I got to thinking about this post, as I was fly fishing north of Toronto a few weeks ago. I was drudging through muddy waters trying to make my way upstream. It was a constant battle to keep moving forward.

Have you ever actually sat down and thought about what your life will look like five years from now?

Every self-help book or “how to make more money” book I’ve ever read suggests that you start with the endpoint in mind. They all say the exact same thing.

Set your goals and have an endpoint in mind. Take action and work towards that goal. They call it the secret.

But how many of us actually do it? I’d be willing to bet not very many. Yet how many people are unhappy with their current situation? I’d be willing to bet a lot.

I talk a lot about drudging through the work week because, quite frankly, we all know a lot of people who are just drudge along.

We all know people who aren’t excited about Monday’s. We all know people who hate their J.O.Bs (just over broke)

Yet they drudge on.

But where are they drudging to? Back in the river, as I worked my way upstream, I could really see no end in sight. It was a constant battle, and I was barely making any progress.

I have a feeling most people don’t do this exercise because most people assume they’ll be doing the exact same thing in five years they’re doing now.

Or, I’m guessing that people do the exercise halfheartedly and make up ridiculous life scenarios. They say things like “In five years, I’ll be sipping a drink in front of my beach hut in Thailand living off Lottery winnings.”

Here’s my suggestion:

Actually do the exercise and be honest about it. Map out your ideal life. Don’t be afraid to even map out what you would consider a perfect life.

What will you be doing for a living?

What will your family look like?

Where will you be living?

What new hobbies will you have?

Be as detailed as you want, but also be honest and realistic.

I’ll make a confession. I did the exercise a while back. I even wrote down the nitty-gritty details, like the size of our house and the color of our front door. I wrote about the relationships I would have with friends and family. I talked about my non-existent dream dog. I wrote down what I would do in my spare time.

The point I want to stress is that if you can look at a blank slate, and all you can muster up is endlessly drudging along for the next five years, you can bet you’ll still be drudging and get pretty damn good at it.

And maybe you’re happy with your current life, but I still don’t think that exempts you from the exercise. Maybe your dream is to drudge along because of the shiny golden years of retirement that await. That’s fine. I’m not discounting that, but you still need a script.

We all have a chance to write our own script. Sure, things will change and be updated along the way, but without a script or a story to begin with, nothing’s going to change.

You can be guaranteed of that.

Back in December, my wife and I made a decision to turn our TV off and stop watching it. We went cold-turkey.

When making this decision, we also agreed upon a few guidelines.

1. A movie on Friday or Saturday night was perfectly acceptable.
2. The Olympics, of course, were exempt from all rules. Canada crushed it.
3. If one of us wanted to watch TV, that was fine. We wouldn’t judge each other.

   We weren’t creating the ten commandments of the Fleming Household, instead we just decided that there were other things we’d rather be doing with our limited free-time.

It’s now almost May, and I’m pleased to say that we haven’t watched TV since before Christmas of 2009.

So here’s a little about my experience living without television.

I’ve read close to 40 books since mid December. I used to say I didn’t have time to read. That was an excuse. I have gained more amazing and applicable business knowledge in the past four months than many people gain over the course of a year or two, or maybe more.

I believe an investment in myself and my own knowledge will rival that of a paid MBA degree over the course of a year.

I’ve blogged nearly 5-days a week since February.

I’ve blogged about  New York Times’ (NYT)  best-selling books like ReWork, and my review has even been included on their official reviews page.

I’ve been sent free, advanced copies of killer unreleased books, that will no doubt be on the NYT best seller list, for  my review on this blog.

I used to say I didn’t have time to blog.

My wife and I go for nice long walks each night. We used to forgo the walk to catch the latest episode of obese people trying to lose weight.

How ironic. We were watching severely overweight people in a desperate life-or-death struggle to lose weight caused by a static and sedentary lifestyle in the first place, the exact same activity we were engaging in while viewing.

Anyways, I’m not going to be preach to you about watching TV versus not watching TV, even though new research shows that TV not only causes ADD, but also increases the risk of mental health problems.

However, I do want to say this about the subject:

If you’re spending long drawn out days doing something you don’t absolutely friggin love, then why are you spending the little time you do have investing your energy into an activity that requires literally zero brain function?

TV requires the single simple skill of processing images and not much more. Most TV shows are created so we don’t need to think. It’s a sedentary activity that basically lulls your brain into a coma-like state.

Very basic memory and concentration skills are required to watch and understand TV shows, regardless of how smart and challenging we want to believe some new shows are.

I’m just saying… You’ve got a great brain that wants to be challenged and engaged and you’re doing it a disservice by plopping down on the sofa for four hours each night.

It’s begging you for the opportunity to grow!

It wants to try new things!

It wants to learn new hobbies!

It wants to read and be challenged to think!

It wants to expand the potential and possibilities of your life!

And deep down, it hates just sitting around and being sedated.

My suggestion is to choose wisely both where and how you invest the small amounts of free time you have. Your brain will thank you in so many ways.