[WoD] Big Distractor #1: Television

Television might be a great place for inspiration and ideas in writing. It's even a great place to listen in for dialogue. However too much of a good thing can be a good thing. That's why it's my Big Distractor #1.

How many hours of TV do you watch in a week? Add in hours watching movies and also television and movies you watch online.

• 5-10?
• 11-17?
• 18-26?
• Beyond?

Let me start. I watch anywhere between 11-17 hours a week, depending on what's on and how busy I am. I'm ok with the habit, but I want to work on it for a certain upcoming event (NaNoWriMo).

How shall we go abut working on this then? 11-17 hours a week isn't that bad, right? No, not really, but when you look at what it looks like at it on a daily level, you begin to notice certain the real trends:

• 5-10 hours a week is about an average of an hour a day
  • This is the optimal area for productivity. If you do this already, congratulations!
• 11-16 hours a week is about an average of two hours a day
  • This is still healthy but may hinder some productivity.
• 17-26 hours a week is about an average of three hours a day
  • This is getting out of the healthy range and will hinder productivity
• Watching beyond that would average you out at watching close to four hours or more each day
  • This is dangerous to productivity. You should find a way to quit that habit if you find yourself in that area

And the worst part is, my viewing schedule is not like that at all. Some days I'll maybe watch four hours, nothing the next day, two the day after that, three and so on. It's not balanced out. That might be the big thing I want to work on for NanoWriMo.

So here's what I'm going to do about it, and you can try this, too.

• Make a list of shows you're currently watching each week.
• Put a line through the shows you're re-watching. You've seen them already. Time to move on.
• Circle your top 3-8 shows. These are the shows you'll allow yourself to watch. if you want to be more productive, circle less.
• Get another piece of paper and rank those shows in importance to you. At the top you'll have the show you can't live without.
• Mark the shows you can watch online with an X.
• If you have any shows that aren't online, then you'll have to try to work a schedule around them.
• For the shows that are online, you can work them into your schedule.
  • Try to make them your reward for being productive.

I need to start implementing this now so that by the time November comes by, I won't be having crazy television withdrawal.