Have you ever notice TV is kinda like a cheat meal that turns into a cheat day? I have a rule that I won’t turn the tv on at my house, until all the non-trivial work is done for the day. Trivia work is stuff you can do without paying much attention to, like scanning bills, saving documents, stuff you can be checked out for. As I’ve talked about before is how i’m undisciplined, I keep on point, by not allowing my lack of discipline become an issue.
Same goes for other distractions. This case it is the TV. I know once the TV is turned on my productively is going down by at least half. The only exception to this is, if I have the news on for background for noise only, but I’ve learned to like news radio and jazz, instead of having the TV on. (Studies have shown listening to jazz can increase your productivity). I’m sure a lot of you are like me, that once you get home and sit down, it is hard to get back up and be productive. That is why I don’t turn the TV on, and I don’t sit down until i know i’m done for the day.
When I started to realizing how dangerous watching TV was for productivity, was ironically when I was watching TV! Have you ever noticed on all your favorite shows, how much you see the characters watching TV? You don’t, you always seem them doing something productive with their time. Now obviously TV is not real life, but you can still draw ideas and routines from some of your favorite characters if you so choose.
TV does have an upside if you used properly. I don’t go to bars anymore to decompress like 60% of all Americans do multiple nights a week, I lived that life and it wore me out. I’m active at the gym in the morning, I do my squats and sauna at night. So for 90 minutes a day during the week, watching some TV drama shows on CBS helps my mind check out. As long as you don’t do a marathon viewing session, to me watching some TV helps me think of creative solutions to projects I have or want to have. And it helps me forget about reality for a little. For you it could be something else. But like sugar, TV can be a drug to keep you down, you have to learn when to turn it off, and rejoin society and get back to work (or bed).
What I am still working on is eliminating watching TV for a good portion of my weekend. Typically the weekend is when I do my trivial work, like meal prep, scan bills, save documents, while watching College Football and the NFL. But I notice I missed out a lot this fall, a lot of outdoor activities and events, because like I said once that TV is turned on, it can be hard to turn it off.