Here is a “tasking” from your doctor: We all have timers on our smart (that’s open to debate) phones so let’s all do this today or tomorrow: Every time you go on some social media site, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In OR check out youtube or some other web surfing not related to work, hit the “start” button when you begin and “end” button with finished. Note the cumulative time spent on those activities.
On the same day you calculated the time spent on the activities defined in the above paragraph, calculate the amount of time you spent: exercising, planning meals for the upcoming days/weeks, journaling your food/fluid intake, constructing a shopping list and web surfing for recipes that are compatible with one of the SP dietary phases.
Now, compare the times spent on those different collections of activities. If the time you spent was significantly more on social media and web surfing for fun than the time spent focusing on your health, then, to quote Ricky Ricardo from the I Love Lucy show: “Luuuuucy, you gat a lotta ‘splaining to do.”
Similar to the amount of alcohol we ingest and reporting our heights, human nature has us under estimating the time spent on “frivolous” activities and over estimating the time spent on “healthy” pursuits. Therefore, actually using the idiot phone for something purposeful (i.e. tracking exact times spent on the differing activities) will provide a stark reality.
We only have 1440 minutes in a day, with so many of those minutes obligated to necessary activities such as sleep, work, tending to children, etc. This leaves precious few minutes for “discretionary” time. The more time we spend focusing on our health, the healthier and happier we will be. Perform a reality check on your use of time and adjust accordingly.