People often complain that they don’t have enough time. Life can sometimes seem like it is just a routine of work, eat, sleep, work. No wait… work, eat, watch TV, sleep, work.

I know the feeling, I really do.

There is really no need to watch television for hours every night. It’s no wonder that life seems to play out the same way every day. We are all at home glued to the soap operas (which are also the same every day), and then we retire to bed, ready for work.

The problem is the TV is ingrained deeply into people’s routines. Once something becomes so set, it starts to feel like the “norm” and the body almost automatically reaches for the remote at the end of the work day.

Life lesson 2 suggested that doing nothing is not a waste of time, but can be a useful activity for the mind. Watching television is the worst form of doing nothing, if it becomes a repetition of unfulfilling boredom used to fill the gap between one day and the next.

While traveling, I lived with several families who did not have televisions. Oh no! What did we do?

We ate dinner together, drank a little red wine, talked a lot. One evening we did tile-mosaics on the table. We watched the sun set together. We read books. We simply sat. We chatted some more. We learned some languages, some music. We wrote, we drew, we sat. We lived.

If you want an extra 3-6 hours average per day to pursue your interests, unlock your creativity, or socialize with other people, then consider cutting back on television; another simple life lesson to remember.

Simple life lesson 4 offers a more creative way to spend your time.