The one thing ruining your free time

It’s easy to fall victim to ‘time confetti’ – unpleasant moments or tasks during our leisure time that spoil our relaxation – but fear not, there’s a cure.

Making the most of our free time helps us forget about work and goes a long way toward preventing burnout. But often, when we try to relax, the pings, notifications and small, mundane obligations all add up until, suddenly, we’ve wasted all of our “me time”.

It’s a concept called ‘time confetti’: we fragment our leisure hours into short, unenjoyable moments that end up stressing us out rather than relaxing us. Retaking control requires us to make a conscious effort to avoid distractions, center our focus on one thing at a time and reevaluate what’s truly important to us.

In the video above, Harvard Business School assistant professor Ashley Whillans explains how to ward off your time confetti blues.

Interview by Elizabeth Hotson. Animation by Leah Dubuc.