Anyway, I appreciate the discussion and look forward to your thoughts on the rest of the series as well!

I’ve read your comments, and I understood where you were coming from when I first read this post. I’ll admit that genrealisations such as television is a time waster irk me a bit – that’s what prompted me to comment. Like everything in life, media consumption needs to be in moderation, purposeful and “viewed” with a critical eye.

When I was single I was a voracious reader and a heavy user of the library branches at the university I work at as an audio-visual technician. Funnily enough I still grab books at random and have some read some really worthwhile books that I would never come across any other way. I’ve also picked several books that were of no benefit and returned them fairly quickly. Trust me, I’m all for people reading challenging books outside of their comfort zone. I don’t read as much because I’m a husband and a father. After all these years it still amazes me that some students are really surprised when they see that I read widely outside of my profession.

There’s nothing wrong with striving for excellence. I respect that you’re passionate and enthusiastic about learning and productivity, but I don’t view everything in life through the prism of productivity. When I run around my back yard chasing my sons while making monster noises, I don’t view that as valuable relationship building with my children. To me I see it as goofing off and having fun because I’m a dad and my boys get a good laugh from it. In the past I’ve tried to be ultra-productive in every aspect of my life and for me that was nearly a one-ticket to being burned out before I hit 30. Just over a decade on I’m better at chilling out when needed.

For me the only reason I have a mobile phone is to keep in touch with my wife if I’m out and about or she is out and about.

As far as focus goes, I know when I have to be a mono-tasker and when I can be a parallel tasker. I also know when background music helps me focus.

Cheers

P.S I’ll be checking the other posts in this series over the next couple of days

Why some people simply pick up a random book in a book store and read it to find out they didn’t enjoy it is completely beyond me. That is unproductive. Similarly, many people will continue to read a bad book just to finish it even if they are not enjoying it part way through. Why? Just stop reading it!

I think I have only read one or two books ever that I wasn’t recommended or researched first. It was those books I was more disappointing in so I’ve learned not to do that. When I get a new book to read, I already know that it is highly valued by many others with similar interests and thinking as mine so it isn’t a risk if its productive time or not. I know it is!

As for your questions Ben, no every waking moment doesn’t have to be productive. However, if you look at productivity like I have with this whole series you will see that it does make sense to strive for that. The things that are important to you and have a purpose include some goofing off. That builds relationships and add value and fun to your life. Worth doing sometimes? Of course! So, you might put that into your category of productivity. I can’t draw the line of value for you so it is obviously up to you. I can say that I will continue to strive to eliminate all things that have NO value to me and completely waste my time.

Armen. You are right. As long as the use of that device pays off more than it is a distraction, then perhaps its worthwhile. A phone on vibrate or unanswered during a conversation is still a distraction. If not to the owner, to the ones around them as even they wonder if you will answer it or not. If you simply turn it off or don’t use it except when you block time for it, its far more productive.

Ultimately though it comes down to whether one rules techology and media or one is ruled by technology and media.

I find it slightly ironical that you place books in the time wasting media category when Book Reviews is your site’s leading archive category. I’m also going to defend television watching. Television watching can be beneficial when it it is focused on shows that contribute useful information, not the “if it bleeds, it’s leads mentatility” ground out in the 24 hour news cycle. Two of my interests are cooking and psychology. My cooking techniques were enhanced by watching episodes of “Licence to grill” and “The love lab” introduced me to the work and research of Dr. John Gottman. I’ll conclude my thoughts on television by saying that the vast majority of programming is of little benefit (MTV is a leading example of totally worthless programming). The key to my TV viewing being productive is the PVR. I watch programs when it suits my schedule and I minimise my exposure to advertising.

I’d like to pose the following questions to you Mike – which are prompted by my many years of studying productivity and implementing what has worked best for me – does every waking moment and activity have to be productive? Is there a place for pure goofing off (in moderation of course)?

Cheers

Nicolas, thanks for commenting and putting your site out there, you have a great site with excellent tips! I have some browsing to do I see.

But especially information technology is something very new to us and we have not at all been prepared to cope with unlimited contents and real time communication overflow. SInce we will not be able to turn back the clock, we need to learn how to deal with it – same as we learned to drive a car through the traffic.

I keep asking busy people on how they are managing their time. I publish the results on my Time Management Master bog, where you can find about 200 concrete time saving ideas on how to gain an extra hour every day. It also includes dedicated sections on how to manage email and phone calls more effectively.

http://memytime.wordpress.com/

Since every person is different, the tips also vary a lot. If you find something that works for you please let me know.

Thanks

Nicolas

This post is what a lot of people need to read, including myself.