By. Garrett Guzman
Of all the excuses (or reasons, or explanations, as they say) I get for people failing to reach their health and fitness goals and many of their life goals, too busy has got to be number one. It seems that everyone in today’s day and age is simply too busy. It’s now as if being so busy is a badge of honor. But what are we so busy doing? Yes, we nearly all have to work (or go to school, etc.). Yes, we nearly all have other responsibilities, such as caring for a child (or children), a pet, or perhaps even a parent or grandparent. Yes, we nearly all enjoy a hobby or sport, such as golf, tennis, bowling, etc. End of the day, we all have activities that fill up our day. There are items we MUST do and then there are items we WANT to do. Working to provide for your family (or getting the education to do so) and spending time with your loved ones are things we all MUST do. I also believe that sports and hobbies are very important to the overall enjoyment of life and dramatically benefit our physical and emotional well-being (with respect to an appropriate amount of time spent doing them). However, there are many activities in life that are simply unnecessary (the WANTS), and often cut into the time we should be spending completing the MUSTS.
For example, according to the 2018 Nielson report, Americans are spending over 11 hours per day listening to, watching, reading or otherwise interacting with media. Yes, you read that right, over 11 hours per day watching television (or Netflix, Hulu, etc.), playing video games, searching the internet, and scrolling through the various social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, etc.). This is one of the major reasons why we are too busy. If you were to simply take all of this media away (outside that of which is absolutely necessary to perform your job, manage your family, etc.), imagine all the time you would have to complete your MUSTS. In addition to your MUSTS, you would also have more than enough time to get adequate activity and exercise, cook nutrient-dense meals inside your home, and get an optimal duration of sleep; all of which are lacking in our current American culture. Per these staggering stats above, it should come as no surprise that our nation is sicker than it has ever been and is trending downward at an alarming rate. As the old adage states, the dose makes the poison, and we are, without question, getting far too high of a dose of media leading to our exorbitant amount of sickness.
I will leave you with this. I encourage each of you to dramatically cut back your time spent on your media devices (phone, tablet, computer, television, etc.). Whether you need to set an alarm for one hour of television per night, whether you need to simply take a full social media “break,” or whether you need to eliminate reading and responding to emails after 7pm, make an honest effort to reduce your media time. I honestly believe that once you do this, you will FIND that time that you have been so desperately searching for to complete all of your MUSTS.
Please share your feedback on this report as I truly love hearing back from each and every one of you. And feel free to share any ideas you would like to see covered in future reports.
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