Entertainment vs. Education

Ask yourself…

How much time do you spend reading, listening to audiobooks, or listening to podcasts? Conversely, how much time do you spend watching sports or Netflix?

What does your entertainment/education balance look like?

I don’t know if you can learn enough. Sure, you can be out of balance with too much education, but this usually isn’t the case.

Darren Hardy

One of the examples presented in The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, features him helping an executive find more time in his schedule to be more effective. Through analysis and observation, it was found that the executive was spending a sizable chunk of time reading the paper, watching the news, and drowning in Yahoo! headlines.

The executive was spending almost three hours per day on the news alone, with zero time allocated for continuing education.

Daily news sinkhole

Generally speaking, networks mostly report on negative news. It doesn’t matter what your political views are or what news station it is, the consensus is usually negative. Succumbing to the daily headlines began to affect his mentality in a negative way.

This also goes for the individual that watches five hours of sports but won’t allocate even 20 minutes for personal development.

Be Mindful

I’m on the extreme education side of the spectrum. I spend 30-40 minutes on the way to the gym in the morning, 30-40 minutes on the way home, 30 minutes at the track, and usually fit a small segment in during the day.

Collectively I’m up to two hours per day. My workout and lunges bring it up to four hours by 6:30am. Having put in my time during the day, I can then enjoy watching Lost, sports, or whatever it is with my family.