We Ditched Our TV

Welcome to the Anturas newsletter, where I share my thoughts, learnings, and failures to help you think, learn, and grow. If you enjoy it, please feel free to forward along to friends.

Quote I Loved: 

"New goals don't deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results." - James Clear

Things I Am Doing:

We removed our living room TV!

Kel and I have decided to put our TV in storage. Why do something so crazy? TV is the ultimate draw for us. There are countless shows and endless entertainment. When we are done with a long day, all we want to do is "turn our brain off and watch TV." The problem is that TV does not make us feel better. When we do things like sit at the table and eat, or go for a walk, or play the guitar, we relax. Our mood elevates and all those thoughts start to settle down. When we watch TV, those thoughts get pushed to the next day.

So why did we have to get rid of the TV? Couldn't we just put some rules in place and follow them? The short answer, we tried it and it didn't work. It's hard to not watch TV when it's right in the living room. It takes willpower. Since willpower is low at night, we would often lose and find ourselves in front of the TV. By removing the TV we are taking a page out of James Clear's playbook (cue -> craving -> response -> reward) and we are removing the cue (i.e., the TV).

Interestingly, we have decided to keep the TV in our bedroom. The reason we are keeping this TV is because we still want to have our Friday movie nights. The reason we are testing leaving the TV in the bedroom is twofold: 1) we rarely use it so it's not a cue, and 2) it's really hard to eat in bed so we are less likely to do it.

As with everything we do, I'm going to test and measure. So far, it's been a success, but we are only a week in.  We haven't watch TV all week and instead we've had amazing conversations, danced in the kitchen more, gone outside and read more than usual.

Questions I'm Asking Myself: 

What other cues are around me that subconsciously push me towards an activity?

Favorite Photo From the Week:

Hucky is getting better and better at trail running. I've started having her run behind me instead of pulling me from the front and it's so much nicer (duh). 

Till next week, be kind, be curious and work hard. 

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