Living Life By Default, rather than by design Options

[PosterBoy]

After basically hibernating for the winter, my wife and I found we had slipped into bad habits of doing and achieving very little with our free time.
There is so much we want to do, learn etc, but we became complacent and found ourselves curled up watching crap on tv all winter.

Free time and freedom is a great thing, but for me I abuse it and need to reign it in and give it structure, I'm lucky in that my wife feels the same way, so we are going to put a time table in place for our evenings and weekends, to get the most out of it all.

30 minute slots and multiples of, to schedule, language learning, driving practice, guitar practice, housework, exercise etc

When I look at all I want to do and where I want to be, I find it hard to see where watching tv really needs to fit in. It will be good to get out of the habit of it being switched on automatically when we get into the house.

Anyone else the same or am I the only slacker here?

[Ben Higgins]

Matt, that is a fantastic thing to be able to recognise these bad habits in yourself.

A few months ago I also looked at the time I was wasting and instead looked at what extra things I could do with that hour here, or that 10 mins there. It's amazing what you have time for, even when you think you don't !

[PosterBoy]

Years ago I lived in a complete mess.

Then I started doing things like washing up during Ad breaks on tv etc. Often the thought of doing something is a lot worse than doing it and you completely over-estimate the time it takes to actually complete the task.

I think I'm going to have to get another copy of Shape-shifter by Geoff Thompson, that helped me so much a few years ago that I gave my copy away to a friend that needed to get their life back on track.

[SpaseMoonkey]

I get like that in the winter time. I don't even want to get out of pajama pants, but then again they are soft fleece!

I usually give myself 1 day off a week like that, just lounge around, but usually due to I'm so exhausted from work and dealing with people. It helps me calm myself back down and seek peace, until I meet work again. But after that I try a day and do some exercising, I don't feel I'm gaining anything from doing it and neither does the scale, but I feel amazing when I'm done. I throw in lunch/dinner with friends to get out and socialize, also usually video game with them as well. Considering that is typically the only time I do it, just so I don't get involved and become super lazy. I make around an hour a day for picking up my guitar. I read news on the web to see whats going on in the world instead of what famous person is hot and having an affair.

[Fran]

That's fine as long as you don't stress yourself too much with activities and schedules. On the other hand watching tv all day is sure not good. Somewhere in the middle is the key.

[Nether]

When I look at all I want to do and where I want to be, I find it hard to see where watching tv really needs to fit in. It will be good to get out of the habit of it being switched on automatically when we get into the house.

I've found that 1 or 2 hours of good TV Shows before sleep helps me to disconnect from the activities of the day so I have a better rest.

[Gabriel Leopardi]

That's a great decision man! I took this decision many years ago, and that's why I don't have tv or video games at home. With all the things that I want to do, I don't really need it.