Timothy P. Lofton, Managing Partner - Cornerstone Consulting Group | CEO - The Retirement Blueprint™ | Author | Speaker
Live your OWN reality ... don't watch a show!
Why as a nation are we obsessed with other peoples reality? From Survivor to Desperate Housewives; as a country we have gone from 4 reality shows in 2000 to 340 today!? What is the attraction? Are our lives really so boring that we find watching "staged reality" that rewarding?
In 2006 when my daughter was born I read that the average American spent 5 hours per day watching TV. I could not believe it! I started to write down each time I had the TV on - News, Sports, the occasional mindless sitcom ... Well, I did not watch 5 hours per day, but I still discovered that I spent a lot of time staring at what use to be a big box - now a flat panel :-)
Being a numbers guy, I could not help myself but to calculate ... If I spent 2 1/2 hours per day watching TV (1/2 the American Average) here is what it looks like:
I would miss out on 22.8 days per year with my kids
By the time they are 18 I will have missed 410 days!
Now I still watch the Buckeye's and the Bengals play, and I watch the occasional show ... but I want my 1 year plus to pour into my kids. How many of us would like an extra year+ with our kids before they are sent off to college? Well here is the return on your investment ... 1/2 year extra with your kids for every hour of TV that you give up each day! Watch your own reality ... they love you like crazy, they are funny, they are not "staged", and the show is on every day. The best part is that after the show is over, you get to snuggle them until they fall asleep.
Your family is the best show you could ever watch ... Kids are already gone? Well I am sure that you can find something to do with an extra month each year - If you are short on ideas, ask your boss (or your wife ;-) one of them will give you some direction!