@Financial Samurai: Ha ha! Way to waste time productively!

My goal is one 3-hr football game = 1 post, 150 situps, and 90 push ups.

I did curb some tv watching – Mother Nature sent lightening through the cable (now on a protected line). It scared the dickens out of the cat and he sat on the remote from that point on!

Since I didn’t want to buy a new TV and this one had still some of the warranty left – I took it to the shop where it sat for four weeks beging repaired. It was a little tough at the beginning, yet by the end of four weeks I had found other great items to do – and truthfully – they were activities that involved personal attention to others. IMO – better quality!

Thanks for the lively discussion!

@Ellen – HA HA! My wife & I were JUST talking about multi-tasking last night. She said the same thing to me and I said, “baby… I’m a man – I do one thing at a time and give it my full attention!” Past that, what you left in your comment is of GREAT value – a call to consider the time of others and how much they may have left. Excellent, thanks for that.

But seriously, I have to agree with your point. We only have so much time, so why waste it on these unimportant things. Furthermore, the time you spend texting, or on the internet, or watching tv is time that you are not spending with someone who might have a lot less left…

I think the context is important. If I’m working 40 or more hours a week, spending time with firends family, keeping the lawn mowed, attending church, etc. then why is it “wasteful” to spend 4-5 hours watching TV?

Plus I think its important to realize that any kind of leisure activity is really no better than another. I personally see no more benefit in reading or scrap booking than I do in surving the net or watching football. So to suggest one is a time suck and recommend replacing it with another is showing a preference for one leisure activity over another. We all have our individual tastes in leisure activity and what is fun for one person isn’t fun for another. No leisure activity is more ‘right’ or wrong than another.

( — Will Rogers)

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time”

( — Bertrand Russell)

“Please note that some of these “pastimes” may be used properly and productively but, more often than not, they’re nothing more than time sucks. In other words, while they may be fun or beneficial in some ways, they’re far from being a necessity.”

And again:

“As I noted above, some (if not all) of these things can be used properly or productively but, more often than not, they are nothing more than a waste of time.”

Now, if I can only detach myself from the computer…

(Just being dramatic here. When you have a website, the internet is where you spend much of your time anyway. But the time seems to pass so quickly when you’re there!)

As Matt points out in his comment (#3) it’s important to figure out what matters (to you!) and then pursue those things while skipping over the stuff that really don’t add value to your life.

A call for each of us to stop wasting time on things that don’t matter and start spending time doing things that do.

Are our lives just a compilation of time sucking activities? If so, why don’t we just strive for our few passions and enjoy those few instead of achieving a balance?

Your last sentence sums it up nicely – balance and moderation (even in tv watching) are the keys.