Day 3

It’s good to know who your enemies are.

I’ll name a few of mine:

TV

Cheese Danish

Pride

Your list may be different, but if you’re smart, it will be long and detailed, and you damn well better be hard-nosed about it.

Take TV and me:

I thought TV was my buddy for years: from Saturday morning cartoons, to Letterman at night, to infomercials at 2pm on Saturday. My friends will tell you, if there’s a TV on in the room, there is nothing else going on worthwhile.

One night while I was watching Mindless shows, followed by Mindless Commercials followed by trailers for Mindless Slice-and-dice Serial-killer shows. My 5 year old daughter asked what rape was, and I said “shhh- never mind”- because I was caught up in the plot and want to see which victim would get slaughtered before the next commercial break.

At that moment (well, not then, later when the show was over) I realized I was putting TV over my family, and my ol’ electronic pal was more important then a conversation with my 5 year old, or her education, or really anything about her.

So then and there TV became my enemy.

Calling it what it is helps me draw the line and frame the debate:

Do I send time with my enemy or exercising?

Do I build space for my enemy in the living room or make him stay in the kitchen?

Do I want a big screen HD enemy, or a weak 12” enemy?

Do I want an enemy with 3 channels or 500?

Playing with my kids or watching my enemy get in their heads?

Like I said, most likely your list of enemies is probably different, but the struggle for who is going to control your life is the same:

Write down their names and start figuring out how you’re going to get them.

Before they get you.