What Could Switching A Bad Habit With A Good One Accomplish?

I love to read. Novels, biographies, magazines, periodicals. I enjoy the way you can lose the rest of the world when you dive into a good book. The problem is that my busy schedule doesn't seem to leave me a lot of time for reading. Reading takes time. We live in a short-attention span, remote control, Twitter and Facebook, small burst kind of world. Reading takes effort and commitment. TV and Internet are easier.

Reading makes me feel pressured. I have so many things I like to read, and some are monthly or weekly with new issues coming soon. Must finish old issue first. Reading takes time. Thank god for Kindle. I don't think I could handle the pressure of a library book due date!

I will (too) often come home from work, plop down on the couch with a cocktail, turn on the TV and fire up the computer; surfing the net, checking emails, and watching TV all at the same time. (Did I mention how much I like reading?) Reading would be a much more relaxing and rewarding use of my time. Reading takes commitment. TV is easy.

How much more productive could we be if we swapped a bad habit with a more productive one. I'm not talking about adding something, I'm talking about replacing bad with good. Switching TV and Internet with reading. Smoking with jogging. Playing video games with playing the piano. If we're going to have an unhealthy balance of something, it might as well be something productive.

Every time I am about to flop on the couch in front of the TV, I will stop myself and grab a book, magazine, or news weekly instead. What will your switch be?

Reading with a cocktail? Yep, that should still work.

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