Add hours to your day, lose weight and wake up early
If I was asked why the society is constantly trying to make us spend more time watching the television, I’d say it’s a plot to keep us poor, unsuccessful and stupid.
In essence, it keeps us in servitude.
10 years ago I would’ve shrugged off anyone’s suggestion that I lessen my time watching tv, let alone stopping watching tv altogether. Why? Because my life was dull and uneventful. I was unmotivated and introverted (yes, I was introverted — I consider it more of a habit than a personality trait). I didn’t have any goals.
I did have dreams. Tons of dreams. However, zero of them were written on paper. Zero of them had a deadline. And I was certain of none of them.
I had to stop watching television
As it happens, I didn’t choose to stop watching television because I thought it would boost my productivity. I stopped watching it as a religious observation.
I converted to Islam. In Islam, it isn’t prohibited to watch television, but most of what you see on television is something bad, e.g. promotion of immorality as well as nudity and music, to mention a few examples. So, I stopped watching television to abide by this religious observation.
It was difficult as first, and I didn’t see the benefit of it very well when it comes to time management or productivity since I didn’t have anything in particular to do with the time I would’ve spent watching television. That is, I had no idea what to do with the new free time I had.
I did make a conscious effort to benefit from that time by reading something, by cleaning or by cooking. At first these tasks seemed a lot more boring than watching one of my favorite tv shows, but I remained persistent — I was, after all, trying to please God Almighty.
Like with most people, it had been my habit to watch television specifically in the evenings before bedtime. Whether coincidence or not, I also suffered of a great deal of sleep problems at the time and I had the habit of over eating in the evenings while watching television. It was, actually, out of the question for me to watch television without eating something (preferably something not so healthy).
Since I no longer watched television at the usual time between 7 pm and 11 pm it was possible for me to adjust my bedtime, so that I could wake up earlier (I always secretly wanted to be an early bird, though I feigned indifference). I began going to bed at 10 pm, later at 9 pm and I am now often in bed before 9 pm — sometimes as early as 8 pm. I then wake up at 3 am without difficulty, ready to enjoy at least 3 hours of peaceful me-time which I spend on my university studies. Being a mother to a baby without child caring help, if I did not wake up at 3 am, I would not be able to study consistently and pass my courses — unless, I studied before bed, but in my experience studying first thing in the morning is far superior to staying up late to study.
I don’t miss it.
Right now, if I had to estimate the time I spend watching television, I’d say it’s about 2 hours per month. I no longer have difficulties filling up the time I used to use watching television. Actually, even if I find something I would like to watch, I have difficulties finding a suitable time for it since I prioritize pretty much all my other tasks before television.
As for my eating habits — since I go to bed between 8 pm and 9 pm, I have my last meal before 6 pm. I end up eating less and the foods I choose to eat are much more likely to be healthy ones than if I were to eat after 8 pm ( because that’s when people start making bad decisions).
- My weight? Down 10kg.
- My studies? Consistent.
- My wake-up time? 3 am.
If I wanted to change anything, I would’ve made this happen 25 years ago. But I’ve learned my lesson — what about you?
