After three years of countless documentaries and 178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I'd had enough. I cancelled my subscription to Netflix.
Adios! Au revoir! Hasta la vista, baby!
So, you ask, what's the point? Well, it boils down to time, folks. To me, time is one of the most valuable assets on earth next to Keanu Reeves.
If you're like me, you've perhaps set out some goals for yourself that you'd like to accomplish this year, and I knew that doing the unthinkable and quitting Netflix would better benefit my overall management of time.
I sat down and did some basic (very basic) math to get a rough perspective on the time I was spending watching everything Netflix had to offer and the results were downright shameful. Perhaps disappointing would be a better word to describe the feeling.
Why was it disappointing? Well, I just think back to all of the things I put off and didn't do—filling my time watching show after show, movie after movie—when I could have been working towards something more constructive like developing habits to stick to a regular gym routine, organizing my business planner or just working on being a better person in general. Hell, looking back, my Netflix time would have been better spent folding laundry. Tell me a better feeling than fresh socks coming out of the dryer. I'll wait.
As an artist (I use that term very lightly), I like to create things and put content out for others to enjoy. But you know what's the death of a creative process? Distraction! Distraction is the death of a creative process. Streaming Terminator 2 time after time doesn't add any extra value to my life or my creative process other than the reassurance it's one of the greatest movies ever created.
I think for anyone is flirting with the idea of being a full-time creative, it's imperative you modify the way you spend your time and focus on things that will help you accomplish this goal of doing what you love for a living.
By this point you're probably reading this thinking I'm against everything Netflix and Netflix is bad, but I'm not. I'm just saying that while some people are able to create, work, accomplish goals with Netflix in their lives, I've come to the realization I'm not one of those people.
So how are the results so far? Well, nothing too earth-shattering to be completely honest. I don't want to sensationalize and say by quitting Netflix your life will profoundly change and you'll become a better human. But I will say if you're like me, your sleep will improve at night, you'll have more time to focus on some goals and save a couple a bucks when it's all said and done.
If you've ever thought about cancelling your Netflix account, I encourage you to act upon that idea and replace it with something that will bring you more value. Even if you can't bring yourself to cancel your subscription because for some odd reason you still share an account with your ex or estranged family members, just do yourself a solid and establish some watching (bingeing) boundaries. There's nothing wrong with setting boundaries for yourself.
Just a couple of months Netflix-free and I'm knocking off my to-do lists and folding socks like nobody's business—and I've been going to the gym more often so I can reach the practical goal of looking like Donald Glover with his shirt off this summer.
