I sat down and honestly evaluated my lifestyle...

I had to face the fact that I watched way too much TV. It was my late night fall asleep on the couch routine that was disrupting my sleep patterns. I watched TV while (I tried) studying.

So this semester, I am limiting my TV.
I`m not sure exactly how much I will allow myself to watch, but I know to start off, the TV is going to be banned after 10pm I think.
The only thing I will allow myself to watch will be the 11pm news, and NOTHING else.

During the week, I am thinking of limiting myself to NO TV during the day. I think I will have TV time from 7pm-10pm. I work until 7:30pm a few times a week anyway, so that will cut it back quite a bit.

If I want to watch TV, I will have to wake up early to do it... before noon, which is good since I usually sleep in. I have class at 10am until 11am, so that will only allow one hour in the morning, unless I start getting up early. We will have to see.

Anyway, my committment:

During the week: NO TV between 12noon and 7pm
(especially no sitcoms, reality TV shows during the day)
sports games are OK, but only for hockey games for Toronto Maple Leafs and for triathlon/cycling.

educational themed shows are OK as well, especially having to do with psychology or education (my academic interests)

but I will not be able to watch them during the daytime. I will tape them and watch them later on.

I hope this will help.

I challenge everyone here to make a committment to lessen TV time, and see how it improves their school.

The idea is to limit TV watching and channel (no pun intended) that energy and time towards coursework related activities.

GOod luck!

I will keep you all posted as to how I am doing.

By being conscious of how I am makind a decision NOT to spend my time, it will help me out.

Tv used to be a big problem for my productivity too; I'm glad you're examining this issue (I think it's unhealthily wide-spread).

What helped me out was when I realized that a lot of what I watched; I was just watching to relax and 're-charge' yet it never had that effect on me because I was not enjoying what I watched.

So, I asked myself- WHAT DO I ENJOY WATCHING???

And I found only two or three shows :D and decided only to watch them- and only those! I hardly ever watch cable anymore, the only exception being the winter figure skating that's on a lot now.

If you enjoy news and talk, public radio is also an interesting replacement. I usually listen to that when I'm doing chores or something that leaves my ears free. In fact, when I don't listen to it, I find that I do not finish my chores.

Good luck! You're fighting an entity that many do not wish to challenge!