Is watching reality TV the same as watching someone live their lives and earn a living?
This is the question I asked myself today as I was getting ready to watch one of my favourite reality TV shows The Real Housewives of Potomac (don’t judge me!)
To give you a bit of background, The Real Housewives of Potomac is a reality TV series about you-guessed-it, housewives that live in and around the Washington DC/Maryland area in the USA.
The show is packed with drama, arguments about arguments, social gatherings, portraying their lavish lifestyles and generally just going about their day-to-day business. The housewives part of the title suggests that they don’t work, but many of the housewives in the series run their own businesses, many of which launched after a couple of seasons of the show.
They’ve been able to leverage their platform and their social media followings to promote whatever they are selling, be it candles, caps, perfumes, beauty products or music.
And whilst it’s great seeing them succeed at what they do, I can’t help but feel that I’m watching someone else graft and live out their dreams. And I can’t help but feel a bit envious at what they’re achieving, which reminds me that I’m not achieving the same level of success.
I’m not suggesting that I or anyone should stop watching TV, as there’s nothing wrong with watching TV for entertainment purposes. But the question is, how productive are you being when you’re watching someone else live their lives and follow their dreams?
Are you using your time, energy and brain cells to help someone achieve their dreams, when that same energy could be used to help you achieve yours?
Is there a thin line between watching TV for entertainment purposes and being overly invested in someone else’s life?
Is there a thin line between watching someone build their brand and business and then realising that you haven’t done anything to achieve your own?
At what stage does TV watching become harmful? And when I say harmful I mean when you’re watching more TV than you invest in your own personal development.
We are doing ourselves a disservice if we are spending more time watching TV than we are in our own personal development.
Not a new concept or idea but it’s something worth reminding yourself of every now and then so you don’t get sucked into being a consumer of life-watching.
Celebrities are reliant on us being consumers of their content.
What if we flipped the script, and instead of just being consumers, we were creators, creators of our own destiny by spending time and energy on what we love to do, especially if what we love to do is building our own business and brand.
Ah yes, the consumer becomes the creator!
This still applies if you’re spending time on hobbies or working towards building a career, this is just as important and fulfilling and should take priority over any excessive TV watching.
This isn’t a plea for a TV ban, this is a plea for moderate levels of TV watching and not at the detriment of your own desires and dreams.
Put down the remote, it’s time to take charge of your destiny!