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Mark1520

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  1. SUCCES!!! I finished my 90-day detox last Thursday. As a reward, I let myself play a small game. Just to see how it feels and if I can combine it with other activities or not. Day 1: 10 hours of gaming. Day 2: 12 hours of gaming. Day 3: This isn't going to work.. Day 4: I just need to stop.. So now on day 5 and I'm ready to go again for another 90 days or atleast take a different approach. Gaming doesn't satisfy my needs anymore. A day without games feels more like a victory. So more about my 90-day journey. It's been pretty hard, especially at first. I thought of gaming pretty much all day long and I even dreamt about it, every night.. This went on for a while. At the same time I was trying to replace gaming (10-12 hours a day) with productivity. So activities that aren't a waste of time. So reading a book. Getting up at 6AM. Teaching myself how to speedread. Learning how to speak German. Exercise. Learning how to cook. etcetera. However, since I was going from 12 hours a day of gaming to a tight schedule all of a sudden, it got more and more difficult as time went by. I didn't want to wake up in the morning because of the 'chores' I had to do for hours on end. After a week or two, I couldn't manage it anymore. I went to watching movies all day, and wasting time though I didn't go back to gaming! After that I knew I needed a different approach. So I started experimenting with things. How to be most productive. Cut back some activities and leave me with some spare-time to watch movies or something if I wanted to, and so I did. I focussed on getting up early (6AM-7AM), reading 10 pages a day, exercising and working on my college report. It didn't even feel like 'tasks' or whatever. It came quite easily. It was easy to do, but also easy not to do. Except for the college report. That just sucked. While all this way going on I came up with an idea to help with instant gratification. I knew this was a big thing for me, since even when reading I kept checking the page number to see how fast I was reading etc. I felt like I wasn't going fast enough. So to deal with this; after every 'task' I finished, I wrote down what I did and attached a reward. The reward always consisted of a number of experience points. So for reading 10 pages I got 10 points, because I didn't have much trouble with doing it. Writing an e-mail, 5 points. Working on my report; 40 points. Since that was the task I had most difficulties with. This worked out pretty well. I now have pages full of activities I've finished and I've earned myself a shit load of points. My productivity is higher than ever. Though I must admit that working on my report, is still pretty hard to do. Where I stand now. So yeah, back to day 5 of gaming again. Why did I start gaming again after I finished my 90 days? Well, I needed to see what it would feel like. If I would feel satisfied after gaming. If I would be tempted to keep playing and playing. But also how I would approach the games. For instance, would I skip through text just to get to the more exciting parts, or would I take the time to read and understand everything? Besides that I really wanted to know wether it would be possible to combine it with my other activites, like exercising, working out, getting up at 6AM and my report. Day 1-4 were horrible. I was constantly gaming. But I realize that none of these days I was really satisfied. Gaming didn't do it for me. I wasn't happier when I was gaming. I was happier with being allowed to cross off another day on my 90-day detox calender than I was with actually gaming. So I want to see what's coming next. Day 5 is going decently so far. Even though it's only 9AM, I've been awake for a few hours. I've played a game. But I also spent a little while reading (which I hadn't done on day 1-4) and I'm about to go and excercise (which I haven't done in like 5 days either). We'll see where it'll go from here. I'm happy with the fact that I finally realized that gaming just doesn't do it for me anymore. I've experienced myself that gaming doesn't make me happy, at all. I mean, I really like doing it. But only for short while. And only as a reward or something. In the time where I'm allowed to spend it on rest and relaxation. So we'll see. I might be doing another 90 days. Or I might be able to combine it later on. Anyways, I know it's a bit long but thanks for reading anyways! If you're going for the 90-days yourself. Keep going! You'll get there! Stay strong! - Mark
  2. A system that works for me (though I'm still perfecting it) is that I reward myself with points for every task (household stuff, reading at least 10 pages a day, exercising etc.) I complete. The amount of points I get for each task depends on the difficulty. College stuff has always been my weak point and I find it difficulty to get started, so I reward myself with like 40 points. Since exercising comes easy now because I've been doing that for a while now, I get only 15 points for that. I do this for every task I consider a small win (multiple small wins equals succes) For instance: I've listened to a podcast that helps me understand how to set up a business. I get 10 points because it's not that difficult to do. However, I don't get points for things like watching Netflix. And after some amount of points, 100 for instance, you level up (I literally just came up with this). For the next level you need double the amount of points. And so you'll feel better after every task you complete. Keep in mind not to write a long list of all the stuff you want to do that day (if you have to, only put 2 or 3 things on it) because that sucks the willpower out of you. But write it down after you've completed the task. Along with the amount of points, add a note if relevant. I've added an example below: Don't mind the handwriting. But this helps me to deal with instant gratification plus I get way more work done this way. And after a while, a lot of things come easy, they become a habit. Hope this helps. If not, that's fine as well Thanks for reading anyways. - Mark
  3. I really like listening to Pat Flynn's podcast (SmartPassiveIncome). Mostly because I'm interested in setting up my own business It's the only one I've listened to so far, so I couldn't recommend anything else (yet).
  4. I used to have this. I'd play games around that time as well. Now I try to go to bed early and read some fiction. At first, it wasn't my cup of tea but after a while I started to enjoy it.
  5. I don't quite agree with what you're saying here, though I mean no disrespect ofcourse I myself have started A LOT of new things, but I always quit after some point. Maybe when it got too difficult, or when it just seemed too impossible to do. Now that kind of changed. I learned that consistency is the key to succes in any area you want to improve. If you want to improve at playing basketball then start by practising a couple times a week, preferably every day, for a good amount of time. Keep this up, week in, week out and you will definitely improve. You can improve your skill by practicing, though you HAVE to be consistent. If you want to become good at programming, you will have to make it a habit to work on that, preferably, every single day. At first it might be difficult, but if you keep it up, you will make it into a habit. A part of your daily routine. And then it becomes quite easy to do. You have to realize that your brain doesn't want you out of your comfort-zone. It tries to drag you back. And if you try something new, your brain has to create neural pathways. See it as a muscle. It HAS to be trained to become stronger. It will be hard, it will be difficult, but if you keep it up it will pay off. The thing that a lot of people don't see is that Michael Jordan, probably, didn't just HAVE the skills he has now when he was born. He might've shown talent but he probably practiced and practiced every single day. And he probably still does today. Same goes for Ed Sheeran. If you look at some of his interviews he'll say he couldn't sing at first, not at all. He sounded horibble. But he kept practicing every single day. And he got better. Little by little, day by day, he got better. Till the point where he is now.. A superstar. If you want something, really want something, go for it! You don't need to become the next Michael Jordan or the next Ed Sheeran. Become the next YOU. What I do agree with though. Is that it's a really good idea to measure your progress somehow. For instance, for running I use Nike+. That way I can look back and see the improvements I've made over the past couple of months. It motivates me to keep going. I do want to add that it's best not to want too many things at once. If you want to learn to play the guitar, learn how to cook, learn how to get better at basketball, set up your own business, learn how to run a marathon or whatever. Do them one at a time. Focus on one thing, and make that into a habit. If you've arrive at the point where it's quite easy to do the thing you need to do, like practicing playing guitar, then try learning another habit. One thing at a time. And you WILL be succesful. I highly recommend reading The Slight Edge. Cam recommends it as well (that's why I started reading it). It really helps you with becoming succesful in any area of your life. Sorry for the long reply. I just didn't want to leave any thing out. Stay strong, stay motivated. - Mark
  6. Hi there Tanvir! This is basically what I did when I stopped playing videogames. I started watching Netflix all day. After a while I confronted myself with this behaviour and realized I didn't quit playing videogames so I could sit around and watch movies all day. Ask yourself what you want to be doing. What are your dreams? Your goals? If you don't have any goals yet, try to create some first. Look at your dreams and ask yourself what goals you need to accomplish to be able to live that dream. If you have your goals you can split those goals into smaller ones. Keep doing this until you're at a point you know you can accomplish it in a day. Make a habit out of it to complete at least one task/goal a day. Just pick one goal or task and tell yourself you can watch a movie after you've finished that task. After a while, you'll be able to accomplish more and more in a day. At first this is really hard, and you will have days you won't be able to do anything. Just accept it, and try again the next day. Keep doing this and you will accomplish all of your goals. Give it some time (apply The Slight Edge) and after a while you'll realize that your dreams aren't dreams anymore. Your dreams are becoming reality.
  7. Good job! I used to be a mega WoW gamer I've recorded around 1 years worth of game time...it's amazing how a game can suck up so much of your life. Ahh yes. That's quite a long time. I don't even want to know the amount of hours I've put into WoW. Basically I've been playing for about 9-10 years so it used to be a giant part of my life. And it really did suck up so much. And I kept coming back to it as well, even though there were plenty of times where I wasn't even enjoying it. Or there were sooo many things I SHOULD've been doing. It's just so addicting. WoW has some sort of gravitational pull. And even now, after not playing for a while. Whenever I see WoW-related stuff or think about the memory's, I just get the urge to install it again. This only confirms the fact that it's so incredibly addicting. It can't be healthy.. Thanks for your response. Thanks. I try to, since it kind of helps me as well. Even though it's pretty hard to do what we do here.. we do it anyways. And it gets a bit easier if we can share experiences.
  8. Hi there, It's been quite a while since the last time I wrote a post and it's been going pretty good. I'm currently on day 56 (I think) of the 90 day detox, and even though I'm still having cravings to play games, I can control them. Though I must say whenever I come across something WoW-related I feel the urge to start playing again. But I've managed to push those thoughts away. I won't play that game again.. Learning more about myself Other aspects of my life have changed as well. I keep learning more and more about myself and what I'd like to do. For instance, I found out that my major in college is something I don't even like. I liked the basics of it and I was pretty good at it. But now where taking a more in-depth look at certain subjects, I realized that I just didn't care. I didn't care about any of it. It was boring stuff and I didn't see myself working in anything to do with it. Now, that's kind of a problem since I wasted A LOT of time these past few years with my gaming addiction. I've dropped out of college multiple times already and I really don't want to do it again, even though people, like my girlfriend, advice me to. I know my parents will go insane if they find out, since they just want the best for me. I have to tell them I don't care about this subject and want to drop out again, soon.. Very soon.. Besides that I'm still struggling with steady progress. I've come up with some good daily habits but they might be too much for now. Whenever there's a day I didn't do the things I'm supposed to do, it's really, really hard to get back into it. So it might be that I want to do too much at once. I'm trying to do the following things: getting up at 6AM, doing daily exercises, practising speedreading, playing guitar, learning to speak German, going for a run, reading 10 pages of a self development book, working on my final report for college, learning how to cook and to write posts for my website. I managed to keep this up for about a week. At the end of the week I was exhausted btw. And next week something came up so I couldn't do these things. And I just couldn't manage to get into it again. I got back to watching movies and stuff all day.. I was trying to do many things at once. So how about now? Well, now I'm just trying to do a couple of things. I'm still getting up early in the morning, but I'm not working my ass off the minute I walk down the stairs. If I haven't played a game and I got out of bed early that morning, that's already a victory for me. If I made my bed that morning, even better! Sometimes I manage to do something else as well because it's easier to keep moving. I hope I can keep this up so I can progress in all areas of my life. The no-gaming detox is going great so far and I'm sure I'll complete it. I know it's quite a long story, sorry for that. But thanks for reading! Stay strong! - Mark
  9. Day 9-13 Sorry guys, it's been a few days. I've kept myself busy with other stuff that required a lot of brainpower so that's why I didn't write in my journal. So the past few days went by very quickly. I kept myself busy with A LOT of things. for instance: Yesterday: waking up at 6AM, early exercise, college stuff, marketing stuff, reading (The Slight Edge woohoo, more about that later), coffee with a mate, Freeletics exercise, doing housework, marketing stuff again, Skype with gf, playing guitar, Duolingo - German, speedreading. So it seems like quite a lot of different things I've kept myself occupied with. Besides learning how to speak German, I'm also trying to get decent at playing the guitar and at reading at top speed (done this before, very interesting and useful). I don't know for how long I'll actually be able to keep it up every day, but after reading The Slight Edge it seems like I can do a lot of those small things because I KNOW what the outcome will be. If I would only practise for about 10 minutes a day, still imagine 30, 60, 90 days from now. I'm just wondering on how many aspects I can actually apply this principle without it being too much. But seriously guys, The Slight Edge is a must-read. Thanks to Cam for the recommendation! I'm halfway through it and it has already changed my philosophy. So about gaming, I've had NO cravings yesterday, whatsoever. I think it's because I kept myself busy all day. I didn't have time for it (that's a first). Sunday I was close to relapse, I was so bored, no clue what to do all day. I was watching a movie till a mate sent me a message if I wanted to go to this party. "Thank God!!!!!!" Yeah, I was pretty happy about that. Not a lot of new stuff going on, though. I'm reading The Slight Edge and loving it. Applying the slight edge disciplines will definitely pay off in future. It also makes it so much easier to do the small daily stuff, somehow. Sometimes it's still hard to do the bigger stuff though. So college stuff + marketing = almost a no-go. Since they're both things that require a lot of brainwork. I do either of them early in the morning, when my willpower is at it's peak. Besides that, I don't really have much to say. I'm trying to find something I want to do with my life. If I want to keep working on affiliate marketing and wait till it pays off. Or find a part-time job for the meantime. Or if I want to get back to college next year. I need to find something I really like, and make it into something that I'm passionate about. That way I will increase the quality of life immensely. This is pretty hard for me though.. I think I just have to try new things. Read a lot of books on completely different subjects and decide what things I'm really interested in. After that, I can decide if I want to go to college again, or not. If not, I need to find a short-term way to support myself. Maybe, find a regular job till I get my business going. That might not be a bad idea. Hmm, this journal thing helps. Right, that's it for me today. I don't really know what else to say so I'm gonna leave it at that. Thanks for reading Stay strong, stay motivated! - Mark
  10. How did gaming impact your academic performance? Did it affect your grades? Well in secondary school my grades weren't the best but I was playing video games 10-12 hours a day. I think the last few years of secondary school, I might have skipped half the classes so I could sit at home and play video games all day. Mostly World of Warcraft. When I got into college I didn't really change my habits. But my grades were not that bad. After a while the subjects required studying and that's where they went down. And then at some point, you can't fix your grades and have to quit your education. I've had that twice now.. Just because I wanted to play games all day.. If gaming was having a negative impact on your grades, were your teachers or you school aware of it? Of did you keep this to yourself? I kept it to myself for quite some time. Teachers didn't know about it anyways. My parents still don't know about it. They knew I was playing video games a lot, but not that that was actually the reason my grades went down. I always kept everything to myself. Didn't tell anyone, anything.
  11. Hi Mario, I listened to it. It's a very good podcast. Funny thing is that a lot of the things he said I've already been applying. That's why I got the most important stuff done for today They are indeed. Just regular reading takes a bit more brainpower than listening to a podcast as well. That's why combining it with housework for instance, is indeed a very good idea. I will definitely listen to more of Tim Ferris' podcasts. So much good info. Thanks for your input!
  12. That's exactly what I was going to say. Start with the biggest, scariest task first and you'll notice you won't find as much resistance. And yea sure, I'd like that. Though I must say I started learning German about a week ago on Duolingo. So I have no clue how much it will actually improved. It's still not that great at the moment, but I'm improving! As for my journal.. Day 9 What is up, guys. What I'm currently at day 9 of my detox and it's going great. The cravings are real, and instead of blocking them out, I acknowledge them. I know they're there, and I know my brain wants to game. But I also know that gaming has been a roadblock for me as well. Things weren't going quite that fast on day 8. Due to lack of sleep I presume. I was moving at the speed of a snail. But I still completed all the tasks I had set for myself in the morning. So YAY. I also realized that I've only been giving myself negative feedback whenever I failed at doing something I really wanted to do that day. Now I'm trying to just give positive feedback to myself by encouragement and giving myself compliments after completing another task. That way my brain will get positive stimulation instead. Besides that I'm kind of sitting at a dilemma. I realized I've been trying to do too many things at once. I'm trying to learn too many habits. For instance: - Quit playing video games - Learning how to speak German through Duolingo - Exercising 4-6 times a week - Getting up at 6AM in the morning - Writing a daily journal - Read every day - Write something for my internet business - Eating less and eating healthy These are all things I'm trying to teach myself and it might be a bit too much. At the end of 2015 I used to exercise about 6 times a week, so that one isn't THAT hard at the moment. Getting up at 6AM isn't that hard for me anymore either. Learning myself how to speak German is actually quite fun. I like Duolingo. Reading every day might be a bit harder to get into. Because I never read anything till about a few months ago. And now I'm trying to do it every single day. So I can finish one book a week, at least. Eating healthy is kind of difficult and since I still live with my mom (for the moment) I'm not the one making dinner each night. When I said I wanted to eat differently and more healthy she didn't quite take me seriously. It's not that we're eating bad food or w/e but I think we can do better. And she says it's nonsense, so yeah. All very motivating hehe. Writing something for my internet business is my main concern. I've been procrastinating on this for quite some time. Hadn't written anything in exactly a month. But as Mario said, each and every day; start with the hardest, most scary thing you have to get done that day. And so I did! I noticed a lot less resistance on the way and I got it done Wooohoooo! So the main problem is that I'm doing too many things at once. I'm trying to push myself further and that's good. But instead of doing it step-by-step I'm trying to do it all at once, which is baaaadd. So I think I need to drop something from this list. I need to exercise, I need to get up at 6AM, I really want to read every day, I really want to get my business going. So that means either learning German or a healthier lifestyle. Hmm. Learning how to speak German isn't that hard for me, since I find it quite fun to do. Eating less is something I'm having difficulties with though. We'll see!! So in summary it's been going pretty great. I'm getting stuff done (about 1523x as much as with gaming in my life) and I'm feeling awesome. Each and every day I'm getting closer to the goals I've set for myself and I love it. Thanks for reading and see you next time - Mark
  13. What's your plan for this? Is there an element of internet marketing you are most interested in? Well, I'm already working on affiliate marketing. I've joined a website which teaches you how to do it and what steps to take to be succesful at it but I'm still having difficulties. Any tips? I know you're a succesful entrepreneur yourself. You're the Mark that emailed me. Awesome. I'm still looking into my options for that by the way. The only solution I've found so far is in the $200 range so that's a bit annoying. I shared a few thoughts on my journey here. The key is to just take massive action and apply what you're learning. It's easy to read articles and books and all of that but never apply it. Applying it is how you learn and get better. It's a lot more simple than you think. I'm indeed that Mark! Hmm, that's quite helpful. Funnily enough, I've almost finished the '4-Hour Workweek' by Tim Ferris. Definitely a helpful book, and I plan on using what I've learned. It's just the action part that's my downfall at the moment. But thanks for your tips. You've inspired me (again) to take action! If besides applying the things I've learned; consistency is the key, then consistently putting out content is what I'll be doing I'd like to thank you once again Cam, for inspiring the people at GameQuitters to take action, so they can create better lives from themselfs. You're a true life-changer! Happy to help! There may be an alternative for the affiliate links so I will look into that and get back to you. Taking action is the key! Go for it! What else are you going to do? Good topic! I want to get a lot better at internet marketing. I really want to be able to work from home while making a decent enough income. Self-discipline is major thing for this though. So that's probably going to come first. What's your plan for this? Is there an element of internet marketing you are most interested in? Well, I'm already working on affiliate marketing. I've joined a website which teaches you how to do it and what steps to take to be succesful at it but I'm still having difficulties. Any tips? I know you're a succesful entrepreneur yourself. You're the Mark that emailed me. Awesome. I'm still looking into my options for that by the way. The only solution I've found so far is in the $200 range so that's a bit annoying. I shared a few thoughts on my journey here. The key is to just take massive action and apply what you're learning. It's easy to read articles and books and all of that but never apply it. Applying it is how you learn and get better. It's a lot more simple than you think. I'm indeed that Mark! Hmm, that's quite helpful. Funnily enough, I've almost finished the '4-Hour Workweek' by Tim Ferris. Definitely a helpful book, and I plan on using what I've learned. It's just the action part that's my downfall at the moment. But thanks for your tips. You've inspired me (again) to take action! If besides applying the things I've learned; consistency is the key, then consistently putting out content is what I'll be doing I'd like to thank you once again Cam, for inspiring the people at GameQuitters to take action, so they can create better lives from themselfs. You're a true life-changer! Happy to help! There may be an alternative for the affiliate links so I will look into that and get back to you. Taking action is the key! Go for it! What else are you going to do? I'm eager to hear the alternative! Well, I've been in a negative circle for quite some time. Quitting video games and finally doing what I truly want to do, is going to get me out of that circle. One of the first steps is to find out what I really love to do. What interests me. And write posts about that, every day. Personal development has been one of my passions the past year or so. And helping others to be the best they can be in live, is something I really want to be doing. I don't want to work 9-5 every single day for the rest of my life on a job I'm not passionate about, because (as my mom says) "I have to". I want to be excited to get up in the morning and do something worthwhile. Helping others has always been something I wanted to do. Helping myself at the moment is just something I have to do before I can start helping others. Step 1: Finish the 90-day detox while taking action in setting up a business. I'm setting goals for myself to work towards. Using the knowledge I've gained so far in my advantage, and learning about new things (by reading books) along the way. Besides finishing the 90-day detox and setting up my business, I need to find a quicker way to get me my own place. I'm surrounded by negativity. I know the people around me mean well and that they care about me. But they're holding me back and dragging me down. I've known that for quite some time now. I just never took any action to do something about that. That's gonna change, right now.. Step 2: Take it even further and find out where I see myself in 5-10 years. What do I want to be doing? What kind of person do I want to become? Set long term (flexible) goals. These might change over time ofcourse and that's allright. Step 3: Split the bigger goals into smaller, more manageable ones and take the actions required to achieve these goals. I will get to the place I want to be at. It's not going to be easy, I know that. I will have bumps along the way, and that's okay. They will help me grow. I will do what I want to do. And not because someone else wants me to, but because I want to!
  14. What's your plan for this? Is there an element of internet marketing you are most interested in? Well, I'm already working on affiliate marketing. I've joined a website which teaches you how to do it and what steps to take to be succesful at it but I'm still having difficulties. Any tips? I know you're a succesful entrepreneur yourself. You're the Mark that emailed me. Awesome. I'm still looking into my options for that by the way. The only solution I've found so far is in the $200 range so that's a bit annoying. I shared a few thoughts on my journey here. The key is to just take massive action and apply what you're learning. It's easy to read articles and books and all of that but never apply it. Applying it is how you learn and get better. It's a lot more simple than you think. I'm indeed that Mark! Hmm, that's quite helpful. Funnily enough, I've almost finished the '4-Hour Workweek' by Tim Ferris. Definitely a helpful book, and I plan on using what I've learned. It's just the action part that's my downfall at the moment. But thanks for your tips. You've inspired me (again) to take action! If besides applying the things I've learned; consistency is the key, then consistently putting out content is what I'll be doing I'd like to thank you once again Cam, for inspiring the people at GameQuitters to take action, so they can create better lives from themselfs. You're a true life-changer!
  15. Hi Daniel, Thank you! Your words mean a lot to me. I used to be very closed and introvert. But I realized I wasn't happy that way and sharing my thoughts with others has proved much better, for myself, but also for the people around me. It wasn't easy to change like that though. But I'm glad I did. I look forward to seeing your progress in the 90-day detox! I will follow your progress. We'll get there. We can do it Stay strong. Stay motivated! - Mark
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