As WiFi technology became more pervasive, I found that I could IM my witty comments to just a friend or two, which satisfied my need to be heard without causing too much distraction. Finally, for meetings that were a complete waste of my time, but unavoidable, I could bring a laptop and get work done, keeping an ear open for the important bits. However, I did find that when I was doing this, it was polite to sit in a less visible spot, and it was OK to do this only if there was a large crowd of people.
Of course, work isn't the only place where we waste time.
Standing Around a Video Store Deciding What to Rent
Ever spend an hour walking around a video store trying to figure out what you want to rent? Do friends and coworkers often mention movies that sound great, but once you walk into the store you can't remember any of them? It happens to all of us.
There is a solution.
In your organizer, keep a list of movies that people mention. PDA users can create a note called 'Videos.' PAA users can put a sheet of paper under 'V' in the A-Z notes section. Any time someone mentions a movie that you'd like to see, write it down.
Now when you enter a video store, open to that list and rent the first thing on the list. You'll spend more time watching movies and less time trying to remember their names.
Alternatively, there is a service called Netflix (http://netflix.com) that lets you rent DVDs by mail. Their web site lets you maintain a queue of movies you'd like to see. When you return a DVD, they immediately mail you the first available DVD on your list. Now, when a coworker mentions a great movie, you can log into the Netflix web site and add it to your queue. You can even add films that haven't been released yet. They'll float to the top of the list and you'll get them when they are released. That's perfect for all those 'wait until it's out on video' recommendations.
The web site lets you rearrange the items on your queue. There are utilities for Windows and Mac that let you manipulate your list a little easier than you can from the Netflix web site—Netflix Freak for Mac OS X is very popular.
Watching Less Bad TV
Let me make one thing clear: I love TV. I'm not one of those elitists who goes around proudly announcing that they don't watch, nay, don't even own a TV. I think TV is great. In the last 15 years, it has gone from being a total wasteland to a wasteland filled with pearls. The problem is keeping the pearls and avoiding the waste.
From a time management perspective, the problem with TV is that it expects us to schedule our lives around when shows are broadcast, not when we want to watch a particular show.
As a result, when we do turn on the TV, we don't watch what we want to watch, we watch the best show that happens to be on at that moment. Very inefficient.
Then came DVRs . They enable you to record shows to a hard disk and watch them any time you want. There are many brands, but Tivo has the most geek appeal because there's a Linux box under the hood.
I bought my Tivo to help me watch
After using my Tivo for a few months, I found that I was watching more and more TV. I needed to reverse this trend.
That's when I invented Tom's Three Tivo Rules to help me watch less TV:
If you watch all the way to the end of the program, you have to delete it. Don't give me any of that 'Oh, I'll want to watch that again' logic. You don't have enough time to watch everything that gets recorded, let alone watch it a second time.
If you add anything to the list of shows that are automatically recorded (Season Passes), you have to delete something of equal length and frequency. Alternative: each month you have to delete at least one hour worth of Season Passes.
If it's about to get old enough to be automatically deleted, let it expire. No extending the date. Archiving it to tape because 'I'll find time to watch it later' isn't allowed (see Rule 1 about how much free time you have). Dude, ya just gotta learn to let it go. For me, the only exceptions to this rule are the three shows at the top of my list. I practically bought my Tivo so that I'd never miss these programs:
