So, I was just winding down for the night and reflecting on the past few weeks, and realized that I haven't watched more than three cumulative hours of tv in as many months, including the last half of the Bears-Packers game on December 22nd, which was flipping epic, by the way. It's so easy to disengage and submit to the super-routine lifestyle of commute > work > commute > eat > tv > sleep > commute > > > that turns a late night at the office into a long week, and a busy month into lost years. In a culture where "busy busy busy" is the litmus test for success, every scrap of info is consumed and filed, if ever to be applied. There is just so much out there to keep up with these days, right? It's exhausting, but necessary.

Well, no... not really. A month ago I went on a 5 day information hiatus: no tv, radio, magazines, newspapers, news sites or aimless feed surfing. No Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, status checks or mobile updates. I even cleared out my iPhone Apps. No IM, no email outside of set times, no information whatsoever unless necessary to do the task at hand. Surprisingly, the world did not implode upon itself, and by day two I was effectively checked out of the know. If the news was important enough to mention I would catch it from coworkers.

You know how the best conversationalists just ask questions? There's not much else you can do when you haven't the slightest idea of what's going on in the world. And I have to say it feels great. Seriously, what do we gain from a minute-by-minute news feed of a ferry sinking in Indonesia or the war in Gaza? You may argue that it is a civic duty to be aware of what's going on, but I doubt that heavy disappointed, anxious feeling in your chest is diagnosable as "civic duty." It's stress.

The addiction to information (and stress) sells a lot of commercial ad space but it is absolutely terrible for your health. Watching the markets' slow, agonizing decent into oblivion is not going to save your 401(k). If anything, it is fueling the negative feedback loop that is steadily dragging us into economic collapse.

I decided to just get over it and get on with my day.

My 5 day media-fast turned into three awesome weeks. Once I cut out the distractions and unnecessary stress I was 10x more focused and immediately started seeing more output from less input. On a typical day I'm finished with my hands-on work by 11am. Give it a shot and see how it goes. Create a few simple rules to cut out distractions, batch redundant tasks like email and meetings, refine your efforts as heavily as possible and correct course along the way.

My friends are probably sick of my advocating this guy's book, but check it out: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss