Everyone, I have ever coached who had a vision for their lives but they were unable to bring it to fruition complained of not having enough time or enough money. One of the truisms in life is that ‘time is money’. Lack of time is never the true culprit as we are all given the same twenty-four hours each day. A successful, forward moving, motivated entrepreneur wishes for longer days to make more money, spend quality time with family, and get new projects off the ground. A struggling or new entrepreneur cannot find enough time to start a project, research a project or put the wheels in motion. What is this disparity in the two separate views of the precious commodity of time?
The answers are right in front of us. Recently, while visiting Puerto Rico, my husband and I began a walking tour of Old San Juan. Everything we explored was beautiful, restored and fresh until we stood on a hill looking down on pure desolation. Poorly constructed houses covered the ‘beach’ and almost looked like a squatter’s town. There seemed to be one narrow way in and one way out. I was not curious enough to venture down to see more clearly and looked in our guide books for information on this area. The area was known as La Perla and tourists were warned not to enter or even accidentally cruise the area. As we stood there staring at this place that seemed out of place, I noticed the anomaly. Every ramshackle structure had a satellite dish attached to the top of it. The satellite dishes confirmed the statistics of television watching among the poor. In the United States, as of 2002, US Census figures showed that of those living at poverty level in America, 98.20% have television sets in their home and over over-half have two or more sets. In that same census report, only 59.30% had computers in the home and over one-half of those had no Internet connection. Poor people are twice as likely to have full cable coverage which can average from $50 to $200 per month while turning down $20 – $50 monthly Internet service for computers already in the home.
Owning a television or two or more is not the culprit. It is the use of the television to eat away at time that could be better spent. It is time that could be spent on activities that ultimately bring abundance into your life. Have a conversation with a successful person about the television show that they watch. You will find that often they haven’t the vaguest idea of what is current. Time is better spent thinking, building, creating or expanding into areas that pay dividends. How do you spend your evenings?
Television watching is routinely blamed for a myriad of personal setbacks, including poor academic performance for teenagers, excessive weight gain for children and adults, poor sleeping habits, lack of communication between family members and many more. How much did your television cost you? You know the one with the biggest screen, HDTV, and blue-ray. Whatever the number, if you would like to live your best possible life by creating a new home or work reality, it is costing you much, much more. Yearly, your television may be costing you $40,000, $80,000, $200,000 or even millions. How can that be?
While you are watching television hour after hour, night after night, you could be investing that same time in yourself. You could be furthering your education, building a business, exploring the Internet for opportunities and ideas, or finding new ways to invest your money.
Before, I changed my habits; I would spend up to four hours a night watching television. That four hour investment of time gained me some relaxation, but did I need to relax for four hours? Wouldn’t one hour or one and a half hours have been sufficient? As I headed off to bed, I had learned nothing and most of all not propelled my life forward one tiny bit.
Time is truly a valuable commodity. There are only 24 hours in a day and we spend one third of the time sleeping, one third working and getting to and from work, and one third bathing, eating, cleaning house , errands etc. That one third for the etc is eight hours and you have chosen to spend one-half of that precious time sitting and watching characters who are not teaching you anything or advancing your life.
You don’t have to give up your favorite television shows. Just the precious time spent watching hour after hour including commercials. Choose your favorite shows and record them for Saturday or Sunday afternoons without commercial interruption. I would hate to know how many hours I spent watching American Idol in two hour intervals when only one or two acts were worth viewing.
How much money has televsion cost you in terms of time spent away from following your dream? Are you willing to take a different view on time management? Making decisions about how you will choose to allocate time to move into your dream is your option. As for me, I will choose my dream every single time.
Sherry Ransom is the author of the award-winning book, Three Paths, Three Choices – Getting the Life that You Deserve. More information at www.sherryransom.com
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