As you may know, I am a blogger, digital marketer, mom, business consultant and wife. So my days are extremely packed and I’m always trying to get more and more things done.
How do I manage to get so much done? I’m going to let you in on a secret…but you’re probably not going to like it.
It’s simple, it’s effective…and you probably guessed it from the not too cryptic title of the post. I’m talking about turning off your television if you truly want to get more accomplished.
What’s wrong with using the TV as a companion?
I know there are some people that turn on the TV the moment they wake up and just more or less leave it running all day. It becomes a companion in an otherwise empty house and you get to stay informed about what is going on in the world, too, right?
Maybe not.
When I turn on the TV, all of my concentration just disappears. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Sesame Street, White Collar or Baywatch — my attention wanders to whatever is being said and going on within the box. And that means that I can’t possibly be focused on what I really need to be doing.
It is no secret that your TV emits electromagnetic radiation. But did you know that for some people, the TV can actually upset your own energy field and cause your aura to destabilize? I personally have noticed quite a few times that just having the television turned on with nothing actually playing (just a blue screen) is enough to increase the number of times I find myself off-task and I just take forever to get tasks done. So for me, when the TV is on and a show is playing, I have hardly any chance of focusing on anything but the TV…and in my opinion, that’s ok too. Because if you’re going to have the TV on, you might as well be actively watching it.
Set yourself a challenge
Now I know that sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo and I may have totally lost you at “aura” — but if you’re still with me, I’d like you to try something out.
For the next week, try giving up TV altogether. Or at the very least, limit it to the times of the day when you are at your worst. For me, that is from 9-11 pm when my batteries are drained and my brain just doesn’t want to do any more work. With all the advances in modern technology, the shows you really want to watch are available on demand (oftentimes for free on local network stations) so there is no excuse for letting the TV dictate your life.
Now I’ve really lost you, right?
Take note of just how much more you manage to get accomplished during those times of the day when you were usually trying to watch TV and work in tandem. I’ll bet that you find your output to be better and more plentiful, and you might just finally be able to finish that ebook you wanted to write or set up blog posts for yourself for the next month!
Are you up for the challenge? If you are, I hope you’ll also come back and let me know what happened!
People look at us like we have a dozen heads when we tell them that we don’t have cable, nor have we ever had it for the almost 12 years we’ve been married. I KNOW…what’s WRONG with us?! Then they ask if we watch TV – um, nope. Wait, I take that back, we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade once a year, and every two years we are pretty well glued to it (at night) for the Olympics. That’s it.
Then people ask if it’s for religious reasons – nope, that’s not it either. I grew up in a household where you could find my father and I spending every evening in front of the TV. I grew up on shows like Cosby and Matlock and Newheart, and I loved watching Columbo solve murders. Andy Griffith reruns were a nightly favorite, and nothing could make me take a shower faster on Saturday nights than knowing that when I was done, I could watch Hee Haw before going to bed.
The point is, we still watch TV, we just have the shows or movies that we like on DVD. We watch the amount that we want to watch (sans commercials – which I can’t STAND watching commercials), usually while doing something else (like walking on the treadmill or ironing), and then we turn it off. People walk into our house and I can’t tell you the number of children who immediately go all over the place looking for the TV, only to announce to their parents, “THEY DON’T HAVE A TV!!” Like I invited you over to our home to watch television?!?! But that’s a whole other post, eh? 😉
We enjoy a good time of vegging as well as the next person – and hey, we even like it on a big screen with a projector – but it’s limited, we make sure we get our work done, and the whole set up is hidden away in our basement “movie room” that we can lock up if we so desire. It doesn’t get the spotlight in our home – that’s reserved for my plethora of books and bookshelves. 😉 Yes, the LIBRARY is on the main floor, right where everyone can find it. 🙂
It’s a personal choice, but in the end, I simply don’t feel like we’re missing out on a single thing.
The boob tube is a real time stealer and constant annoyance. After living with a partner who had the TV on from the time he came home to when he retired I resolved not to have TV at all. I moved into my own house 10 years ago and haven’t had a TV since. If I want to watch the news I can read or see it online. If there is a documentary I am interested in that’s usually online as well. Now I enjoy the peace and quiet. I occasionally listen tot he public radio station during the day if I am sewing or cooking.
Do not miss the TV at all.
Thanks for sharing! I find the radio much less intrusive in the background. Sometimes, it even seems to make the task go faster and more smoothly.