Stop wasting time.”

“Work out. Stay Disciplined.”

“Stop lying.”

“Quit smoking.”

“Work harder.”

“How are you spending your time?”

“Are you giving you all to your goals?”

Whatever you’re focused on improving, post it on the mirror.

Repeated exposure to the reminder will begin rewiring and priming your brain to change and inspire you to act in your preferred direction.

The BMM Takeaway

Time is the one resource we have that doesn’t renew.

It’s finite, and we don’t know how much time we have left.

If you’re lucky enough to live to 80 years old, that’s roughly 4,000 weeks of life. That’s it—that’s all we have. And it does go by quickly.

Yet so many people are numb or unaware of that number. They live in “Dead Time,” working each day to make a little coin to live for the weekends to drink and indulge in escapism.

This lifestyle is such a waste. These people don’t realize it, but they’re already dead. Sure, they might have breath in their bodies, but they aren’t alive.

So many in society have so much potential that’s going to waste because they’re in this cycle of “Dead Time.” They waste these precious moments not maximizing their potential. And, unfortunately, that potential will die inside them when their 4,000 weeks are up.

What a shame. What a waste.

Don’t let that happen to you.

We only get a certain amount of time. Convert your time to “Alive Time” to achieve your goals and become the best version of yourself.