How To Get Ahead In Life And Still Watch Your Favorite Show

Becoming successful doesn’t always require sacrificing your TV

Most of us want to be entertained and stay on track with the newest and hottest shows that television and streaming services provide.

There is an endless offer of shows, films, and documentaries on the platforms.

The popularity of streaming is undeniable, its importance too because not only does it deliver home entertainment, but the industry is so big that it provides millions of jobs around the world.

It has become part of our culture to say phrases like:

• “Netflix and Chill”
• “Let’s binge some episodes together tonight!”
• “Let’s do a Watch Party” (Amazon Prime)

The level that the television and movie industry have reached compared to the early days of moving images in the 19th century is truly amazing.

Yet, many successful personalities say you need to sacrifice a variety of fun things, like watching movies and series, to become successful.

Logically, too much TV consumes too much of the time you’d need for building your business or working on a project.

Everyone has the same 24 hours and there are a lot of people filling the majority of those hours with TV, parties, drinking alcohol, or other stuff that won’t bring them ahead in life.

It might be true that watching shows or movies on Netflix will probably not get you anywhere close to your life goals, yet I would argue that it’s not a waste of time if consumed wisely and in moderation.

In fact, it can even enhance your productivity if you view it as a gratification for achieving something.

Set up an entertainment budget

I guess everyone can relate to the following situation:

A friend of yours recommended the latest and hottest show on Netflix to you and emphasizes how great it is.

Of course, you want to see it too.

But you’re so busy that there just seems to be no time.

What many people are doing then to fulfill that need of being entertained is they let it run in the background like music and focus on watching it halfways while working on their laptop in their home office.

I don’t think this is an intelligent approach because it costs the full focus you need for the tasks you should accomplish.

Apart from less focus on your actual to-dos, you’re very capable of falling into what experts call the Netflix trap.

This means giving up on what you wanted to do and watching shows for the rest of the day. It happens mostly to people who can plan their schedules themselves, like students or entrepreneurs.

If you’re falling into this entertainment flow, you give up and won’t get ahead.

While you’re following Walter White’s path of becoming an iconic drug lord or Khaleesi becoming the mother of dragons, your brain releases endorphins and wants you to continue.

The algorithms know that which is why streaming services show you things you probably like according to your profile and feed you with one cliffhanger after another.

So allowing your TV to run in the background can mean the death of any productive day.

Think of all the tasks you could achieve and the progress you miss out on.

Procrastination is not always connected to your personality, but the distractions you allow in your daily life.

Always view Netflix as later gratification

It’s much smarter if you’re setting up certain time slots for Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. in your schedule after you’ve been productive.

Entertainment should always be a form of reward after having a productive day or for achieving a milestone.

That’s what it has meant to be since the old days.

When Television came on the market and families bought a TV, the only purpose for it standing in their living rooms was to sit together in the evening after dinner and watch their favorite show. Not to be running in the background all day long.

It can be tempting to turn up the TV when you’re working in your home office or working at home on your project.

But keep in mind, this will very likely cost you your focus or distract you and you will have a low outcome from your work.

How to do it:

The first major step is to be strict and not turn on the TV, Netflix, or any other type of entertainment service during the day.

Meaning no shows, entertainment, Social Media throughout the day, not even during lunch break.

One show can quickly turn into two, or three.

As mentioned above, service providers like Netflix know exactly how your brain works and they spend a lot of time developing the strategies to use that for their benefit.

They know how they can glue your eyes to the screen and make you neglect everything else.

Be it through cliffhangers or making you feel good.

If you don’t want to miss out on your favorite show, schedule a fun time slot for every day when your work time is over.

This can be used as Netflix time, Me-time or whatever you’d like.

Just make sure to have it on your schedule so it won’t interfere with your productivity.

Follow specific goals

If you follow a certain path it’s extremely important to know where the road ends.

Otherwise, you’ll never know when you’re finished.

This requires breaking down your long-term goals into daily activity goals.

If you plan your work with that approach, you can be sure for yourself how much you need to do in one day.

You’ll have a better feeling for when it’s good to end working mode and shift into entertainment mode because you need to fulfill your daily activity goal first.

Then, when all your work is done, you’re allowing yourself to watch Netflix & co. But not any sooner.

How to do it:

Eat the frog first:

• Start with your most important task at the beginning of every day. This makes sure, you don’t have to think about it for the rest of the day, which makes your day much more relaxed.
• Don’t start anything else before you didn’t cross that one To-Do off your checklist you are likely to procrastinate on.
• It could be contacting an inconvenient customer, writing an important E-Mail, cold-calling potential clients, etc.

Abandon your smartphone from your desk

• (Except if you need it for work)
• In that case, download a blocking app that won’t allow you to check Social Media, You tube, Netflix, etc. on your phone until you’re finished.

Use caffeine right:

• Make sure to not blindly drink coffee or energy drinks. It won’t boost your performance if you drink endless amounts of them and apart from that, it’s unhealthy.
• Try to drink them in front of an important meeting or a task that requires your whole focus.

Have Deadlines for yourself

You need to know how much time you need for a certain to-do.

Otherwise, you could fall into the procrastination trap quicker than you think.

Deadlines for when you want to have certain things done can help save time and increase the effectiveness of your work.

How to do it:

Most of the times, it works best if you create urgency:

• Instead of planning a brainstorming session for 6 hours on one day for an important project, or you could plan it for only 30 minutes — the first version leaves a lot of possibilities for procrastination, the second version will require you to think about many ideas within a short time focussed. Better imperfect, but done.
• Have short breaks in between also to refresh your head once in a while.

Never watch TV before you have crossed everything from your To-Do-list for the day.

It is tempting to think that you’ll only watch one episode and continue with work afterward.

In the evening, you can swap into entertainment mode.

Practice the 80/20-rule and reward yourself only after you’ve been as productive as you wanted to be.

Bottom Line

Endlessly watching episode after episode of a great show will lose its charm at some point, as well as endless hours of work will.

We need the right balance and that’s good.

Viewing streaming and entertainment as later gratification can increase your productivity because if you know you need to accomplish work first to be able to watch your favorite show, you’ll be more motivated to finish your tasks.