

Chucking TV Helped me Start my Company - aspirant
http://joshwhiton.com/?p=815

======
josefresco
The fact that he ditched TV has nothing to do with the device/media itself. I
could very easily write the same article about how chucking 'playing guitar'
helped me launch my startup.

If anything occupies a lot of your time, of course eliminating it will free up
time for other things.

~~~
hammock
TV is the biggest mind-suck. Deniers will try to justify its value but
honestly, when you look at the hole you choose to fill with TV, there are so
many more productive you could be filling it with.

I'm not immune either, I have been trying to cut down on TV but I still watch
maybe four or five hours per week.

~~~
edanm
Would you say that books are a mind-suck? Would you say HN is a mind-suck?
Would you say listening to music or going to a play is a mind-suck?

Even if you think all those other forms of entertainment are "bad", I'd still
ask what's so wrong about being "unproductive" some of the time? I don't think
you should seek to be 100% "productive". I think being a cultured person is a
perfectly good goal as well.

~~~
kd5bjo
The primary test that I put any kind of leisure activity through is whether or
not I feel better in some way during or afterwards. Most of television, for
me, doesn't do that; it's a convenient way to fill some time, but leaves me
feeling generally less energized than when I started.

~~~
mortenjorck
A very good test. I find that even TV can fit this requirement if it's the
right kind of TV: A 60-minute episode of The Wire, for example, leaves my mind
in a vastly more engaged state than the same amount of time spent watching a
few minutes of one show, changing channels, watching a few minutes of another,
channel surfing, and finally concluding there's nothing on.

~~~
kapy
Good point. It's not just what you're doing in your downtime, but how you're
doing it. Anything that you can make challenging, relaxing and significantly
different (from work) can actually leave you more able to focus, and therefore
go towards increasing your productivity.

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joshaidan
Chucking out Hacker News would help me start my company.

(there's a really funny irony to this statement)

~~~
gjm11
And the thing is, if chucking HN (or: chucking HN and similar internet
distractions) enables someone to free up enough time and energy to do
something good ... they're less likely to write about it on the internet, and
so we HN junkies are less likely to hear about it.

The _other_ thing is that when someone stops (say) watching TV and it turns
out _not_ to make much difference to their life, we probably won't hear about
that either.

Sampling bias is a powerful thing.

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eswat
If you absolutely must have some form of TV entertainment in your life, just
try a 1-week or 1-month binge on Netflix or AppleTV to soak up any relevant or
thought-provoking show/movie/doc you must see, then unsubscribe/stop using
those services for a year—preferably more—and repeat.

I stopped watching TV and most films from 2007 onwards… until Netflix finally
came to Canada and I gorged on it like an all-you-can eat buffet for a month
or two. I couldn’t believe I missed stuff like Mad Men and Slumdog Millionaire
and started to kick myself for not having seen them sooner.

But really, I watched those a few years after their release, and they’re still
just as great as when they first came out. I may have missed a few water
cooler talks about Don Draper’s relationships with his secretaries, but who
cares. And while many documentaries I’ve seen during the binge were eye-
opening, I didn’t lose big by not being able think critically or apply what
I’ve seen immediately after.

~~~
hugh3
I don't think that binge-watching is a good way to use TV.

TV is a fine way to soak up a leisure hour when you don't particularly feel
like doing anything else. If you're alert, do something creative. If you're
energetic, go do some exercise. But if you're dog tired for two hours before
bedtime, then by all means go watch some damn TV.

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greencircle
I also overdosed on TV and got rid of it around college time. That is, until
Netflix came along. Now I'm thinking about unsubscribing from Netflix. I like
what he says about needing a break: you just need to exercise another part of
your brain. And that is what I've discovered to be the solution for work-life
balance: take a break from work, and immerse yourself in family time, so that
you can return to work refreshed. You shouldn't feel guilty for missing out on
work while with your family, nor guilty for working while not being with your
family, as long as there is balance, because you need to satisfy different
needs at different times, and it helps you return to full power.

~~~
Qz
I have avoided subscribing to Netflix for this exact reason. Hulu is bad
enough, and that's all the TV I watch.

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mark_l_watson
I have cut back on watching TV. Using a DVR helps: not only for skipping
commercials but for some reason when I am watching something that is recorded
it is much easier to bail out and delete it after a few minutes. I try to
watch about 4 hours of TV a week and perhaps 3 movies - this may seem like a
lot, but a decrease compared to 10 years ago.

My big time sink is reading: I read about 3 technical books a month and about
2 novels. For a mindless vegging-out activity, I like hiking.

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duopixel
When I was six years old my parents decided to move the family to another
country, and they left the TV behind (never to buy one again). I've never
owned a TV, though I've shared my household with people who would have one in
the common area.

To this day, TV just absorbs me, I just _can't_ stop watching. I become the
caricature of an absent minded drooling zombie. When people speak to me while
watching TV I don't respond. When I go to a bar that has any channel on, I
zone out of social life.

Though I developed what some people might call "good habits" (I picked up
cooking and reading as a kid). But I also think TV is _culture_ in it's own
merit, in the sense that it's a shared experience. I've seen a lot of people
talk about TV shows with great passion, and I'm totally lost on that
experience.

In the end TV is just a medium, and you choose what to watch. It is true that
the quality of most TV shows is appalling (and yet I can't stop looking), but
I've found that if I turn it on specifically to watch a show, instead tuning
out, I can have a healthy relationship with it.

~~~
tapp
> To this day, TV just absorbs me, I just can't stop watching.

Same here. Having grown up without much TV, I find it absolutely hypnotic when
it's on, which is why keeping it off is critical to my productivity.

My not owning a TV isn't some form of elitism; I don't keep a TV in the house
for the same reason a recovering alcoholic doesn't keep liquor in the house -
I can't trust myself with it 24/7.

My question is - how do you maintain this discipline in the age of internet
video on demand? As PG put it in his essay on distraction, I often feel like
sometime in the last few years someone snuck in and put a TV on my desk.

I work from home much of the time, and that requires a fast, always-on
internet connection. I've been reasonably successful at keeping my bad habits
in check to date, but the temptation alone is a regular distraction.

I'd be very interested to hear how others deal with this.

~~~
brandall10
I do the Pomodoro technique when focus is crucial... it's surprisingly
effective. Something interesting happens when you have permissible but cleanly
defined segments of time to goof off.

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chriswoodford
i actually find that tv makes me _more_ productive. i'm not sure why... i can
just put on a season of futurama or arrested development and keep focused/keep
coding.

without tv, i find i get antsy or distracted. if i put on music, i spend more
time air drumming and rocking out than typing.

~~~
udp
Try different music? Anything without words is good when you're working - I
lean towards ambient or chillout.

Not that I don't like heavy music, but as you say, it doesn't really work as
something to have on in the background.

~~~
dpcan
I'm with the poster. I play reruns of TV shows in iTunes throughout my day.
The white noise from meaningless TV is one of the only ways I stay productive.

I find it 100% impossible to work with Music on. I just can't handle it.

Every 3 minutes there is a completely different sound playing.

Each song has a completely different story.

Each song triggers an entirely different set of emotions.

Every 6 to 10 minutes I have to stop and start skipping through tracks to find
something suitable for the moment.

If I just play the same band over and over, I find it leads to a trance like
state, or I feel like I'm being punished and forced to listen to the same
music.

Then there's the music I would have to play in order to stay focused, say
instrumental music only, and in this case I get frustrated. Tired of the loop,
of the sound, it turns into a "tick" instead of a sound.

Anyway, I have a real hate-hate relationship with listening to music while I
work. Very few people are with me on this.

I prefer to turn on white-noise TV just so there's ambiance in the room that
has no rhythm :)

~~~
subsection1h
> Every 3 minutes there is a completely different sound playing.

> Each song has a completely different story.

> Each song triggers an entirely different set of emotions.

> Every 6 to 10 minutes I have to stop and start skipping through tracks to
> find something suitable for the moment.

None of the above issues relate to Chuck Wild's Liquid Mind albums, which is
the only music I listen to.

<http://www.liquidmindmusic.com/>

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masterzora
I've found some truth to this in my own experience. I've actually given up on
having cable/satellite/some other system where I can just turn on the TV and
be inundated by crappy content. However, I still have a few shows a week I
must watch in a timely fashion (via non-cable sources) and then a large DVD
library of past seasons that I can use if I feel I need some sort of
background activity.

My productivity is huge with this set up but I still get to watch my
favourites.

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drndown2007
LOL - lots of folks defending TV :)

I completely agree with Josh though. In my case, I haven't watched more than
30 minutes of TV (usually zero) in a week for probably 10 years now. Instead,
during the evenings I worked on my business while my spouse watched TV. Now I
have a great business to show for all those hours. Don't have anything to show
for the TV-watching hours from the previous 10 years though. YMMV (though
you'll never know 'til you try it!)

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spacehaven
The proverbial "this." When friends and family ask if I've seen this or that,
I usually reply "no," but if pressed ("Turn on channel 6 now! There's a dog
driving a lawn mower!") I politely remind them I don't have a TV.

The fact is, I do have a small (wait, 32" is small now?) one in the bedroom,
but it's hooked up to AppleTV and Roku, for the sole purpose of putting on
podcasts and informational videos (like TED Talks or Khan Academy) to fall
asleep to.

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ccvfv
> To this day, TV just absorbs me, I just can't stop watching. I become the
> caricature > of an absent minded drooling zombie....

I can relate. But I've learnt to teach myself that TV is like a drug. It can
be very relaxing to "turn your mind off" and "zone out" to TV. Sometimes you
have had a long day and feel like you "need" some TV to help relax.

The truth is that TV is harmful. It is lazy, bad for your health, unproductive
and a massive time waste.

What is scary is that you can watch 5 shows in a night and then the next day
not remember any of the shows. That is why people watch reruns of TV shows -
their mind is basically off the whole time so they can watch the same thing
over and over.

*(TV is fine and healthy in moderation.)

------
reustle
I don't even own a TV (or a netflix account). I'm quite happy with how much
I'm able to get done.

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KiwiNige
> I just had a momentary burst of willpower that allowed me to get rid of it.

Actually it's taken many bursts of willpower for my family to stay TV free.
People keep pushing them on us as soon as they find out we don't have one. My
brother in law sent us one for christmas one year despite being told we didn't
want one. We gave it away. And it seems like every scond person has an old
they want us to have because "you can't not have a TV!"

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angusgr
The "Redefining Entertainment" part of this post reminded me of this Rands
one, about finding what actually relaxes you:

<http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/06/22/chill.html>

(Not that I've tried that technique. Can't find the time with so many things
on TV & HN. ;).)

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davidw
I _wish_ I had some major time waster like that to eliminate, but sadly, TV
has already gone by the wayside for me a long time ago.

~~~
dmm
From my own experience, and knowing nothing about you, try accounting for your
time in 15-min increments for a week. You might be surprised.

~~~
taphangum
Try the Pomodoro Technique

------
Skroob
If watching TV is distracting you from working on your company, you don't have
to sell your TV, just stop watching it. You're going to be bombarded with
distractions no matter what you do. Family, friends, beer, the whole internet
in general, all have the potential to be really distracting. But you can't
just throw them out or sell them at a garage sale, you need to learn to get
stuff done with them in your life as well. If you don't have the willpower to
simply turn the TV off, how will you have the willpower to say no to a night
out at the bar with friends, or when you open a new browser window and reddit
is just a few keystrokes away I'll only check out a few links then it's back
to work oh look its 4am how did that happen?

Basically, stop blaming TV. TV isn't what's not getting the work done.

~~~
notauser
My weakness is food. I'll eat anything that's in front of me or in the fridge.
I'll just mindlessly snack on it until I'm uncomfortably full.

I live right across the road from a store and yet if there is no food in the
house I won't feel inclined to go and buy more unless it's time for a meal.
Then I buy exactly enough stuff to make one meal only with no difficulty
restraining myself.

Result: I exercise a form of will power I _do_ have and achieve my goal rather
than failing to exercise a form of willpower I don't have.

Am I just fooling myself? Yeah. Maybe this guy is too. But if the outcome is
positive then that seems smart to me.

~~~
rgraham
This is true and smart. There is a quote in 'Cooking for Geeks' about this
phenomenon from Michael Pollan. The idea is that Americans could fix their
diets by eating smaller portions, but the simplest way to get people to eat
smaller portions is a smaller plate. Changing your environment is easier that
changing your behavior and it works. It's a powerful idea.

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Luyt
I hardly watch TV anymore, because I find all programs of the national TV
mindnumbingly stupid. Commercial stations have the same braindead programs.
Movies are reduced to vehicles to shove as much commercials before your
eyeballs as possible.

I still have a TV in my living room, tho. Once a day I watch the news.

