"We should remember that not all time is interchangeable; just because you're up to spending 4 hours zonked out watching TV in bed does not mean you are up for spending 4 hours doing useful cognitive work." --phaedrus

This statement is somewhat wrong. I gave up T.V. about 3 years ago and this may have been true at first, but as you go on you realize that when you feel tired you are usually just bored, and need to do something. If you are really tired then go to sleep, don't stay awake forcing yourself to be entertained (gorging when you eat?)

It isn't Just T.V. that is bad. Anything that updates is bad since you come back over and over looking for a new fix of "something new"; I've found this activity extremely draining on your ability to go out and do new things; you drop into a mode of wanting to do to a mode of just wanting things to come to you to entertain you. This means that the internet is almost as bad as T.V. (if not worse, more content to surf around) Think of all the things that are currently popular : myspace, youtube, stumble, facebook..etc.. Almost exactly like T.V. People go to those sites to zone out and have information handed to them. The same goes for email, people keep checking their mailboxes hoping to have a new nugget of joy that will keep them busy for a few more minutes.

I started off With No T.V. (cold turkey), I used Movies to supplement the cravings, then I started cutting back on movies, not because I was trying to cut back on them, but because I just don't find them interesting any more. Next I cut out all forms of gossip and news from the internet. Pretty much anything that you read that can make you angry from either a) "how stupid" the person writing it is, or b) how anything like "that" could ever happen, you just need to cut it out; why do you want to work yourself up? This would include sites like slashdot.org, digg, reddit..etc. After cutting these sites out, my over all mood has become much better; those sites just contain thoughts that do you know good what so ever. (How did I read this to be posting on it? Someone sent me the link. Which is a great system; if something is worth knowing, someone will tell you.) After giving up most every news site (they are all tripe that just spread gossip and violence.) I started reading just "creative" blogs (make magazine for example.) Recently I have found that It doesn't matter what you read, since you'll end up just going back to be "entertained". Why is this bad? Because you switch off, you might think to yourself that you'll get inspired by reading inspiring blogs, but you won't. What you'll find out if you are paying attention is that most blogs are just recycled content over and over; there are very few original ideas out there.

After giving up almost all forms of "updating" sources. I have found that I no longer have enough time in a day to do all the stuff I want to get done. If I feel too tired even to read a book (not usable energy as someone stated.) then I go to bed.

There are millions of things to do out there, you just need to find them.

One other mistake I made was when trying to learn a lot of new things I would bounce around between them, which isn't bad, but I found that when I got stuck learning something new, I would switch over to doing something else, which is bad. So If you plan on learning new things, set a time for yourself. If you start an activity stay with it for at least 1 hour (or whatever) to make sure that if you hit a wall you work your way over it instead of moving on to something else. Also, I have found that keep a journal of all the things you learn to be very useful. Whenever you have some free time, you can read through the past things you have learned to refresh your memory.

You can respond to this comment all you want, but as stated i've pretty much given up this type of entrainment (blogs) altogether and I'm just here because someone sent me the link; I wrote this in hopes that it may help some people that are moving down this path already. If you think this was all dumb crap (maybe it is, life systems change over your life.) , well then don't use it. If you have any questions: matt.poepping@gmail.com