NEW VIDEO: Why You MUST Quit Gaming in 2025
Ikar
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Posts posted by Ikar
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17 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
Nice job at the tournament. Make any new friends there or know anyone?
Thanks! I actually knew most of the people there, as it's a dorm/university kind of thing.
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12th October - 17th October:
Went to a networking event to meet some new people. Finished reading "World Order" by Kissinger and started a new book about freelancing. Attended a table football tournament and finished second. Worked out a shared table/system in Google Sheets to help my students and myself with orientation in their learning. Went for a trip with my girlfriend and her sister. Attended other fun events as well.
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2 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
I think it goes to show that it's more rewarding long term to put that effort into your own life and have real accomplishments. Not fake ones that can be lost due to people who don't care about you and never did.
I like to read "real" as "connected to others or oneself". I can imagine a workaholic at a company who has been pushing paper for many years without any effect on the world; though he got money, he wasted his time and life. On the self part, I think creating/doing something for yourself (reading, writing, making pretty graphs etc.) is truly never a wasted effort, as we did it for ourselves.
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59 minutes ago, FDRx7 said:
I was inspired to drive in silence because my therapist said something that resonated with me. She said, "I love driving in silence because it is the only thing I'm doing and no one else is telling me what to think or how to feel. It's my time to be in control of my own mind." We agreed that music is fine too, as that is a different experience for me. But listening to someone speak at me every waking moment of my day was affecting me, whether I realized it or not. Now, I'm endeavoring to make this protected time for music or silence.
It's interesting, because I normally drive in silence too. I drove 2x40 minutes today with my girlfriend and her sister and since we were talking during the ride, nobody even thought about turning the radio on. The only incentive I ever have to turn it on is when I'm curious about discovering some new song or perhaps to remind myself of some song that I'd forgotten.
1 hour ago, FDRx7 said:I was entertained and distracted yet fatigued because my brain was constantly switching where my attention was going (see multi-tasking, where you aren't multitasking, just rapidly switching focus between stimuli).
...
In my case, it was about distracting me from my inner thoughts and self-reflection, or simply because I had this feeling I needed to be entertained every second of the day.
I guess I am quite happy that I really do tasks one by one. I'm really unable to listen to podcasts because I want to pay full attention to the thing that I do. In which case, I'd rather watch a video, because I also get visual input together with it. It also makes it easier to stop and say "OK, I watched this video for 20 minutes and it was OK to relax. Now, what do I do next?" It's much easier to segment the day and decide on going outside for a walk, for example.
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On 10/11/2023 at 2:08 PM, FDRx7 said:
I know, it's terrible... HR figuratively has the power of life and death in its hands. When it is done well, it makes a company very strong and people want to stay. When it is done poorly, employee motivation decreases and overall output becomes worse. I think that's where I'm at now... demotivated by how work is assigned, what work you are required to do... the company does a poor job of rewarding so it doesn't make me motivated to work harder. Only to do my best in order to keep the job.
Yes, that's also the advantage of being self-employed; I don't really have to deal with people that make my job more difficult. I basically only meet my students and new people at networkings to have new students. There are of course intermediary steps; I think very few people have just started out as self-employed/business owners, I think everybody has some "normal" employment experience.
On 10/11/2023 at 2:44 PM, FDRx7 said:Today (yesterday, I never know which perspective to write from) was pretty great. I was able to get one of my cars transferred to my name, registered, and over to my favorite shop to be inspected. My mother was a great help to me in getting this done. It was a huge stress relief to get this completed because every time I visited my parents, I would feel stress looking at my cars that I couldn't move due to registration and inspection since I needed them in my name. I consider myself to be someone who cares for his things and looking at them stuck in the driveway created this great conflict within me about myself. Only one more to go, but I feel so much lighter now.
I can imagine it feels great to have this out of the way, good work 😄
On 10/12/2023 at 2:16 PM, FDRx7 said:I read a little bit online looking for people who have completely quit podcasts, but they seem to be few and far between. Podcasts appear to be like YouTube: many people consume it without a second thought as to how it might be affecting them or how much time they are spending with them. Afterall, it's educational. How could it be bad? There was only one that I found who quit for good. Everyone else said, "I tried quitting and here's what I found out." What they found out is that they experienced positive changes but could go no more than usually 30 days and jumped right back in saying things like, "This time I'll be more mindful," but I have no evidence that they did that. Not exactly inspirational. I intend to see this through and record how I feel after removing most of this from my life. I may return to one or two podcasts, but I think I want the majority to be out. We live in a constant state of noise and stimulation, and I don't think having podcasts on all the time is helping. What are we even doing with all that information anyways?
There's this idea that Manson described quite nicely - attention is more important than information nowadays. Information itself has mostly turned into entertainment or a hobby. I know a lot of things about modern history, but it doesn't automatically make me an expert, because anybody else can look up what I know in a matter of seconds.
But I can understand how hard it is for older people; TV in their 20s-30s could've been an avenue to knowledge, whereas today in their 70s it's really largely entertainment to pass time. There's nothing wrong with passing time, but I understand it can be difficult to distinguish it from actually learning something useful, especially in podcasts.
Who knows, if there are Game Quitters, there could be a community called Podcast Quitters in the future too 😄
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8th October - 11th October:
I watched a video on how to run English lessons. I have to say I feel better and more satisfied, if my preparation for lessons is more wholesome. My feeling of inadequacy has subsided.
I visited my family on Sunday and had the new phone ready for my grandma, so I am happy it worked out well and that she's no longer stressed about it.
I'm also in contact with my tutor regarding the thesis, so there's some progress there as well.
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18 hours ago, FDRx7 said:
I think he wants me on his team, but the hiring process still makes me somewhat nervous because I don't know who actually makes the decisions.
18 hours ago, FDRx7 said:And I know no job is perfect, but I believe it's time for a change. Also, my current company is not run very well and it's my first job in corporate. I tell my other friends things that happen here and they say, "Yeah, that's not normal man." So, I'm hoping a new environment at a place I liked working at will be a good change for me and keep me from pigeonholing myself in this current position.
Gah, company politics and bureaucracy! I know I was still gaming back then, but I left the army precisely due to the fact that I just didn't have years to wait until they finally decided to put me in a position that I would perhaps like. I understand your drive to change things up.
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On 10/9/2023 at 3:07 PM, FDRx7 said:
Today (Monday) is my phone screening for the job opportunity. I'm a little bit nervous because I don't know who I'll be speaking with and if our personalities will mesh. However, I'm optimistic that I will be friendly and put my best self forward. I am trying to be realistic about the opportunity to guard myself against disappointment. It is inevitable that if I do not get the position, I will be disappointed. I'm instead hoping to mitigate how much disappointment I experience. I'm doing my best to keep from thinking about leaving my current job for this one, but it is very hard to do with the prospect set before me. All I can do is continue as though I don't have the job until I do while thinking optimistically about myself as a candidate.
3 hours ago, FDRx7 said:I had the phone screening today and it went well. I felt I fumbled at times, but I think at the end of the day it was less about what I said and more about how I said it. Now I wait for a bit (1-2 weeks) to hear back if I am invited for a second round of interviews. I'm hoping to hear soon as 2 weeks will be torturous... but it will pass no matter what.
Good luck! I'd definitely say you can be optimistic; if it doesn't work out, you still have your current job. How much of an improvement would it be compared to your current position?
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3 hours ago, FDRx7 said:
Thanks! I think I like the “gamification” aspect of the measurements. It keeps me motivated to improve the scores, whether that is through doing better in general or redefining what success means (ex. Next Actions has changed a lot because it is a bit difficult to define what constitutes success there, and that’s okay; I’ll continue refining it until I understand what I need).
I saw the following in the journals somewhere and also in a book; many things are defined as habits rather than goals. My "family" monthly section hardly ever has any specific goals I could tick off, so I have "directions" there rather than "goals". I still think I can do better defining longer-term goals, as some things just take months to complete.
4 hours ago, FDRx7 said:Yeah, I wanted to redefine my relationship with alcohol. I wasn’t dependent on it, but also felt I drank well above what is the recommended limit. I do feel much better, and I wake up with much less anxiety; my mood has significantly improved upon rising.
Whenever I gathered with friends, I would drink the whole night (and they sorta did too) because I believed that I would no longer have fun if I stopped drinking. I think this was a subconscious thought that, after digging, I was able to bring to the surface. Twice now on this journey, I have proven to myself that I can have a great time and consume no alcohol. This allows me to redefine my limits. Moving forward, I know I can have one or two at a gathering, then stop, and still have an amazing time. I think this was a subtle but powerful experience for me.
In the dorm group (I lived at the dorm for about three and a half years and only moved this June), I go by the nick "Non-Alc" 😄
Anyhow, 2020 and 2021 were kinda special at the dorm. The pubs were closed due to corona, so the meetings obviously moved to the dorms themselves. But I gradually moved from consuming alcohol on a daily basis, simply due to the fact I had to be ready at 7 or 8 in the morning for my English lessons. The in-dorm partying/meeting stopped in autumn 2021, as the pubs opened again. I didn't feel like hitting the student's pub every other day was a good idea, plus I got a girlfriend at the start of 2022, so my consumption went down even more.
I second the thought that meetings can be fun without alcohol. I have done it multiple times. My country (Czechia) is unfortunately known for cheap alcohol and I really believe we have an alcohol culture, without any exaggeration. Alcohol is a slow and vicious killer of whole communities; in my opinion, cocaine, meth or heroine are more merciful to the addict's family or friends in aggregate.
4 hours ago, FDRx7 said:I think it’s less about the tea and more the caffeine. Tea is quite healthy, so I imagine the limit would surround how much caffeinated tea you can tolerate. I used to drink a ton of tea when I was younger. In school, I would bring a liter of tea in one of those pop-top thermoses. My teacher asked once if anyone smelled a campfire when I brought in some Lapsang Suchong 😂.
Sounds good! A bit of a shame that tea colors my teeth brown 😄
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I like the graphs and scores! It's been a long time since I stopped journaling every day, but I always evaluate and "score" things once a month and once a year. I don't normally go back to my monthly reports, but I believe it's always in the back of my mind, helping me to be grounded and to have some perspective.
I noticed you also have a "no drinking" streak. I can relate to being in a pub with friends, wanting to have something good to drink... I think I would have stopped drinking regular beer altogether, if pubs had draft non-alcoholic beer. They normally don't and all the alternatives are kinda sucky: drinking sodas hurts my teeth and buying bottled non-alcoholic beer or water for 2x-4x the price in a shop just makes me want to invite my friends to a picnic or to my flat 😄
Regardless, I noticed that even having/not having one beer has an effect on me. I don't know when I've become so sensitive, but I can feel it. That's why I have a beer maybe two times a month now and I prefer to grab the non-alcoholic/radler one whenever I'm in the mood for it at home.
I also love tea as you do! I think the average is above a liter a day for me. I prefer a strong black tea, but I also got some green tea to change things up. I normally use the same teabag two or three times during the day, as I intentionally want to make the tea weaker; I'm not sure if it's too healthy to take in so much of it and it's also just about the ritual.
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29th September - 7th October:
I can say I was productive this week, as well as somewhat out of my comfort zone.
I specified the topic of my diploma thesis and worked on the questionnaire. It's the first thing I want to get done before working on anything else, as it's gonna take some time to get the respondents and it will also help me refine the topic/aim of the thesis even further.
I also went to a business conference on Thursday. I had a short five minute presentation and it was a good experience.
This week was also tougher in regards to my mood. I studied a lot for my professional development as an English lecturer and I became more bashful regarding my abilities and partly my knowledge. I also decided to step up my publicity locally by throwing small flyers into mailboxes; it could help my business, doesn't cost much and I can use the exercise.
As for today, I'm feeling off. I've had headaches, I feel cold and I even took a nap during the afternoon. I hope it'll be better tomorrow.
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On 10/3/2023 at 7:46 AM, GrainSiloEnthusiast said:
Again I don't expect overnight success and I know very well that this may all be for nothing, but I'm willing to give this a shot if she's willing to fight to save herself. Lord knows she's stuck with me through some shit I didn't deserve to be stuck with through... I wasn't always the person I am today. And I still have plenty to work on myself, no delusions about that!
I hope it goes well!
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19 hours ago, GrainSiloEnthusiast said:
It's definitely the stagnation. We were a lot more compatible when we first met, a suicidal drug addict (me) and a suicidal extreme depressive hermit (her.)
I feel you. I think that's how my relationship ended 5 years ago as well. My X got just tired of me not getting a job and gaming all day. I think she wanted to improve her life, but it's hard to do that if you have a partner who is just stagnant and perhaps even sabotaging your process.
19 hours ago, GrainSiloEnthusiast said:I have grown and changed SO much in the last 6 years (our anniversary is on the 25th of this month...) But she is more or less the same person I got together with. She's had better times and we've had hard times, this probably isn't even the hardest time we've had, I'm just EXHAUSTED.
I am literally her only friend, besides our daughter. It's exhausting to be her lover, friend, therapist, mommy, maid... etc blah blah blah all at the same time.
She's actually a really good mom though. That's part of why I left my daughter with her for the weekend, I can at least trust her to take care of our child.
But she almost feels like my teenage child. She feels like my Responsibility, even though she's not supposed to be.
I get a feeling that stagnation (for sure over 6 years) in other people means they are fairly happy with how things are. Her mental issues suck, but you can't let that hold you hostage, much less your daughter. My girlfriend depends on me as well, but not in a way that an addict would be on their drug. I hope you can take that into account while searching for a solution.
19 hours ago, GrainSiloEnthusiast said:But the way our daughter cried for me when I left, the way she desperately banged on the door... I'm not ready to rip our daughter's life in half...
Can you mobilize someone to help you out? It's sad when kids get caught up in the middle by no fault of their own 😞
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5 hours ago, GrainSiloEnthusiast said:
My partner and I are having a like... separation? or something. I don't know if it'll last only a few days, a week, weeks, indefinitely...
It's too exhausting to retell everything that happened but to put it in a metaphor like... she always has a cloud over her head... sometimes it's just cloudy other times it's a thunderstorm. I'm tired of being wet all the time and afraid of when the lightning strikes
I'm just so tired. I have made myself sick with stress lately too. It's hard to eat even 1000 calories because I have no appetite. Fasting on Yom Kippur had come as a relief, no obligation to eat food I don't even want to eat.
I'm currently staying with my mom across town, and I left my daughter with my partner for the weekend. I'll collect her from school on Monday. I miss my daughter a lot. The way she cried when I left made me feel like "oh okay I'm stuck here forever then."
In times/cases like yours I wonder: What has changed in the relationship? How does one go from being happily pregnant with a partner to this situation? What are the factors that contributed to this? I know that these don't only have to be negative; maybe you grew in your life so much over the past few years while your partner stagnated and that created a big rift, as you could relate to each other less.
Whatever the result is, I hope you'll be able to remain strong through this and work out a solution with your partner.
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20 hours ago, FDRx7 said:
Which blocker do you use for your phone? I have Freedom, but I feel it's a bit redundant now with screentime. Additionally, there's nothing to stop you from deleting the app, which is why my wife holds the screentime passcode. With Cold Turkey on my computer, once a block is initiated, you cannot remove the program. That's an awesome feature. It also has a setting where you can lock yourself out of your computer completely (that feature is called Frozen Turkey). I haven't used that feature yet as I'm a little scared of it 😅
I have some hard-to-remove software called LeechBlock on my computer and it works well. I always have to deactivate/reactivate it every 30 minutes on YT and I perma-blocked the various news websites. That YT block there is more of a reminder that I shouldn't spend too much time on it, but it's quite rare I watch a video longer than 20 minutes. I get too bored with longer videos.
I found out that I found the small screen of the phone too annoying to read too much news, so I don't abuse the fact I don't have any blocks for it there. News has always been a distraction for me for just five or ten minutes maximum. Porn turned out to be much harder to deal with. The idea here is that I'd have to block out half the internet at a specific time for some period of time. If there was some app that would hard-immobilize the access to it, together with Chrome and YT for 3-6 hours at the push of a button (I watch porn basically only before sleeping), that'd be amazing, but I don't know if there's one. I'll look into Freedom and Screentime both though, thanks for the suggestion 🙂
It turns out locking myself out of my phone wasn't a big deal. Luckily, it was Saturday and I'm more reliant on my desktop than my phone historically. But it makes sense with all my gaming history and student calls though 🙂
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On 9/27/2023 at 12:01 AM, Vee said:
Most of today I've spent daydreaming/napping. I had energy, but I chose to daydream instead of engaging with the real world. I'm not specifically craving gaming, but I am craving that feeling of losing myself in something. It does sort of happen with watching TV, although the lack of interaction doesn't make it the same quality. It can happen with writing, and with reading, but it's rare enough, or else takes long enough to get into the flow, that I'm not driven to seek those pursuits out.
It's been four years since I quit and I don't think I've experienced what you're describing as often as when I gamed. Regardless, an emotional high of immersion for, well... having a normal life is a tradeoff I'll gladly make.
On 9/27/2023 at 12:01 AM, Vee said:I've now brushed my teeth for ten days in a row! It still doesn't come naturally to me (I remember specifically because I have a habit tracker), but I no longer get that weird resistance to the concept that I usually do.
Good job! I had issues with my brushing when I was a teenager, so I know it's hard to get back on track or even start anew. It kind of helps that I have sensitive teeth; if I go without brushing for a few days, I get toothaches whenever I eat. Nowadays I can confidently say I brush 6/7 nights of the week 😄
22 hours ago, Vee said:Writing: I need to do a little research for the next (chunky) scene, but I should be able to do some actual writing on top of that. I don't want to lose the momentum here. At this pace, it won't be long until I'm out of planned scenes and will need another pure planning session. Next month I want to start thinking about returning to short stories, alongside the novel.
I'm writing my master's thesis at the moment. I can say is that I need to worry less about how much time (or how many days) it will take me to move to the next stage. It's because the next stage (or even multiple stages) pops up during the process from the unknown. I know that if I put in two three quality hours of work in every day, I'm going to finish it, just like other students before me did. I promised my tutor a concept of a questionnaire at the end of the weekend and that's what he and I shall have.
6 hours ago, FDRx7 said:I think you're right; the ritual of focus is definitely part of it. This particular music works for me due to something about the repetitive rhythmic nature of it (I end up syncing my fidgeting to it haha). The intention of focus is what matters most because even when I use this music, sometimes if I am really distracted and throw it on hoping for a magic pill, it doesn't work. It helps, but I still need to stop and make sure I'm intending to focus.
Yes! I found out that many of the games I played in the past have several tracks or even whole soundtracks I can listen to indefinitely and which can serve as great background/time stamps for me. The genre is generally classical voiceless (as many of the games of the 00s had these), although some have some modern element mixed to it. I think voiceless D'n'B tracks work the best for me. I've been meaning to try out some jazz music as well, but I have issues with actively listening to tracks if I don't already know them and that's not conductive to work 😄
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Toying around with enhancing/re-calibrating the blocks, I managed to lock myself out of my phone for 24 hours. Luckily, I can still call 😆
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23rd September - 28th September:
I visited my family, worked on a business presentation for young students, did some cycling and walking as well. I also attended an online meeting regarding English lecturing and it gave me a nudge to continue working on myself, my lessons and my business.
My plan for today was to work on my diploma, yet I didn't. (What I did instead was to catch up on newsletters and on select financial topics that interest me.) I communicated with my tutor at the weekend, however I haven't heard back from him since. I'm gonna work on it tomorrow - I have a plan to create a questionnaire for my thesis and use the data, so I want to send him a concept of it by the end of the week to give him some incentive to reply. Inactivity in this area makes me nervous, even though I still have well over three months to finish the thesis.
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I'm using the template I used the last time. 11/08/23 - 22/09/23
"L" will stand for the (last) plan/notes for this term. "T" will stand for done this term.
I added "Future goals/direction" to better reflect on the things I am trying to do and to add specificity. I will copy it and stick it somewhere where I can see it to remind myself whenever I feel aimless. I will also use different colors: blue for newly added goals/habits, green for completed/successful, orange for ongoing/some progress and red for ones I haven't worked on in that period.
--- set smart/stretch goals - read book again
Books/Reading articles:
L: I finished the book. I also finished "Smarter Faster Better" by Duhigg. I set up a SMART goal for my university thesis. I wanted to borrow a new book two or three weeks ago, but the uni library is closed for the summer. Caught up with my newsletters.
T: I read "Be Obsessed Or Be Average" by Cardone and I got rather mixed feelings about the book. I also started reading "World Order" by Kissinger. Not caught up with my newsletters.
Possible direction/goals:
Continue getting through the newsletters.
(Borrow) and read one book until the next monthly report.
Family:
L:
The kitchen plan ran into (another) problem. The working desk is a few centimeters shorter than needed, due to the fact there are unmovable drain pipes near the wall. The best solution, according to my father (and I share it), is to get a wider working desk, rather than to cut the cupboards to let the pipes through them.
Another piece of family business that I'm dealing with is my mom. Overall, she's too wishy-washy and disorganized for me to deal with. I'm gonna talk to her tomorrow and try to find out how we're gonna approach our relationship.
T: I met my mom for lunch about a month ago. Other than that, there's nothing special happening, except the fact that I'm going to visit my family/grandma every week until my grandma's kitchen is reconstructed.
SpoilerSince October, the project of my grandma's kitchen has been my responsibility. Some progress has been made, however I know that half a year is just too big of a time-frame to justify. I'm gonna lay out the plan:
Weekend of 11th/12th March: Ask my grandma to give me a "free hand" in the reconstruction of the kitchen. She was hesitant regarding the scope of the reconstruction, which made me hesitant in turn, because I didn't know what to do. I want to convince her that she has nothing to worry about and that the whole operation will be fast.
Weeks 11 and 12:
Consult my father and brother as to the design of the kitchen and use the IKEA kitchen planner to help me out. Show my grandma the plan for the kitchen at the end of week 12 and get a green light.
Weeks 13 and 14:
Go to IKEA to get the furniture and other shops for linoleum and other smaller stuff. There's no need for new electronic appliances, so there's no need to get involved with electrical thingies. Transport the furniture to my grandma's flat.
Weeks 14 and 15:
Plan a weekend with my father/brother to help out with the reconstruction. Removing old furniture, a bit of demolition, painting, putting in the new furniture. Get it done well and ASAP.
NOT: I don't want to get alienated from my family.
Possible direction/goals:
Work on getting the new kitchen for my grandma.
Continue work on maintaining the relationships with my family.
University:
L: I started daily work on the thesis two weeks ago. I have some four thousand words on the paper, with a few ideas for future chapters and the direction of my research. My plan is to send the draft to my professor in three weeks before I go for a two week holiday with my girlfriend.
T: Currently on nine thousand words, although I wrote the last of them at the end of August and then I left for my holiday. This week, I resolved the email communication issues and had a consultation with my tutor. He advised me to be more specific with my topic and to send him a short summary at the weekend, so that he can insert the thesis assignment into the system.
NOT: I don't want to drop out of the university.
Possible direction/goals:
Do the main part of my diploma in summer/autumn 2023 and do the defense and finals in January/February 2024.
Work on the assignments in a timely manner.
Business/English:
L: One of the business meetings was great, the other one more of a revision of what I already know from other meetings and from the web. I did some minor promo/advertising on my social networks. I read some articles from an interesting pricing blog. I worked out the personalized price increase from September and I'm gonna start telling my students the next week. Quiet month overall.
T: I attended a networking event and I'm happy that I did! I also met my online students face to face while visiting their city, which was also nice 🙂
On a more practical note, I got a small pay raise from both the language schools, as well as from my students by creating a new price list. I also got an invitation to a weekly outdoor English project, however it's in a bad time slot, as I already have classes there.
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Classes are at a stable 25-30 hours a week, plus a few hours for admin work.
Note: July and August and maybe September are going to be abnormal, as some courses don't run during summer and people are often on vacations.
An example for 23 hours this week: Category A 63% (67); B 12% (0); C 8% (6); D 4% (14); E 13% (13). Brackets are % values from previous month.
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I've done a bit of an analysis of my courses and categorized them based on what they provide me. I earmarked five types of courses:
a) my own - well paid + generally more motivated students (as they pay the courses themselves) + more challenging
b) premium - language school courses paid at a premium compared to my standard LS courses for various reasons (roughly matching the a) group)
c) flexible - courses from LS that don't have a fixed schedule, meaning it's on me if I make time for them or not (though I mostly do, as can they plug the gaps or can start my day)
d) challenging/fun/prospective - standard LS courses with an added quality
e) neither - standard LS courses without any added quality
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NOT: I don't want to have a job that I don't enjoy. I don't want to have a job that is not well paid.
Possible direction/goals:
With my job position and student demand secure, I'm more able and willing to reschedule or even cancel classes in case I want to do something, mainly in the evening and for holidays. I enjoy having this option thoroughly.
Keep classes at a stable 25-30 hours a week.
Keep asking for reviews or recommendations from students.
Look into strategies to become truly self-employed by skipping the agencies in between.
Write down specific areas and what I want to do in them:
Networking and business events.
Get a system to mark down the progress of my students, together with their learning plan.
Check out business vouchers for equipment.
Past projects:
Questionnaire.
Fixed logos on my website for better visuals.
Updated the pricing section of my website. Variable/tiered pricing (do in July/August).
Got minor pay raises from language schools.
Did evaluations/testing of my students, if required.
Attended one networking event and one marketing seminar.
Introduced "phone call" classes. Update website/business profiles with "phone calls".
Exercise/Movement:
L: Going for walks almost daily and cycled perhaps 100 km the last month in total.
T: We walked and hiked quite a lot with my girlfriend in Georgia. I make an effort to go out every day, to at least read a book outside or go for a short walk. Cycling/walking to my students in the area as well.
NOT: I don't want to become fat.
Possible direction/goals:
I enjoy the fact I do not have to be "actively" dealing with this area of my life, as it's technically a part of my job. I just have to be on lookout if that was to change.
Keep in shape.
Blogging:
L: I got the blog online at the end of July! There are some minor things to improve, but I put it out there and posted it on social media to get the word out. There are about five articles thus far. I even wrote a brand new article this week.
T: I haven't had time to even think about blogging with everything that was going on, although I do have a half-way written article in the works that I could publish soon.
Possible direction/goals:
Find a suitable UI/web template.
Set up emailing for subs.
Post two articles a month.
Polish links in articles. Interlink new articles with old ones.
Finish articles in concepts.
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What to do if I am bored?
Replacement activities for 1 hour: reading books, cleaning, washing the dishes, reading newsletters
Replacement activities for 2 hours: going for a walk, work on my business, blogging, diploma thesis
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Additional thoughts/activities:
My hobbies are: personal finance, graphs/projections/statistics, gunnery, GIS/statistics, reading/videos about (modern) history, English, working on my business, blogging/writing, geography.
This month, I did these cool activities: going for a massage, spending time on the GQ forum, visiting Georgia and visiting my students, buying new shoes and shirts, visiting a cottage/cycling trip, having good conversations with my girlfriend.
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Goals/resolutions/aspirations for 2023:
Pass all the exams at the uni, finish the thesis and finish all university duties successfully in January/February 2024. - WIP, progress = yes
Improve my business, so that I don't need to teach for language schools anymore, by getting more private contacts, opportunities and students. - WIP, progress = yes
Go to Georgia to visit my friend. -
Unfortunately, the plan didn't work out. I plan to go there later this year, either in late summer or autumn.We did it! 🙂Stop watching porn (again), stop reading too much news (again). - Got some blocks going on. The past week was clean!
Start getting up when my alarm rings. - I got better, not 100%, but better.
Continue: planning, walking/exercising, writing/journaling, reading, studying for uni, dating, work on good life/work balance.
It's a short list, but if I manage all of it, I will be happy.
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4 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
Good job being aware of this. Maybe there's some sort of control you're looking to have on something and maybe there's a better outlet.
I think that's true. I came back from my holiday a week ago, but in my head I've been having trouble getting my handle on things. I'm likely doing a decent job, but day-to-day progress on long-term projects is hard to appreciate.
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16th September - 22nd September:
So I've caught up on all the important things, though some non-urgent stuff is still awaiting my attention. I visited my family at the weekend. I finally connected with my tutor; there's been some mess with communication, as the uni IT department is transferring the emails, but I hope now I have all the relevant information. I also attended an university event, did some reading, connected with two new students and spent time with my girlfriend.
I believe I am porn free for about a week now, thanks to my newly implemented blocks and my laziness to crack them open due to unknown complexity of such a challenge 😄
I've been feeling the taste to play "Total War: Shogun 2" here and there for a few days now. Granted it's a fairly complex game, I think my brain is craving some complex problems to solve. Therefore, I'm going to direct my attention towards complex problems in the real world to keep it busy 😄
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9 hours ago, Pochatok said:
Thank you so much- I'm curious as to what you mean by this!
In a way, your writing reminds me of this guy here. I like it 😄
9 hours ago, Pochatok said:Woah, today went from a below-average to mind-bursting in an instant. Hard to bounce back, though at this point I can feel my future self gently massaging my back as I'm typing. So lucky to feel this connection 💛 And even luckier to feel love for the person I was just a couple hours ago, even though their decisions are hurting me a lot now.
A misogynistic comment at work has been made, and though I had the strength to not enter complicity and smile along (at least not consciously) with others, I did not take the courage to address the issue and speak up. It is very hard to accept this- I feel so small and weak.
The entire interaction, really, felt disempowering. While I am still struggling to see what exactly put so much weight on me, I generally felt misunderstood, not taken seriously, and perhaps even talked down upon in some situations. I certainly felt a strong struggle to stay attuned to my values- did I?
It's hard to look at the situation from an outsider perspective yet, at least not while I am reflecting. How about this: I'll pause this entry and reflect right now.
... 📖 Journaling 📑 ...
A couple takeaways: I do not think that anyone was intentionally putting me down. Perhaps what is going on is my inability to digest some social cues- for example, I could notice that folks where laughing/smirking between each other at certain moments, but it was hard for me to tie that into any cognitive conclusions. It was something I simply noticed.
And ultimately, I am very glad to be caring so deeply about this, and not wanting to put up with it by the slightest. I remembered times of similar feeling across the prior months- these are the moments when my internal tectonic plates shift, when my future self shines through me. This is the moment of a significant possibility to become someone different. And I will grasp it
It's amazing how moments like these always go from happening to me to happening for me. I only wish that this cognitive path was a bit shorter, for the pain of the journey from one to the other is immense- it has taken me ~2hrs to get to this point. And I'm still plenty of hurt.
To those kind people who take the time and effort to read these- thank you so much. You're helping me build my future self, cell by cell.
Po
It all depends on the context that you are in. If you think the guy just made a comment/joke to make others laugh, I'd say that's fine.
If you think it was directly aimed at somebody in the office/you, you could confront this guy (in a calm way) and learn why they are putting you through this. I've been pranked before and it was funny for others, EXACTLY because I took myself too seriously and overreacted and did stupid shit. Do you really want to give a damn about a few strangers/colleagues laughing at something? Maybe yes, maybe not.
There are two types of people who laugh at "Women are X. Men are Y. Greens are Z." jokes:
1) they laugh, because they think it's true and just want a relief from their reality (especially if it's the opposite categories, i.e. women joking about men) and
2) they laugh, because they know it's absurd.
That way, generally everybody laughs at these jokes.
The amount of smack talk and deadpan jokes that my girlfriend makes about kids would make you believe that she really hates kids, yet it's not true and she wants to have kids in the future.
I make a personal ecological effort, yet I can laugh both at the people who glue themselves to the road ("Oh, so you want to "save the planet" by disrupting the traffic, hence making everybody burn more fuel and making everybody adhere to your own personal worldview?") AND the people who don't recycle or waste a lot of food, by calling them primitive barbarians without any culture and regard for the environment.
These things are hard 😄
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10 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
I wonder if you can seek out a mentor to review your out of class commitments and provide feedback. My company let's me choose a mentor and I can go over stuff once a month to get my questions answered. Maybe you could see if that's at your place too.
It's indeed useful to have mentors. I've taken part in two mentoring projects in the last year and both had a positive influence on me. Both of them spurred some activity in me, especially regarding 2) - things related to my professional success.
The language schools generally don't provide any guidance here, as developing myself in this way effectively turns me into a competitor rather than an employee. Simply put - they will organize seminars on how to run the classes, use the technologies etc., but not on how to find new business partners or how to present myself online on my website. For that, I need to seek help myself.
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First off, I have to say you have an interesting style of formulating thoughts and writing 🙂
On 9/18/2023 at 9:08 PM, Pochatok said:Perhaps the most satisfying revelation: there is no lightbulb moments, but rather moments of passing through a certain level of being that resonates with my awareness. This week has been full of moments like that; the smooth motion that turns into miles being passed once you look back. What a wonderful feeling that I feel so lucky to have.
I can relate to this 100%. It's true that for long-term happiness, we need to be able to appreciate the distance. Occasional short-term exhilaration won't help.
On 9/18/2023 at 9:08 PM, Pochatok said:Look forward to becoming more visible, both online and in-person. Ultimately, my time always feels so limiting... There is so much more I want to do, so many more people I want to meet- and it sucks that almost every decision in favor of something is a sacrifice against another choice. My life does feel scarce as of lately, at least on the social scene. However, it is a matter of time- I will be able to shift into a different way of being as long as I continue to develop my passions.
On the flip side, I think that's great! You have the freedom to choose. Many people can't choose, be it because of their physical environment or some mental prison they've constructed. You can weigh options against one another and choose the one that best serves you and your values, temporal or long-term.
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Thriving - A Journal
in Daily Journals
Posted
I sometimes have these situations too, although not very often; I normally just go. I hesitate only when it is expensive to come, if I don't know how it fits my schedule or some other rather objective reason. But I'm also a person who hardly feels any kind of regret, so normally I am at peace with whatever decision I make.
Volunteering should be a totally voluntary activity (obviously 😄 ), so you should be excited enough to go there quite easily. It's not like presenting a product to a client, when you have some internal doubts about the product, your company, your character etc. There could be a social reason as to why that alone isn't enough to make you just go. Maybe it could help to promise somebody to show up the next time you're there?