Wake-Up Call: How 'Fuzziness' Is Stealing Your Money and Time

1. The Comfort Trap of Self - Deception

Everything fears clarity. Once a thing becomes crystal - clear, you can no longer comfort yourself or deceive yourself.

For example, many people always say they are busy and have no time. But if you really keep track of what you do every day, like the time spent on various websites and apps, you might find that you can spend six hours a day just scrolling through short videos and another two hours on some websites.

If there were a tool that detailed how you spend your attention and time every day and put it right in front of you, could you still confidently say you have no time? Probably not.

2. How Small Change Drains Your Wallet

Take consumption for example. You often see people on the Internet saying they don't know how it happens, but their monthly salary is gone by the end of the month, and they don't seem to have bought anything.

For instance, they didn't buy clothes, electronics, shoes, or bags this month, and they even rarely shopped online, but the money just disappeared without a trace.

When you actually write down every single expense, you'll find that you accidentally bought a cup of milk tea today, some fruits for a few dozen yuan, and some snacks yesterday.

On weekends, you go out with friends for two meals, or have a hot pot, go singing, and watch a movie. You can easily spend a few hundred yuan in a day.

These small expenses are easy to overlook because they are so fragmented.

What does 'fragmented' mean? When you spend five or six hundred, or even over a thousand yuan at once, you'll really feel it because the amount is large.

But if you only spend five, ten, or twenty yuan each time, like for a meal, a bottle of water, or some fruits, buying fruits for a dozen or twenty yuan and then some snacks for another dozen or twenty yuan, all these together are usually within a hundred yuan.

Many small expenses of a dozen or a few dozen yuan add up every day, and before you know it, you might have spent over two hundred yuan.

When you go out on weekends, you might not even calculate expenses like taxi fares carefully. You think it's just an occasional taxi ride and it doesn't cost much, but actually, it adds up.

Take myself as an example. I usually take the subway to commute. I work 22 days a month, and it costs about 6 yuan for a round - trip each day, 3 yuan per trip. That's 132 yuan just for weekday transportation. If I go out farther on weekends, a round - trip might cost over ten yuan.

Not to mention occasional taxi rides. It's normal to pay twenty or thirty yuan. If I take a taxi once a week, 20 yuan each time, that's 80 yuan a month. So, just taxi fares can be close to two hundred yuan a month.

People often don't care about these small expenses, but little by little, they really add up.

This is why some people always think their consumption level is not high and their quality of life is just so - so, but they just can't save money. They don't feel like they've spent much, and their salary isn't low either. In fact, it's these small expenses that add up to a large amount.

3. Why You're Just 'Pretending to Work Hard'

Today, I'm not here to talk about consumption or saving money. Instead, I want to talk about the word 'clarity'.

When you see a thing clearly and understand it well, you can face the truth and it's harder to deceive yourself.

For example, some people always say they work hard, but if you look closely, they might not read many pages of a book in a day, and they don't spend much time on really important things. They might just scroll through some posts and read a few articles.

Some people think they're making money or learning, but all they've done is read a few WeChat official account articles and felt inspired, without actually taking any real action.

After all, making money isn't just about reading articles and learning knowledge. You have to take real action, like writing articles or selling products, to have a chance of making money.

The same goes for doing things and learning. You can't just watch what others do. There are some false concepts in personal growth, or self - comforting illusions.

It's painful when we break these illusions.

Most of the time, we vaguely realize there's a problem, but we don't want to really face and accept it.

So, we choose to cover up the problem, always thinking it will get better later or we'll solve it tomorrow.

But in fact, these problems won't disappear on their own as time passes. This is my personal experience. Many things and problems really won't change just because time has passed.

For example, when we were kids, our parents often said, "When you grow up, this or that will be okay, or you'll learn this or that."

They always thought we'd naturally gain certain abilities, knowledge, or personalities when we grew up, but many things don't come automatically with age.

Just like many people, including myself, thought we'd naturally be able to fall in love, find a partner, get married, or have someone special when we grew up.

Some people on the Internet even joked about "the state will assign a partner", thinking that we'd automatically get a partner or a job when we grew up without having to look for them ourselves.

But the reality is that many people find they can't find a partner or an ideal job when they grow up.

Problems that you can't solve today won't disappear on their own next year. If you really want to solve them, you have to take the initiative to work hard and change the situation.

Problems at twenty won't disappear just because you turn thirty. It's almost impossible.

This is why many people in their thirties are not much different from when they first entered the society in terms of their personality or some aspects. Because they've never tried, practiced, or changed in these areas, they're naturally the same as they were a few years ago.

This is a very common phenomenon that everyone might encounter. Apart from normal physical and mental changes, even deterioration, in the physiological aspect as time passes, other aspects can only change if you take the initiative.

So, if you really want to change the situation, take a close look at where you're spending your time.

For example, see how much time you've allocated to each thing today. You might think you've spent several hours on something, but when you calculate it strictly, it might be less than an hour. This is really not an exaggeration.

This kind of thing really happens. When you think you haven't spent much money and haven't bought big - ticket items, once you start keeping accounts and record every expense in detail, you'll be surprised to find that the actual spending is much more than you expected, even though you don't seem to have bought any big - ticket items.

As the saying goes, "The palest ink is better than the best memory." People's effective memory is limited, and they can't remember all the details.

I've been keeping accounts since I graduated and started earning an income. It's been over six years now. After starting a side hustle, to manage my tasks, especially when I'm very busy, I started thinking about where I'm spending my time, why I'm so busy and tired, and why I always can't finish my work.

4. Use Data to See the Real You

So, I started recording my time after work or when doing certain things. For example, when I write an article, I record how much time it takes.

I found that it takes about 20 minutes to type a 1000 - word article by hand. If I use voice input, it might only take 10 to 15 minutes. Through these data, I found that it takes about an hour to do five or six things continuously at night.

I really timed it. Through these data, I clearly know that I spend about three or four hours a day on my side hustle or self - media work, and maybe a little more on weekends, about four to five hours.

This is how I allocate my time every day. Part of it might be on the commute, not a whole block of time. So, is it a lot of time? It depends on how you feel.

You can understand the situation from two aspects: one is keeping accounts to know your income and expenses; the other is time management.

You don't need to be precise about what to do at a specific time. Just roughly estimate how much time you spend on each thing today. You might think you've spent several hours on something, but when you calculate strictly, it might be less than an hour. This is really not an exaggeration.

This kind of thing really happens. When you think you haven't spent much money and haven't bought big - ticket items, once you start keeping accounts and record every expense in detail, you'll be surprised to find that the actual spending is much more than you expected, even though you don't seem to have bought any big - ticket items.

When you sort out this information clearly, you won't deceive yourself anymore, and you'll be one step closer to change and freedom.

That's all for today.

Daily Reading & Writing by Xiaolu 08/06/2025 [Day 701]