How to make time
Couch potato
noun UK /ˈkaʊtʃ pəˌteɪ.təʊ/ US /ˈkaʊtʃ pəˌteɪ.t̬oʊ/
a person who watches a lot of television and does not have an active life
Is it an option to use this when describing yourself on LinkedIn? Or when applying for renting an apartment? Can you explain it to the ones who dedicated their time to your development? Can it be a sufficient goal for you to be happy?
Absolutely, YES!! You can stop reading now and netflix your life away.
However, I’m not sure your future self will have the same mindset and life expectations. Being a couch potato for more than a weekend once in a while might cause a huge setback for yourself later on. At least that is what happened to me and here is my advice to my future self.
Don’t own a TV.
Sell it, donate it, see if it floats down the river (it doesn’t and it harms the creatures living in there, so better take it to a recycling center). I don’t care. If it’s not around anymore you are already out of the (urban dictionary) couch potato definition.
I know you probably have a laptop. Continue reading. Make sure you use it to (l)earn something and you should be fine.
FACT: It’s incredibly efficient to be further than one push of a button away from motion pictures. (If you have to do more than use a remote control, you will become aware that you are about to spend some hours watching something and maybe you will choose not to do it at all)
Grow up!
You may be out of your parents’ house and living on your own for a while now, but there’s a chance you might be still just doing the minimum work to satisfy your old childhood needs. What’s bad about this is that those needs were created or influenced by the environment you grew up in and the people you were around. So it’s not really YOU. Figuring that out is a huge task
FACT: When you completely STOP blaming others, you will see what you did or/and do wrong.
Listen: Extreme ownership
Hobofy your life
Find a way to keep track of what you own and how often you use it, considering if it’s really necessary or you could live without it. Every little thing you own is costing you time: buying, maintaining, carrying, selling/throwing and eventually ending with the conclusion that it was a waste of money, which you come up with while using your time. And then you’ll be tired and want to melt on a couch and binge away.
Short story: I had to move to another country and I had the car packed with all the stuff I own. I was traveling with a friend. When we stopped to rest, I didn’t want to leave the car out of sight. He asked what is so expensive in there that makes me so cautious. I realized, there was nothing of value in the car. Except the time I invested in owning that pile of crap I didn’t really need.
FACT: Filtering out the items you really need, points out the topics you’re really interested in.
Explore: Project 333
- Sold full suspension bike, kept only the road bike for office commute and trainer
- Sold snowboard (renting is easier, having one is an investment if you hit the slopes more than twice a year. I kept the rest of the snow gear because it’s comfortable and probably more hygienic)
- Sold monitors
- Up for sale: old macbooks & accessories (sold keyboard)
- Gave away a lot of clothing & sport gear
- Up for sale: kitchen appliances (robot, bread machine, krups coffee machine)
- Sold car
- Up for sale: car seat (use public transport & car sharing options)
- Sold kid’s big toys as soon as he outgrows them (I mostly get the same prince since I buy them used)
Stop watching. Open your eyes.
There’s a lot more happening around you than you could ever see on a screen. And there are even more colors. The people around you have more complex and interesting personalities than any fictional character will ever be able to display. And there’s also nature. FACT: There’s a lot of it.
Help out and educate
It’s challenging sometimes, but motivating and rewarding in the end. The tricky part is to differentiate if you’re really helping out or contributing to worsening the state of things by interfering. Extra challenging to get this right with kids. There’s a detailed plead on why creating influential content is the true meaning of life in Harari’s 21 Lessons.
FACT: When you commit to helping others, it’s easier to motivate yourself out of procrastination mode and you might want to improve what and how you do things, knowing it also affects others.
