One of the largest distractors in the home is television. Especially when shark week has been on this past week. You and I spend a good number of wasted hours watching television shows and movies. Like shark week, some television shows are informative, but they are mostly there for entertainment. My son and I are just as guilty. Spending several hours watching the latest shark explorations, it has almost become a tradition in our home every year.
Is Television Holding You Back?
It is easy to get pulled into TV shows and gorge yourself with a great television series. Suspense is a powerful feeling that sways decision-making. There are many TV shows like American Idol, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and others that take the lead at the workplace and reduce productivity. Maybe it was the big upset or a bad call on Sunday that ends up being Monday morning’s focus. Television completely takes the helm and alters better judgement.
My favorite advice comes from the popular . Watch sixty minutes or less of television and avoid reality TV. Basically, you should concentrate on spending the day improving or moving forward towards your objectives. Be a more productive person who achieves their dreams, not one who just chases them. Television is one of those distractions that challenges long-term focus. It eats your opportunities to be productive.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Setting Priorities
Here are a few ideas to reduce the distraction of television or any other one we have discussed in recent weeks. Create a priority list for the following day before you go to sleep. Commit yourself to a system where you can measure progress. Do not stop there. Answer these three questions too:
- Why are you doing this?
- How are you going to do this?
- What will this look like after you have completed it?
This will give you a clear picture of what tomorrow will seem like. Your future starts when you wake up, so pre-commit to your priorities by answering the questions above. Keep to 3 priorities. Only assume as much as you can finish. You can do anything you put your mind to, but you cannot do everything.
It’s not hard to make decisions once you know what your values are. - Roy E. Disney Share on X
When you prioritize, give consideration to what is more important. These are the things in life that motivate you. Spiritually, relationships, passions, self-improvement, health, etc. Each one of us has a different list. Know what is valuable so you can remove the stress from decision-making.
How to Build Long-Term Focus
Building long-term focus requires you to have goals and a plan. Have high aspirations and develop Big Hairy Audacious Goals that Jim Collins discusses in Good to Great. Take action each day or week that works towards the progress of your goals and purpose. For instance, if you want to build a small business, you should devote daily or weekly reading to marketing, building an ideal customer profile, and networking. Doing this will get you nearer to your goal of starting your small business. Watching shark week on television will probably not have the same effect, unless your business concerns are television or sharks.
Only you can change your routine and way of life and nobody else can do it for you. Taking small steps towards your goals will help you accomplish what you set out to do. Apply yourself to improve each day. You are the only person responsible for your success.
Great advice, Kirby. Watching sixty minutes or less of television and avoiding reality TV seems like sound advice. Absurd amounts of television has become such a way of life that it is now another bad habit we must break. To get results that nobody else is getting, you must do what they aren’t doing. Watching less television is a great start.
Adam,
You just gave us a key point to any success. You gotta do what nobody else is doing. Have you done a podcast on that?
Kirby
No, but I should. Thanks for the idea. 🙂
I don’t own a television myself and haven’t in about 15 years. Honestly, it wasn’t a moral or success-driven decision; it was that I just never watched it, and so it was a bill I didn’t need. I’m too busy with so many other things in life – mentoring, writing, reading, creating music, learning languages – I just never wound up turning it on. These days, news and weather are at our fingertips online when we need them; and if there is a show we’d like to watch (and if we have a small amount of patience), we can even watch most of those online.
I can easily bring to mind many people I know – even family members – in whose houses television is playing from dawn to dusk (and sometimes even after they’ve gone to sleep). When I visit, it’s unnerving to me. There is an ennui that takes over. And conversation or interaction is never the norm; people just wander like zombies into one of the rooms containing a TV, and sit “together” — while being miles apart. I’ve even seen people abruptly cut off important conversation or tasks with a sudden realization: “Oh! My show is on in 2 minutes!” And there they go, running like the pot is boiling over, without even realizing that they’ve just cut someone off mid-sentence, or left the dog dragging his walking leash and crossing his legs.
A butter knife, when used to spread butter, is great. It’s not so great if we use it as a weapon. I’m not against television any more than I’m against a butter knife. But when television becomes an addiction – as potent as any narcotic, depressant or soporific – it’s time to take whatever measures are necessary to get back to balance, focus and health.
Tyler,
Television probably has impacted relationships since it was brought into the homes. I respect your decisions and wish I would have made a more bold and courageous decision about television earlier in my life. One I’d probably read a lot more great books, been more successful and saved a lot more money by now. Two I would probably have a lot better social intelligence. I think the topic my family is facing now is what to do. Do we eliminate cable television and the hundreds of channels we don’t watch by migrating over to Netflix or Hulu, since we can watch most of our favorites over there and better leverage our money towards entertainment? We also watch movies every Saturday night, so Netflix might work. The family started a pizza and movie night every Saturday night as a ritual. We take turns picking each week, so we get a pretty good picture of each of the family members taste and preferences.
Thanks for sharing and the adding insights.
Kirby
I think movie night with the family is FANTASTIC. It’s “movie LIFE” with the family that becomes the problem.
Television can be a thief …..or a servant ….
Dr. Hughes,
Thanks for you comments. Well spoken and simply put. I can see how that could apply to many things. Television could become an idol in the home.
Kirby