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The checkout aisle of the grocery store was full of magazines. People, InTouch, US Weekly, Soap and other assorted, or should I say “sordid,” publications that can be summed up in three words: other people’s drama.

They all had similar themes: who got divorced, separated, engaged, married or jilted. Which celebrity is loving the other, beating the other, making love with the other or killing the other. What else is in the category of “other people’s drama” and what is the net effect – on you?

There are an endless number of “celebrity news” programs and crime shows on TV. Drivel about who did what to whom. Watch them? Why? As if this weren’t enough, there are soap operas, where the drama never ends – for 20 years. Watch them? Why? To see how someone else’s life turns out? Why not focus on YOUR life?

But wait! There’s more drama: News and interviews about what some “expert” predicts will happen to the world, what some dumb, lying politician thinks or what some dumber radio talk show host thinks. There are also some local TV news programs that feature killings, bombings, fires, floods, kidnappings, the weather, politics and other assorted drivel and drama that ROB YOU of your time.

NOTE WELL: Business news is important. Especially when it pertains to your business and your economy.

But wait! There’s more drama: Reality shows. Enough said.

But wait! There’s more drama: Your neighbor’s drama, your friend’s drama and your workplace drama could fill volumes. Your volumes.

If you eliminated “other people’s drama” from your life, time management would no longer be an issue. You’d have 20 extra hours a week. Maybe you could use that time to change your dorky voice mail message or build a Web site or blog or do something for YOU.

Here are a few painful questions:

Do you spend more time on other people’s drama or your career?

Other people’s drama or your children?

Other people’s drama or building your personal brand?

Other people’s drama or your success?

Other people’s drama or your marriage? (Ouch!)

IDEA: Put a stopwatch to it. Click it on when you’re watching or reading about other people’s drama, and click it off when you stop. Put the number into memory, and total it at the end of the day. Then multiply it times 365. Then divide by 60 (minutes in an hour) then divide it by 24 (hours in a day). Then look at the number in horror. That’s the number of DAYS you wasted. An hour a day = 15 FULL, 24-hour days in a year.

What about YOU? What are you doing? Let me give you an answer: not enough for yourself or your loved ones.

Here are a few “time investment” ideas:

• If you gotta have some drama, create a Facebook page. Reunite with some old friends or relatives. It’s fun, and it will teach you Internet and social media skills.

• Register yourname.com and start a Web site. The Internet is here to stay; why not master your presence on it?

• Read or listen to a self-help book. Attitude, creativity, service and networking are all business skills you can improve and are certainly more powerful for your earnings and your family than what’s happening to some drunken, drugged-out celebrity in Hollywood.

• Take a walk. Clear your mind to think for yourself, instead of cluttering it with useless information.

It’s easy to get caught in the drama time trap, but consider the rewards for ignoring it. Think of the time you’ll have for YOU.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2009 Jeffrey H. Gitomer