Lost in a Time-Warp

I want to talk for a second today about something that has nothing to do with training, but may be wasting your life, without you even realizing it. What is it? 

Something you're eating? Nope.

Something you're drinking? Nada.

Something in the air you're breathing? Clever, but no.

So, what is it? TELEVISION.

People today watch more television than ever before (look at this: Man Breaks TV-Watching Record). I'm  not even going to research the statistics, but if I recall right, if you're an American between 18-45, you're watching something like 4 1/2 hours of TV a day (if you're reading this blog, chances are you are not watching that much, but I guarantee your friends and family are). That is an all-out epidemic. 

Can you even imagine what it would be like to waste almost 20% of your day, and almost 40% of your waking hours sitting on a couch, accomplishing nothing? 

Do you have any idea what can be done with 4 1/2 hours a day? Heck, there's a book called "The Four-Hour Workweek", by Tim Ferriss. According to him, these people are spending a workweek, watching TV. An entire workweek, doing nothing, but watching a day's worth of TV.

Instead of getting lost in the time-warp that TV presents, you could be drawing up business plans, spending real time with your family (watching TV with them does not count. Come on!), reading (check out everything by Dale Carnegie, Malcolm Gladwell and Cormac McCarthy. That will keep you busy for a long time.) or even getting in a great training session (you know I couldn't resist). 

You could even be sleeping instead of tuning in. America is ridiculously sleep-deprived. There is no reason why you have to watch Chelsea and Conan before going to sleep. 

My point is this: If you find yourself watching TV for no reason other than it's something to do, check yourself. Get off the couch and out into to the real world. Make something happen.