BINGE WATCHING AND MINDLESS SCROLLING
The sun on my face wakes me up at around 7:30 am… Yesterday I was at Key Biscayne for the Miami Open (tennis tournament) to see Rafael Nadal crush my mate Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Then I went back home and went to bed at around midnight, after watching CASINO ROYALE for the 3rd time that week. I think I could watch the opening scene twenty times in a row without blinking. It’s one of my all-time favorites. Then, after spending an hour on my phone reading messages and playing stupid games like Paper Toss, I finally fell asleep.
Today, it’s April 1st 2010, I’m in my condo in Miami… and I’m starving! I eventually stumble out of bed and go in search of food in my kitchen: waffles and pancakes smothered with maple syrup and peanut butter.
After a shower, I finally open my laptop and start working. Well … after checking the latest sport news. The Cleveland Cavaliers are impressive. This must be their year … It’s finally 10:30 by the time I get round to checking my emails. Nothing important—but I still spend almost half an hour there.
I finally decide it’s time to get to work and make a phone call: a BUSINESS phone call. The guy doesn’t answer, but at least I feel like I tried.
11:15: a friend of mine calls to say he’s around. Let’s have a drink!
The drink turns into lunch, and I find myself heading back home at 15:00. I think to myself that it would be better to hit the gym earlier today, because it’s always too crowded later in the afternoon. So I do, and after taking a shower, I go back to my desk around 16:30, where I watch a couple of movie trailers and browse the web for things more or less work related until 18:30, when I finally decide to call it a day.
I like my life to be planned like sheet music.
There were times in my life when I lost control of my schedule for weeks, even months… although I already knew a lot of things about managing my priorities and schedule. I knew what needed to be done, but I didn’t do it. I was victim of acrasy.
Referring back to the Orson Welles rule, in the above scenario, I had the script, but my character didn’t follow it because I, as a director, let too many things and people interfere with my schedule. Here’s a recap of your three roles which you must carry out to see the movie of your life through to its conclusion:
As you can read in the story above, I as a director lost control. For me, these empty periods of time always happened after a huge financial success. In this example, I’d just sold my first business for a 7-figure amount. It must have triggered a Mission Complete message in my mind, as if I’d achieved self-actualization and my potential was fulfilled.
The same thing happened to me two years before when I sold a piece of real estate and made a huge gain. Again, I spent the following months living my life in slow motion, mainly browsing screens for entertainment, whether on my laptop, my TV, or my phone. I had the same unconscious feeling, as if the goal was reached and there was no need to exert any further effort. Hence the importance of ongoing goals.
In addition, these periods of time were not the happiest of my life, especially when they lasted for months.
Fortunately, I’ve never been interested in social media. Indeed, not only has it become the most time-consuming online activity, but it also brings with it lots of complications for people who (ab)use them, such as chronic anxiety, attention deficit, addiction.
Research has shown that excessive Facebook use can contribute to increased depression and loneliness, and a 2014 study found that social media leads to a heightened degree of social comparison, which can lead to lower self-esteem. When you look at other people’s lives, particularly on Instagram, it’s easy to conclude that everyone else’s life is better than yours (of course, nothing could be further from the truth).
During one study, when the participants cut down their social media use to thirty minutes per day, they experienced a “significant improvement in well-being” as well as exhibited a reduction in loneliness and depression.
People, in particular those of the younger generation, sometimes fail to realize that their online friends always upload the best things that happen to them OR simply make up things they want others to believe. I personally knew a woman who always put enviable pictures of her celebrating, traveling, and socializing with the sole purpose of making her ex-husband jealous. She wasn’t pursuing this lifestyle for the pure hell of it; it was more important that her ex-husband had to see her seemingly enjoying herself without him.
If you happen to be having such a great time where you are with your friends and enjoying the beautiful scenery, would you really interrupt the moment to take dozens of pictures at different angles, picking the best one, applying a filter, writing a lengthy caption, choosing hashtags, and commenting back to others? Come on! Your reality is probably closer to this: the atmosphere there is dull and you’re bored as hell, but what people from the other side of the screen think is more important than your reality.
From a time management perspective, screens will always be there to trap you. The slightest lapse in concentration and you find yourself binge watching crap on your smartphone or laptop. They’re great and yet dangerous tools at the same time, because it’s possible to do clever and yet dumb things with them. It’s like fire—which can be both our friend and enemy—having the properties to offer us heat, but when it gets out of control, it can leave a trail of destruction in its path.
As long as you use social media, it’s good. But if they use you, you’re in danger. Don’t forget that if it’s free, it’s because you are the product: they throw all kinds of stuff at you to keep you there. But if your mind is cluttered with garbage, you can’t think optimally! This is common sense.
It’s like with your physical energy: if you feel tired all the time, why would you drink a dozen cups of coffee and five cans of Red Bull instead of just getting rid of your bad dietary habits? So first, bulldoze the useless habits, and then build on your new foundations. That’s why I keep saying to business owners who aren’t earning a 6-figure revenue yet that their main problem is a lack of focus. Focus requires a clear mind. Do yourself a favor and declutter your mind to declutter your schedule; there’s a whole new horizon right in front of you!
As for TV, I’m of the opinion that watching it is 100% dumb. Very little good can ever come from it. Refrain from watching it if you’re serious about moving closer to your grand vision. Once you get rid of binge watching, you open up a doorway to a realm of unexploited time: be ready for a quantum leap forward in your time management and thereafter in the growth of your business.
You may not always know what exact activity you should be working on to maximize your time management, but I’m certain you know which activities don’t contribute to your grand vision.
Here’s the difference: