Dead Time Default · also called the gap
how do I stop wasting the in-between moments of my day
Dead time default is what happens to the small gaps in your day — the fifteen minutes between meetings, the wait in line — when you have no plan for them. Without a decision already made, the default is always the phone, and you look up to find the gap gone and nothing in it.
Nobody notices the big hours disappearing. It’s the fifteen-minute gaps that quietly eat the whole year.
What to do about it
Before the next small gap arrives, decide in advance what goes in it — one specific task under five minutes — so the default has competition.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Free Forever After$6.99
The Success BlueprintComing soon
Broke Is DecisionComing soon
The Wealth VoiceComing soon
Build Before SpendComing soon
Discipline With MoneyComing soon
Forty Dollar WandComing soon
The Income FloorComing soonPart of the Success series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- where did my day go, I didn’t even do anything big
- I waste all my small pockets of free time scrolling
- fifteen minutes disappears and I have nothing to show for it
- I only value my time in big blocks
- the little gaps in my schedule always get wasted
- I default to my phone every time I have a free minute
- small chunks of time feel too short to use for anything
- how do I stop wasting the in-between moments of my day
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.