#31DayReset Day 17: Ditch TV for 24 Hours

This post is Day 17 of the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge for 2011. Learn more and sign up for the program here.

What would you do with five extra hours in your day? Probably make more progress on your life goals, that’s for sure! Yet, this is the amount of time the average American spends watching TV.

You may know that I don’t really watch TV. Sometimes I’ll catch a few shows at my mom’s house, but for the most part, I have no idea what’s going on in TV Land at any given time. I haven’t paid much attention to TV for about six years now, and I attribute much of my productivity and success in my work and life to the fact that I have a lot more time on my hands to pursue my dreams. Today, I challenge you to ditch TV for an entire day. (If you don’t normally watch TV anyway, I challenge you to ditch your non-work use of the internet instead. Yes, no Twitter, Facebook, not even this blog for a whole day.)

Need another reason to step away from the boob tube? Well, black women are probably the ones who are most affected by the negative aspects of watching TV, because as an ethnic/gender group, we watch more TV than any other group in the United States. Yes, as in more TV than the average of 5 hours a day! Which may be explain why too many of us are overweight and unhappy when we should be healthy and fulfilled. Let’s stop letting TV (or mindlessly surfing the internet) take away the time we could be spending on more productive pursuits.

Estimated Time to Complete: 24 hours

Today’s assignment requires you to eliminate a common time-waster so that you have more time to devote to the things that really matter to you. For the next 24 hours, I challenge you to ditch TV or non-work use of the internet. This exercise will help you further redesign your day for maximum productivity.

Here are just a few things you can do with the extra time:

  • Catch up on the assignments from the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge
  • Read a book
  • Listen to uplifting music
  • Call or visit with a friend
  • Make a home-cooked meal for you and/or your family
  • Exercise
  • Clean or declutter your living space
  • Work on your business
  • Get some sleep

Take Action and Reflect: When you’re done with your 24 hours, please share your experience with us in the comments! Was it difficult to go without the boob tube (or playing around on the internetz) for a whole day? What did you do instead? If you blogged about today’s assignment, please post the link in the comments so we can read it!
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18 comments

  1. Here is a list of things I did by ditching TV for 24 hours:

    * Cleaned out my closet
    * Took a nap
    * Washed my clothes
    * Caught up on my 31DayRest assignments
    * Called a distant friend
    * Went for a simple joy ride
    * Outlined some business notes and assignments

    This exercise wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, it actually gave me more time to do things that I procasinated on.

  2. I don’t usually watch much TV, but reading blogs and doing non-work internet stuff are big time wasters. When I gave up those yesterday, here’s what I got done:

    *talked to my neighbor about fixing my car and got a clearer picture of what I need to do
    *cooked a pot of delicious soup for my family
    *got information about my New Beginnings party
    *read half a novel
    *played with both my nephews
    *talked to 2 of my best friends on the phone without spending too much time on the phone
    *revised some old lesson plans and transferred them to my lesson plan notebook
    *figured out my objective for my first writing lesson of the year
    *made my best friend’s Christmas CD
    *took better care of myself, including resting from tonsillitis and taking my medicine on time and doing my hair

    I’m not sure if this is more or less productive than a typical day for me, but just thinking about what I got done is useful. I might start keeping a list like this everyday (another idea from my old principal).

  4. I can’t say that I watch much tv at all. I maybe watch 1 hour of tv a day. I really don’t have the time to do it… Wait- that means I could be saving money on my cable bill!

  5. Today’s challenge was really easy for me. I am usually not a TV person and ditching the net did me some good as well. The amount of time I spent on it lately doing research is insane and I really needed that BREAK. I was about to catch up on my reading ( currently reading the IDEALIST guide for non profit career for Sector Switchers).
    Had a wonderful day overall. Once again, Thank you :)

  6. Ok I don’t even own a Tv I gave it away when I knew I needed to get focus on my mission.So I just deleted my personal social media accounts thanks to the tips in Your book I am now combining my personal and business life into one.I always kept them separate b/c I am like a wild fire with my friends and family so I didn’t want to offend my business clients but hey Love ALL of me..Or NONE of me…I whether be hated for who I am, Then to be Loved for who I am not~Kurt Cobain..So see you Thursday Ladies Newprojectsos.blogspot.com

    • I went from 9:30pm last night to 9:45pm today without, t.v or personal use of the net. It wasn’t too difficult, I finished the last chapter of a book I was reading, started reading another book and listen to a lot of music while doing household chores. I was nice to feel a bit unplugged. But during my afterwork walk before heading home. I noticed how many images you can be overwhelmed with just walking around the downtown core.

    • Thats so true!! I always keep things separate but being you all the time is less stress in life. Love your comment!

  7. I kind of fell off the wagon for a minute there, but I took a few days to catch up, and today I stayed away from the TV. But then I ended up spending a lot more time listening to the radio and on the computer…but I also tackled three projects on my de-cluttering list, so it appears that TV was taking up a LOT more of my time than I thought (I keep it on for background and did not think that I watched it that much).

    Like Ebony posted above, I clearly need to do this at least once a month so that I can get more done.

  8. I don’t have a TV and I only watch a few shows online anyway. So I decided to stay off Twitter and Tumblr for day and only went online to do work and check email.

    It was good! I spent that time I normally would have spent on Twitter working on things for the photo collective I am a part of, taking a walk, straightening out my apartment, and reading. I admit, I cut my fast a little bit short but only to share Troy Davis’ story. I was really moved and wanted to help spread the word about his case. This also keeps in line with my personal mission of working for freedom and being more politically aware.

  9. I used to watch no more than 10 hours of TV a week (back when I worked full time, went to school full time, volunteered 10 hours a week and had a side business). I think this is an excellent opportunity for me to move back towards that. So, after today (when I watch no TV), I will limit my TV-time to 10 hours a week, including: my favorite shows (Dr. Who, Torchwood, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Family Movie Night, Supernatural, Daily Show/Colbert Report). This equals about 11 hours a week. Note: News programming does not count and educational programming (related directly to my work – I homeschool) do not count. I think this is an excellent plan.

    • Same here – I can go days without watching TV. I take breaks from social media from time to time, I’m slowly coming off of a self-imposed blog-reading hiatus & already ditched a few blogs, I take short breaks from my own blogging, and I’ve greatly decreased my consumption of negative news. I keep abreast of current events, but I’m more selective about how much is negative vs. informative &/or positive.

      I’d like to take longer breaks from social media though. One step at a time.

  12. OMG! So, I didn’t watch ANY tv at all yesterday…and let me say, not only did I surprise myself by being able to actually complete the assignment successfully, I was extremely happy with the results. It’s sad to say, but I was a lot more productive and the ‘extra’ time really forced me to do things that I’d been putting off just to sit in front of the TV. I think I’m going to institute a ‘no TV day’. I hope everyone is continuing their #31DAYRESET on the good foot :) Thanks again for this Rosetta.

    Best,
    Ebony
    Read my latest blog post…UPDATE!

  13. I don’t really watch TV so no internet it is… *gulp* see you ladies tomorrow!

    • Ok so…yea…not so good w/the whole no internet thing. It was all work/research related and I actually got a lot done, but i don’t think that counts since i still spent a good amount of time online.

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