If life seems more rushed than ever, you might be surprised to learn that we Americans don't have less leisure time than we did 40 years ago. We actually have more leisure time, and quite a bit more. What counts as leisure is up for argument, but under every definition the numbers have gone up. We get about 45 minutes a day of extra leisure.

    Then why does it feel like we have so much less? It might be because we waste half of all our leisure time watching television. The average American adult devotes 2.5 hours a day to this hobby. And for every additional hour we get free, another 30 minutes goes into that boob tube. So if you want more free time, I recommend one thing: turn it off. This is easier said than done, especially during the world series.

    When I was growing up, my mom had one piece of advice for me, and she said it every single morning. "Get out of the house!" It's good advice. Come join the 6.8 million who are in a book club, or the 196,000 who attend  beach volleyball, or the 680,000 who go to tractor pulls every month. There's even 3 million people who enjoy a sport called "muzzleloading," which involves shooting a gun that looks 200 years old.