“What could you accomplish if you stopped watching TV? What would you do with all the extra time?” My wife asked me these questions two weeks ago. After a short discussion, we decided to find out for ourselves. We completely eliminated television from our lives last week. It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience. We now have a plan to drastically reduce our future viewing habits.

Here are 40 positive effects from our week without television.

Wrote 4 blog posts. – I usually only have time to write 2 articles a week. Made it to the gym 5 times. – I went Monday through Friday for about 45 minutes, hitting every major muscle group. Increased household communication. – TV kills the flow of household communication. We both noticed that we had a lot more time to talk. Read a novel cover to cover. – I read the short novel “Siddhartha ” by Herman Hesse. It’s a powerful story about the importance of life experiences as they relate to approaching an understanding of reality and attaining enlightenment. I highly recommend it. Caught up on current events twice as fast. – I typically waste a good hour everyday watching CNN. This week I grabbed my news off the web. It took me significantly less time to scan CNN.com. Enhanced focus on everything. – TV is a huge distraction, even when you hear it from the other room. It’s so much easier to concentrate when you don’t have a TV yapping at you. I had no idea how much if affected my ability to concentrate until it was gone. Learned a few new skills. – I took my own advice and learned how to change the oil in my truck… pretty darn easy. Spent more time with friends and family. – We invited Angel’s sister and some friends over for a mid-week dinner party. Cleaned the house. – Something Angel and I habitually evade by watching TV instead. Learned new recipes and prepared 5 home cooked meals. – We cooked large portions so we could have leftovers for lunch every day. Spent more time enjoying simple pleasures. – Deep conversations, long walks, telling jokes, etc. Finally trimmed the hedges in our front yard. – I always put this off because I am tired after mowing the lawn. This time, however, I did it on a totally separate evening. It only took me 30 minutes. Cleaned out the garage and sold 2 old dehumidifiers on eBay. – We setup a 5-day eBay auction and got $65 for each one of them! Took 2 evening strolls around a local park. – We hadn’t been to this park in years… there’s only 1 reason why. Saved money on our electric bill. – Our power company’s website allows you to check your daily usage. Sure enough, less TV equals less electricity usage. Burned more calories. – We were off the couch moving around. Backed-up critical files on both of our laptops. – Transferred them all over to our Iomega 500 GB external drive . I played my guitar. – …for the first time in a year. I’m hooked again! Found 2 new bands I like. – I used online music comparison services to find 2 awesome bands with similar music styles to my favorite band, Counting Crows. Listened to more music. – In addition to finding new bands, I had more time to listen to my favorite music. We stargazed in our backyard. – …for the first time since Angel and I first started dating. It was blissful. Caught up on times with an old friend. – I hadn’t spoken to my buddy Jon since my wedding a year and a half ago. We had a pleasant 30 minute conversation on the phone. Handled basic household maintenance. – Replaced the AC filter, applied pest control spray, replaced fire alarm batteries, etc. Took Angel out on a romantic date. – I took her to one of our favorite Italian restaurants and then out to a local pub where we slow danced to a live music. Finished up a little DIY project. – I’ve been stalling on staining, sanding and hanging a certain wooden shelf for nearly 6 months. Updated the photo frames throughout the house. – Sometimes it’s nice to mix things up. We spent some time sorting through our digital photos and replaced a few photos in various photo frames throughout the house. Played racquetball. – Great 2-person sport! Organized my monthly planner. – Entered all my known commitments into my planner and did a little time planning each night. Reviewed our long-term goals. – Angel and I had an open discussion last Tuesday night about our goals for the next 3 – 5 years. Setup recurring automatic payments for most of our bills. – Now our electricity, phone, insurance and cable bills are automatically withdrawn from our account each month. This basically buys me 30 additional minutes of free time every month. Updated my resume. – It only took me 45 minutes. Quiet relaxation. – Instead of clicking on the TV, I spent some quiet time gathering my thoughts each day when I returned home from work. Intelligent conversations at suppertime. – Quite frequently we eat supper in front of the TV. Since there was no TV watching this week, Angel and I had some really interesting conversations instead. Hit it off with our new neighbors. – We spent more time outside and ended up running into our new neighbors. They seem like pretty cool people. There’s certainly the potential for friendship here. Exchanged back massages. – It sure beats canned laughter. There was more time for “quality time”. – You know… just me and her and some classical music in the background. More real life experiences. – Because we were off of the couch, actually doing something. Watched 1 quality movie. – Instead of watching whatever was on, we went to Blockbuster and selected 1 quality movie to rent. Ironed my clothes each weeknight before bedtime. – …since I had more free time in the evenings. It made my mornings less stressful. We got more done. – Because we had so much more time to do it all.

I strongly recommend a week without television to everyone. You’ll be amazed…