Demolishing the Time-Suckers pt 3

Urgent Update from Jeanie's Foundation of Fictitious Reporting

What is the #1 Time Sucker in our Completely Non-scientific Facebook Survey?

Answer: Social media.

BUT . . .

What is the #1 Time Sucker in our "Completely Non-scientific Survey for People Who DON'T use Social Media" Survey?

The overwhelming majority answered Television.

New Survey Question: Is web surfing while watching TV considered multi-tasking or double time wasting?


(Triple points for responding during a commercial break while simultaneously texting, tweeting, and posting across the virtual world.)

In March 2014 I publicly admitted my weakness, a late night TV and junk food comfort zone.

We cut the cable, and I thought I'd broken free.

But here I am, two years later, once again following a popcorn trail to the flat screen. 
 

Does anyone else succumb to the lure of mindless TV viewing?
Raise your remote if you identify with any of the following:

"I sit down to watch one show, but wind up viewing for hours."

"I use TV to avoid disagreeable tasks like . . . pretty much anything."

"I eat mindlessly in front of the TV."
"I make late-night food runs based on the commercials."  (Dang you, Snickers bars!)

"I fall asleep in front of the TV."

Try these tips to demolish the dastardly TV Time-Sucker: 

• Strap an electric eel to the remote.

• Replace TV with fun physical activities, like bike riding, dancing, or chasing stray panda bears through your neighborhood.

• Meet a friend and enjoy real live human interaction. Sitting silently side by side while texting doesn't count. Use face to face, not Facebook interaction.

• Have a family fun night. In good weather, go outside. Kids are incredibly imaginative when given a chance. Inside or out, fort building with old sheets is a classic.

• Seek creative outlets. Draw, write, act out a play, build a birdhouse. Build an outhouse.  Make mud pies with the kids.

Wordsowers Christmas party 2015

• Get to know your loved ones better with question games like "Never Have I Ever." (For those who played it as a drinking game, leave out the booze!)

Warning: some people, like my husband, enjoy these games as much as walking barefoot on hot BBQ coals. After two rounds Jake reacts like he's in a Nazi interrogation chamber. 

Jake: "Stop questioning me!"
Me: "You vill tell me if never haff you ever schkinny dipped, ya? Mach schnell!"

• Most important, pray first. Ask the Lord for guidance, ideas, and strength.

"As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength." Psalm 138:3 

 
Make TV time meaningful, not mindless.

Last night Jake and I watched War Room, a great movie with a encouraging message. 

The night would have been even better if I'd gone to bed after the movie instead of falling asleep on the sofa watching Twilight Zone reruns. 

Back to praying Psalm 138. 

Turkey cartoon courtesy of vectorolie@freedititalphotos.net

Top 5 Time Savers

NaNoWriMo: an international event where semi-crazed writers create a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.

Since I'm participating in this time-pressed enterprise for the first time, I wanted to share my top 5 time savers for the real world.

Courtesy of tiramisustudio @freedigitalphotos.net

1) Focus on the task at hand

Stopping to check a text or voice-mail diverts our attention. The brain veers off like a smurf skipping through the forest. La LA la la la la...

Since multi-tasking actually slows us down, stick with the task at hand.

2) Turn off the TV

This can be a tough one.

I'll plan to watch a half hour sit-com, but find myself sucked in by the programs that follow. "Wow, another episode of Who's Line is it Anyway? And they're doing Scenes from a Hat!"

Try this for 1 week: Leave a paper and pen next to your remote. Write down the amount of TV time you're logging. Tally it at the end of the week. Most of us spend more time than we realize in front of the boob tube. (And with the amount of cleavage displayed in the majority of shows, I mean that literally.)

3) Be unsocial to social media

courtesy Gualberto107@freedigitalphotos.net

Who can resist those hilarious YouTube videos? It only takes a minute to Tweet, or "like" a Facebook entry, right? But every instant on Instagram equals a moment of your life gone. Crush the Candy Crush cravings, and retreat from the virtual world.

4) Identify "escape routes"

What hinders us from tackling the homework, office presentation, messy house, or messy life?
 

Admission: I'll pull out a novel instead of working on my own.

To set up an escape route roadblock, take this multiple choice, open-book test.

 1) Ask:

A) "Does this path lead me closer to my goals (freedom)?

B) "Does this path lead me in the same old circles (trap)?

The correct answer is A.

You scored 100% if you chose A.

You'll be batting 1000 if you do it.

5) Do the worst first

My grandmother, a paragon of homemaking virtue, once admitted, "As a young bride, I hated doing the piles of never-ending dishes. I'd cry just looking at the mess. One day I realized I was allowing something silly to control my thoughts. After that, I washed dishes fast to get through the task. I'd conquered the giant I'd created in my mind, and from that point, I felt free."

(Disclaimer: Granny said it with a Lithuanian flair bordering on Yiddish that I'm unequal to recreate.)

For short projects: Take a cue from Nike and Just Do It.

For long projects: Assign a daily number of minutes to work on it. Even if you hit it for 10 minutes a day, you've diminished your workload by an hour in under a week.

A book of ancient wisdom says:

Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper. Proverbs 13:4

Time for me to put down the Jane Austin novel and get back to work on my own.

How will you free up your time? I'd love to hear...unless you're following strategy #3.