People watch, on average, 2-3 hours of TV per night. They waste, on average, about 11 hours of productivity each week at the office.
The difference between effectiveness and status quo is purpose—not having purpose, but how it is defined. Someone whose purpose is connected to their passions in life, who has identified causes and reasons to live that are greater than they are, always progresses and moves forward. Over time, they build something called legacy: they become known for the way they spent their time.
It’s not so much that TV is always, in every circumstance, a waste of time. It’s not that people need to find a way to go-go-go every minute of every day in the office. It’s that each of us needs to pay attention to the way we use our time, and what is driving us to spend it where we do.
There are frequent occasions, here at Ethos3, when breakthroughs in the way we communicate and design for unique problems come when one of our people is watching TV and sees something that triggers a solution. It happens in Facebook feeds, in traffic, and everywhere else you can imagine, too. It’s not the TV; it’s us. When someone’s purpose—in this case, when our designers or content writers are so engrossed in their efforts to be the best in their field—is noble enough, inspiration and progress comes from everywhere. Even those “mindless” activities.
The real enemy of time is small thinking. When our daily attitude is one of “getting through the day”, our mind has very little to work on. The mind is always working, always seeking to build new connections and solve the most important problems we face. We set the agenda through our thoughts. If all we think about is clocking out, the brain finds ways to detach, numb itself, and get us to five o’clock.
But if we focus constantly on bigger things, loftier goals, a stronger purpose, the mind will work on our behalf to solve the problems that stand in the way of accomplishing those ends.
If you want to be more productive, to succeed more, to develop a reputation for excellence and, yes, even deliver better presentations, the answer isn’t in strapping yourself to your desk. It’s not even turning off the television, though that may be a result later on.
The answer is in clarifying your purpose. Where are you going with this thing called life? What legacy are you building? What will you be known for when your name refers not to yourself, but to decades of spent time?
The clearer your thoughts on things like this, and the more you think about it daily, the more you’ll find that your mind is working constantly—even in your “downtime”—to optimize, improve and discover on your behalf.
Don’t waste your time. Find your purpose, think about it daily, and get productive!
Question: How often do you take time to think about the big picture?
