UndRt0w

My priorities this weekend - Study minimalism/essentialism by reading theminimalist.com and zenhabits.net --> find my priorities, reflect about what makes me happy - Exercising - Journalling (= reflecting) - Guitar practice = creative outlet, is also a bit of a social skill - Meditation = calming, reflecting - Tomorrow, eating with friends = my most important friends. I should think about who I want to spend time with. - Think about career. I think I want to start generating income and quit my job in the following years. - Read about willpower (also talks about priorities) The big picture is prioritizing. Now I'm going to delete steam + no more Twitch. Block a ton of websites and stuff I don't need on my desktop. I'm actually thinking about maybe not using my desktop anymore except for Zwift (exercise).

About that ... I still ended up playing even after doing the extra stuff I had so much time. I also played the days after. I played 5 hours in the last 6 days. Which is not that bad but, I promised to not play at all. I think I was a bit too self confident. Thinking about a big change in my life So I'm doing all these things to become the best possible version but something doesn't feel right. This week I was really rushed for time. I felt I didn't have enough time for some things. At work I was stressed. I mean I felt good, but I had a temper. I was sick of people making a problem out of nothing. When I'm at home I confronted with so many things. The internet is overwhelming especially when Ad-Block is off. At work I can lose myself in e-mails. After searching for some new idea's for my future home I actually realized I don't want many possession. I don't want a tv. I don't want a lot of decorations. With this fresh in mind I actually remembered something as decision fatigue is a thing... and I think it may actually be something that's really hitting me hard sometimes. I began to do some research and I found out about minimalism. What is minimalism? I think you could almost call it 'extreme prioritizing'. You deliberately think about what you want and you focus really hard on it. The website 'the minimalists' describes minimalism as: Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. Doesn't that sound like heaven on earth? Getting rid of all those tiring decisions? Having to combat against distractions like television? Having a simple and clean living environment? I basically hate going out to a lot of things because it feels to busy. The #1 thing I hate at work is the busyness, the noise, the negative attitude of some people. After researching I found a lot of things that would help me: - Do less things, but focus really deep on the important things - Don't jump from one thing in another, stop being so impulsive - Money is not you main goal, it's about quality of life - Think about what success really means. It's not just about the money and fame - ... All these things just connected. Instantly. Awesome. From now on I'm leaving all my projects aside to study minimalism. This weekend I will determine my goals. What will I be pursuing and what won't I be pursuing. Which object will I move to my next house and which objects will I get rid off. Because. Sometimes. Less Is More

I did a lot of fantastic stuff today! I'm feeling pretty proud. I woke up and rode 50km on Zwift!!! And I did it fast for my norms. Then I had a misunderstanding and missed guitar practice, so I practiced on my own. I also read a lot and I did some brainstorming on my business and I feel excited for the first time in a month! I did not waste a lot of time up until now (7pm). I really crave gaming right now. I really want to chill a bit on stardew valley lol.. such a silly game :-) I kinda feel like I 'deserve' it. But hey .. I won't. I still got some stuff I can do. Didn't really expect to get tempted this fast !

I guess it's the third day without gaming? Didn't even miss it. I'm not even going to count it this time. The only way I see myself going back is if I lose all motivation and ambition in my life. I don't see that happening in the first years. Possibly I would game a bit in a holiday in the future, when I really have a little too much time, but I guess it's better to plan a trip to somewhere instead. Will do an update soon on my journey towards becoming the best possible version of myself. Also I will make part 2 of my goalsetting entries pretty soon

My balance was definitely better since I started watching again after my detox. But to be honest. For my ambition, I just don't have time. Yesterday I read for 1,5 hour. I had fun reading. I'd rather read than watch Twitch. I acually only watch Twitch for a couple of funny moments.. I could also just watch a highlight video (which I'm not going to do, because it would trigger me going back to Twitch). When I first quit gaming and Twitch I wasn't convinced about my decision. But I just did it to prove I'm not addicted. This time it was easy. I'm pretty sure for me it's not a real addiction but it still takes a lot of my time and it shouldn't.

So I just did this... I quit gaming again AND Twitch (which is even more important). I'm watching twitch, playing games and it isn't adding any value to my life. Like literally, I'm watching streams and often not even enjoying them. I was searching for new games the last few days, I downloaded Stardew Valley and played a couple of hours today. I had fun but Stardew Valley also makes me realise how hard I'm wasting my time. So when I realised I was wasting time, I turned on Twitch and decided to google some new stuff about guitar to get on track again. I came accros advice from famous musicians and suddenly I see this: At first I didn't really think about it. In my head I was just like .. well that's right, so much wasted potential. I closed the Twitch tab immediatly. Without thinking too much I opened steam again, deleted all my games and uninstalled steam. I re-opened the Twitch tab. I stopped my subscription, and closed it again. No emotions. I don't think I will miss it. Yes it wil be tempting, but I'm not missing any value here. The only game I'll play is Zwift (which is actually riding your bike in front of your pc, so it's not really a game .. or well maybe it is, but it's a game with actual value). What will I do to replace it? - Stop making silly excuses - Read more books that I really want to read. I already have 4 books waiting - Study some stuff about learning to learn and Meditation (and a bit of buddhism) - Work on my business again, but make it fun instead of frustrating - Play my guitar more and actually start recording... I spent $200 on recording equipment, didn't even use it once! Thanks you Jack White and thank you Game Quitters (Cam) Now let's get back to becoming the actual best version of myself.

True! Will do that!

Made my first Zwift-ride ... SO FREAKIN COOL, best game ever AND it's getting me to exercise. Also I can't play it too much because my legs won't let me. All the riders are passing as if I'm walking .. but I guess it comes down to training

Weekly update It was a pretty weird week, but a fun week. I didn't work on my business at all. I didn't feel the pressure of it, FeltGoodMan However I still miss it a bit. It's still something I want. So I'll continue it. Sometimes it's good to take a step back. I almost didn't play any guitar this week, which is surprising, but it was also because of pain in my hand. 'No guitar' means no serious guitar playing. I still played a couple of hours. Exercise .. wtf happened, I bought myself a turbo trainer for my bicycle and I love it. I didn't even connect it to the pc yet and I really enjoy it! Had it on friday, set it up. Trained saterday and sunday for about 1,5 hours combined. Also did my pushups every day (except for saterday and sunday offcourse). Monday, tuesday and thursday I also did my pullups, the other days I did crunches. Also went out walking during my lunch break on wednesday and thursday .. Nutrition: Saterday and a part of sunday I concluded I wouldn't do anything about my nutrition just yet. But sunday evening for some reason I changed my mind. This morning I actually weighed myself. To be honest .. I thought the scale was broken. I knew I gained some weight. I lost a bit of weight in September (dropped from 77->75,5 kg). Since then it was terrible. I figured I would be around 78, maybe 79kg ... 81kg ???? Ooooh shet, almost at my heaviest weight again .. I'm not panicing though, actually it explains why my clothes don't feel comfortable anymore So yea! Back to proper nutrition. I just made myself a basic plan, without restrictions on portion. I want to get in the habit of eating healthy first. Meal plan: 7-8 am : Oatmeal, whey, milk, berries 12pm: Bread (fiberous) , Chicken or cheese, 1 piece of fruit 5pm : Brown rice, vegetable mix/brocolli/spinach , Lean meat 9pm: Egg with chickpeas (in dutch we call it 'froggpeas' btw) and a piece of fruit as a snack 10.30pm: Nuts + a piece of fruit The meal plan consist of high caloric food like rice, eggs, nuts and oatmeal. But compared to my current mealplan it's a huge improvement? My first goal was getting a healthy amount of fiber. I also focused a bit on micronutrients. By eating this I'm also getting a better caloric intake and better macronutrient distribution (more protein and better fats). Reading Broke the chain, didn't read on friday, but I did study a lot. Also got back on track saterday and sunday. Meditate Did this every day for at least 15 minutes. Yesterday it was a shorter session though. Will get back on track today for sure. ----------- This week: Guitar: 10 min technique, 10 min transcribing, 10 min theory, 10 min repetoire or improvisation + record stuff Exercise: 3xcycling for 30 minutes, 1xgym (squats, stiff leg DL, planks), 1x Zwift bunch ride(?) , Off days: 15 push-ups, 15 crunches , planks OR pull-ups. Business: Finish my goal setting stuff I started here, work on it at least 15 min daily + do some further immersion work on quora, FB and reddit Read: 1-2% of the mastery book daily --> 10-20% total this week Meditate: 15 min each day (don't want to increase this yet, 15 min is pretty hard but doable for me) Food: Follow meal plan

I was actually considering the same thing! It also comes in handy for blogging, which is essentially the thing I want to do + webprogramming is definitely something a lot of people struggle with... Yesterday I started a coursera course 'Learning to learn'. This course got me so excited! After having a bad dream I woke up at 4 am .. I didn't feel bad, as soon as I woke up I thought about the course and I though it was probably 6am and I could actually go work on it a bit. Then I realised it was 4 am and I only slept 5 hours. Since today was a working day I think I made the right decision by going to sleep again

Weekly update I'm crushing my habits. Now I'm doing: - 15 minutes of meditation - 15 minutes of reading - 30 minutes of playing guitar at least - 10 push-ups + 10 pull-ups I bought recording equipment, so I can start recording my guitar playing. Business I'm so confused .. My motivation is below zero. When i got motivated I was thrilled about learning other people stuff. But now I don't have this feeling anymore. I think I may have been too money oriented. I still love productivity stuff, but thinking about journalling here excites me way more than thinking about all the things I need to do to build my business. I think it's because in the beginning you don't really have a following. Nobody can see your work and often it doesn't lead to anything. You can actually work for weeks before you get any results and suddenly BOOM everything falls into place. Getting a following is probably not the real problem. Validating my idea's and finding people who may want to pay to learn stuff from me is pretty hard. This week my goal is figuring out how I want to proceed. Am I going to set very clear goals on this or find another project? If I find another project the goal is actually to learn something incredibly fast and use that as something to build my business on. Learning something fast is probably a good way to get a following and people who want to pay to learn how to do the same. I actually got a degree in educational studies so I'm really interested in learning and education and stuff. Also when I see a blog like https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/ or http://calnewport.com/ I get really excited! It's a bit like the old guy in the series. Mastery is so exciting. Being really good at something .. I want to be a master of mastery .. is that a thing? I hope it is! Maybe a good first step is actually figuring out what people really like to learn and if it's really interesting I may try to learn it really possible, just to show I can do it very fast. That sounds like an exciting idea actually... I think I'll try that out.

Thanks man! I'm not having a great day today. I feel really uninspired, unmotivated and I don't want to do anything. It's really nice to read a message like this! I'll get off my lazy but and play some guitar + work on my goal setting stuff further (I want to completely finish it this week) Edit: 45 minutes of guitar playing, turned it so loud I could actually smell the tubes of my amp. Not good for the ears, but it was a good outlet for my frustration today I feel a lot better now

Hey Reno, I'm actually not game free anymore. I'm trying to balance it with my life. I must admit it takes a lot of energy. At this moment for example, I'm not having a good day, at all. I feel a bit mentally drained. So now I have this huge urge to game or watch Twitch. But I can't, not untill 6pm. It will take me 2 hours untill I can watch Twitch or game. Untill them I'm trying to be productive. For the moment, the problem is not gaming too much or watching too much Twitch. But I have to admit, it's really hard and I'm not sure if it's worth it. In the following weeks I may decide to quit again so I can compare it. If I quit again and my life gets easier again, that's a clear sign that gaming is not for me. On the other hand I'm on track with several of my habits so that's why I still want to see if it gets easier in the next weeks.

Since I couldn't edit my post anymore I'll finish it in this new one On goalsetting (part 1) Becoming the best possible version of myself is not easy. First of all it's pretty hard to know what the best possible version of myself would be. Also it keeps evolving and changing. Something that is consistent, is having to set new goal and evaluate them on a regular basis. Setting a goal is not easy, there are a lot of things to consider: Specific: What do you want to achieve How much do you want to achieve of it When do you want to achieve it How will you know if you have achieved it What does the outcome look like, what has changed compared to now Is there any way you could use metrics or measurements to quantify your goal Difficult but possible: Gives more motivation When you achieve this goal you will feel amazing Don’t set the bar too low Use ‘what’ and ‘why’: Why: is motivational, the reason you set the goal in the first place. Make your why as clear as possible. One technique you could use here is ask yourself why several times in a row. Eg. Lose weight > I’m too fat > I lose my breath too fast and I don’t look good, I’m not flexible etc. → I want to be more fit. So i can be/feel healthy. Not be limited by my weight. Be more attractive. What: Get clear what you need to do to achieve your goal. Especially when it’s a hard goal or something difficult. Imagine how your life will look like if you achieve your goal + realistically think about the sacrifices you are going to make. Also be realistic about the chances. Do you still want it? Imagine 1 thing that will be different when you achieve your goal Think about 1 sacrifice Imagine 1 thing that will be different Think about another sacrifice Etc. Even though you should be realistic, you should also be positive and believe in yourself. You can do a lot, but it will take planning, persistance, time,effort--------- This is just the beginning of goalsetting, but it's a good start. Let's already use this first piece of knowledge. I have called this journal 'best possible version of myself'. Not obviously that isn't really specific is it? What does this mean? Being the best possible version of myself? It's so huge it can't be a goal in itself. It actually consists of hundreds maybe thousands of smaller goals. So maybe a better question is, what are my biggest weaknesses and desires at this moment? What do I really want to change to set my first steps to becoming the best possible version of myself? What are the first things I want to achieve? A powerful exercise is imagining your own funeral. I'm dead and I'm a ghost. I'm looking down on my grave, what do I see? Who do I see? What do they say? What do I want them to say? Who do I want to see? What part of me is still alive or what could I have build that's still alive? ----- For me, at this point in my life, this is hard. I'm not sure who's visiting my grave. The people who are the most close right now are my parents, coworkers and best friends. I definitely want them to think of me as being a nice guy. I think they probably will, but if they are completely fair they will also know I can be very stubborn and I have quite a temperament sometimes. I'm not always a good person, my mood is swingy , but they know I'm a good person deep down. In critical situations I can actually remain pretty calm. I want to be remembered as this last guy. Someone who's objective, a good person and shows great amounts of respect towards the people most close to me (goal 1, this is why I meditate). Maybe there's a wife and kids. I'm not sure. I want to have a legacy of some kind. This could be in the form of a wife and kids (possible goal), but it could also be that I was a go-to expert in something and I helped hundreds of people in their lives and I got great respect for it. (business goal). I was known for doing a lot of personal development and trying to be healthy and smart (goal: reading, exercise). They will also know me as an ambitious guy. Someone who's always trying to improve himself. Someone who doesn't just believe what they tell him, but who can think about his own idea's. I was good at my job, but I kept a healthy balance. Not just for myself, but also for the people that I have to lead. I was strict, but I was also correct and there was room for fun. I showed great potential and I did a lot of stuff to make my workplace a better place. I get great respect from these people and they missed me when I got my new position at my workplace OR when I quit my job to grow my own business (Carreer goal) Next to this ambitious guy I was also this guy who was fun, good at talking to strangers (goal) and meeting new people. I definitely had a lot of fun and made sure my friends also had a lot of fun. Fun is definitely not the first thing they thought about, I'm still the more ambitious guy, but the fun-side was definitely a side of me as well (goal). Even though I seemed pretty professional I also had a creative outlet (Guitar goal). ---- The goals I'm pursuing right now are: - Business and carreer (doing both and exploring) --> Waking up early and tracking PC - Get more willpower to be this person --> Meditation, Waking up early and tracking PC - Being more healthy (which improves everything) --> Exercising - Learning: Reading and applying knowledge (like I'm doing right now) ----- Business and carreer (&learning) WHY ? Well that's easy. I found out money plays a part but it's not the main factor. I'm someone who needs ambitious goals in life. When gaming got in the way of having ambitious goals I became unhappy. I got the feeling of 'same shit, different day'. I need something to work towards, I'm pretty competitive as well. I want to be someone who's able to help people with difficult things. When I got my bachelors and masters degree, I didn't go to the graduation ceremony. I found it very weird all these people around me were so proud like they did the impossible, while in reality a lot of people get a degree. Now this may seem very pessimistic, but it's not. I would rather be the person who was happy with their degree. Statistically people who get a degree are a minority so it's something you should be proud of. It's not a guarantee for succces though. There are a lot of people without a degree who are very succesful and a lot of people with a degree who I consider to be unsuccesful. Anyways I'm getting sidetracked. My point was, getting a degree was not a goal, being a go-to expert or someone who can help people with something complex is! To be completely honest it's not just about helping people but also about my own ego. Like I said, money is also a side-factor. It can make life easier or make things more comfortable so there's more time for uncomfortable things I choose myself (achieving better mastery in things I'm interested in, instead of putting time in cleaning my house). Money provides a new sort of freedom in a way. For me being rich is being free from having to worry about money. WHAT ? Hard question. I'm exploring both building a carreer and starting a business. Building a carreer comes more intuively to me. I already made several promotions without really knowing what I was doing. At this moment I'm trying to master things like being a good coach, being a powerful but also likeable leader, working on projects, ... By actually doing my job and by setting more challenging and higher goals each time I'm achieving all these things. I'm making great progress. Business is harder. At this moment I'm doing something called 'immersion'. I'm trying to understand my field (productivity), get a better view of possible audiences, understand the audience I want to pick better by actually talking to them. So what am I doing right now? - Work 7h/week on my business - Read forums, reddit, quora, facebook groups,... on a consistent basis - Connect with fellow business starters to keep myself accountable - Try to pick a niche and understand the niche as good as possible - Learn about interesting topics (reading) in my free time ------ Willpower WHY Sometimes you want to do things, but you actually feel you don't want to do them right now (procrastinating). I want to wake up early, work on my business, exercise, spend less time on the internet, ... but somehow it's not always working. In the past I used to have tremendous amounts of willpower. I had a very strict diet, workout regime and I had really good effort at the gym. I was disciplined when it came to school work etc. Now I'm struggling a bit and I don't really like to be that person. To make it more specific: I want to be able to set a certain timeframe like 6 am - 6 pm and be productive throughout that entire period without giving in to tempations. WHAT I'm reading this book on Willpower, pretty sure someone on this forum suggested it to me. I'm doing meditation as science seem to confirm that it helps. At the moment I'm doing 10 minutes each day and I really like it. I don't use an app for it anymore because the app kinda started annoying me. Everyday I do some small habits that also help with being disciplined. These are small things like doing 10 pushups, 10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of reading,... even when I don't feel like doing them I will do them. They are easy enough to do and by not allowing myself to avoid them I'm building my willpower muscle. ------ Be more healthy WHY This is something I feel I have to do. I'm not healthy at the moment. My breakfast this morning was 4 scrambled eggs (which is fine) and some brown bread (which is fine) and a Twix + 5 cookies (which is definitely not fine at all for breakfast .. ). I also used to have great endurance and look pretty athletic, but now everytime I put on a dressed shirt or pants my conclusion is I should be careful about my weight. I'm definitely not fat, but if I continue like this I will be. I'm also tired faster and have a lot of headaches almost on a daily basis. Basically I want to go back to the old me. WHAT Exercising is something I'm building right now. I'm just doing 10 pushups per day. I'm also considering a smart trainer for my racing bike. It allows me to actually gamify my workouts. Zwift (https://zwift.com/) definitely seems really appealing to me! It also has a community so that seems great as well. The investment would be around $500 to get what I would want and I'm really considering it. But for now I'm building up my pushups. I will probably add 10 pull-ups soon. Diet is for the future. I will wait with dieting untill my house is finished and I moved. It's easier to buy your own food and not have 100 temptations each day. ----- Contrasting If I want to achieve all these things a lot of things will happen Positive: If I manage to push through on my goals I will have a satisfying carreer. I can control myself very well and achieve a lot of my goals. Also I will be fairly healthy. In the long run I will really respect myself and I'm sure if I manage to push through a lot of people will respect me for my achievements. If I play my cards right I may even be very succesfull and get a following (but not toooo big, the right kind of people, not just anyone). My life wil be fairly comfortable financially and hopefully also on every other aspect. Negative: If I push through I will have to live a lot more strictly than I already am. This will be a day-to-day struggle, especially the first months. The short-term entertainment and fun will decrease tremendously. I will probably have more stress (even though I'll try to counter that with meditation) and my life will definitely not be easier, not at all. A lot of people will not understand and I think it's better not to tell a bunch of people. I won't get a lot of satisfaction in the first few months of years from my plans. Even when I succeed I will definitely also get a lot of negative responses from people who just want to hate. It will be hard to ignore them in the beginning but I'm sure I can handle it. Increasing willpower is definitely a pain in the ass since it's saying 'no' to a whole lot of stuff you want to say 'yes' too, like playing more video games, watching more twitch, watching more youtube, going to certain parties,...

I almost cried a few minutes ago Wtf .. why is this special? People cry all the time dude... Well not me. The last time I cried was over 10 years ago. People died, bad things happened, I got bad injuries, never shed a tear. But around 15 minutes ago I came really really close. So what happened? Well I watched a series called ER (yes I know it's old). I don't think it's the greatest series, but I kinda like watching it sometimes when it's on TV. Anyway, something happened in ER and it made me so sad an happy at the same time I almost started crying. In this episode there was an elderly patient who had alzheimer. The doctors didn't know who he was. As the episode progressed it came clear he actually used to be a doctor himself. At one point a patient was next to him in emergency and she was dying. Suddenly the old guy start panicing and pointing etc. He managed to make clear the right diagnosis to the doctors. In my head I was like .. ok that's kinda cool, probably very unrealistic, but still I like what they came up with. The touchy feely part still had to come. When he did this they doctors realised their elderly patient used to be a doctor as well. Suddenly it became clear to one of the guys, this elderly patient was actually the writer of their handbooks. He used to be a really important figure in medicine. The next 10 minutes there were some flashbacks that made clear that a lot of the procedures the doctors were doing (like doing some emergency procedures in the hallway) was actually because of him. In his flashback you'd see other doctors mocking him for even thinking about doing procedures in the hallway. They called him a dreamer. But now, in the present, it was the normal procedure. He was right, he did it, he was a true master in his field. The episode ends with him surrounded by the doctors. The friend of this man (who was also a big shot doctor) told the doctors that the elderly man's wife died and he didn't have any kids. At this point, he couldn't breath by himself anymore. In his will he made clear they should let him go and give him morphine. They let him slowly slip in a coma and die. This made me so sad and happy at the same time. I saw a lot of better, more emotional movies or series. But this struck me. What a great way to die. He had a legacy, he made a change to the world. This guy didn't die, all the things he accomplished are still alive. It made me feel sad that such a great (fictional) person had to die. But it made me so happy he actually made a change in the world. Here dies the guy I want to be myself some day. And there I am, just 30 minutes earlier being worried about having enough time to relax this weekend. I was even thinking about playing a lot of video games... Man what a great experience. I hate the emotions but I've learned so much from it. Now I think about it... it's kind of ironic. I was sitting in a couch, being lazy, watching the TV ... at least this time something good may have come out of it. Obviously I still need my relaxation and entertainment. It's past 7pm now, so it's fine to relax. But still, I'm missing so many opportunities everyday. In my journey to becoming the best possible version of myself I should defintely learn to use my time more wisely.

Yes it was you! Now I remember! About the pull-ups, man I used to be good at doing pull-ups. Last year I did 6 pull-ups with 20kg of added weight and a strict form. I wasn't really known as a strong guy in my gym, but when it came to pull-ups... not a lot of people could do much more than me Good pointers btw, these are the same things I used last year to build up my strength! What helped me the most was not going to failure. I would always keep 1-2 reps in the tank. Like you said, it's better to do 3 sets of 4 reps than 1 set with 6 reps .. and maybe then the next one with 3 reps and poor form.

Thanks Reno! I really believe in myself. Sometimes a bit too much, which is a source for procrastinating because I believe 'I will get there anyway' (very destructive thought!). Luckily I'm doing a lot of reflections and I know when I'm making excuses and procrastinating.

On goalsetting (part 1) Becoming the best possible version of myself is not easy. First of all it's pretty hard to know what the best possible version of myself would be. Also it keeps evolving and changing. Something that is consistent, is having to set new goal and evaluate them on a regular basis. Setting a goal is not easy, there are a lot of things to consider: Specific: What do you want to achieve How much do you want to achieve of it When do you want to achieve it How will you know if you have achieved it What does the outcome look like, what has changed compared to now Is there any way you could use metrics or measurements to quantify your goal Difficult but possible: Gives more motivation When you achieve this goal you will feel amazing Don’t set the bar too low Use ‘what’ and ‘why’: Why: is motivational, the reason you set the goal in the first place. Make your why as clear as possible. One technique you could use here is ask yourself why several times in a row. Eg. Lose weight > I’m too fat > I lose my breath too fast and I don’t look good, I’m not flexible etc. → I want to be more fit. So i can be/feel healthy. Not be limited by my weight. Be more attractive. What: Get clear what you need to do to achieve your goal. Especially when it’s a hard goal or something difficult. Imagine how your life will look like if you achieve your goal + realistically think about the sacrifices you are going to make. Also be realistic about the chances. Do you still want it? Imagine 1 thing that will be different when you achieve your goal Think about 1 sacrifice Imagine 1 thing that will be different Think about another sacrifice Etc. Even though you should be realistic, you should also be positive and believe in yourself. You can do a lot, but it will take planning, persistance, time,effort--------- This is just the beginning of goalsetting, but it's a good start. Let's already use this first piece of knowledge. I have called this journal 'best possible version of myself'. Not obviously that isn't really specific is it? What does this mean? Being the best possible version of myself? It's so huge it can't be a goal in itself. It actually consists of hundreds maybe thousands of smaller goals. So maybe a better question is, what are my biggest weaknesses and desires at this moment? What do I really want to change to set my first steps to becoming the best possible version of myself? What are the first things I want to achieve? A powerful exercise is imagining your own funeral. I'm dead and I'm a ghost. I'm looking down on my grave, what do I see? Who do I see? What do they say? What do I want them to say? Who do I want to see? What part of me is still alive or what could I have build that's still alive? ----- For me, at this point in my life, this is hard. I'm not sure who's visiting my grave. The people who are the most close right now are my parents, coworkers and best friends. I definitely want them to think of me as being a nice guy. I think they probably will, but if they are completely fair they will also know I can be very stubborn and I have quite a temperament sometimes. I'm not always a good person, my mood is swingy , but they know I'm a good person deep down. In critical situations I can actually remain pretty calm. I want to be remembered as this last guy. Someone who's objective, a good person and shows great amounts of respect towards the people most close to me (goal 1, this is why I meditate). Maybe there's a wife and kids. I'm not sure. I want to have a legacy of some kind. This could be in the form of a wife and kids (possible goal), but it could also be that I was a go-to expert in something and I helped hundreds of people in their lives and I got great respect for it. (business goal). I was known for doing a lot of personal development and trying to be healthy and smart (goal: reading, exercise). They will also know me as an ambitious guy. Someone who's always trying to improve himself. Someone who doesn't just believe what they tell him, but who can think about his own idea's. I was good at my job, but I kept a healthy balance. Not just for myself, but also for the people that I have to lead. I was strict, but I was also correct and there was room for fun. I showed great potential and I did a lot of stuff to make my workplace a better place. I get great respect from these people and they missed me when I got my new position at my workplace OR when I quit my job to grow my own business (Carreer goal) Next to this ambitious guy I was also this guy who was fun, good at talking to strangers (goal) and meeting new people. I definitely had a lot of fun and made sure my friends also had a lot of fun. Fun is definitely not the first thing they thought about, I'm still the more ambitious guy, but the fun-side was definitely a side of me as well (goal). Even though I seemed pretty professional I also had a creative outlet (Guitar goal). ---- The goals I'm pursuing right now are: - Business and carreer (doing both and exploring) --> Waking up early and tracking PC - Get more willpower to be this person --> Meditation, Waking up early and tracking PC - Being more healthy (which improves everything) --> Exercising - Learning: Reading and applying knowledge (like I'm doing right now) ----- Business and carreer (&learning) WHY ? Well that's easy. I found out money plays a part but it's not the main factor. I'm someone who needs ambitious goals in life. When gaming got in the way of having ambitious goals I became unhappy. I got the feeling of 'same shit, different day'. I need something to work towards, I'm pretty competitive as well. I want to be someone who's able to help people with difficult things. When I got my bachelors and masters degree, I didn't go to the graduation ceremony. I found it very weird all these people around me were so proud like they did the impossible, while in reality a lot of people get a degree. Now this may seem very pessimistic, but it's not. I would rather be the person who was happy with their degree. Statistically people who get a degree are a minority so it's something you should be proud of. It's not a guarantee for succces though. There are a lot of people without a degree who are very succesful and a lot of people with a degree who I consider to be unsuccesful. Anyways I'm getting sidetracked. My point was, getting a degree was not a goal, being a go-to expert or someone who can help people with something complex is! To be completely honest it's not just about helping people but also about my own ego. Like I said, money is also a side-factor. It can make life easier or make things more comfortable so there's more time for uncomfortable things I choose myself (achieving better mastery in things I'm interested in, instead of putting time in cleaning my house). Money provides a new sort of freedom in a way. For me being rich is being free from having to worry about money. WHAT ? Hard question. I'm exploring both building a carreer and starting a business. Building a carreer comes more intuively to me. I already made several promotions without really knowing what I was doing. At this moment I'm trying to master things like being a good coach, being a powerful but also likeable leader, working on projects, ... By actually doing my job and by setting more challenging and higher goals each time I'm achieving all these things. I'm making great progress. Business is harder. At this moment I'm doing something called 'immersion'. I'm trying to understand my field (productivity), get a better view of possible audiences, understand the audience I want to pick better by actually talking to them. So what am I doing right now? - Work 7h/week on my business - Read forums, reddit, quora, facebook groups,... on a consistent basis - Connect with fellow business starters to keep myself accountable - Try to pick a niche and understand the niche as good as possible - Learn about interesting topics (reading) in my free time ------ Willpower WHY Sometimes you want to do things, but you actually feel you don't want to do them right now (procrastinating). I want to wake up early, work on my business, exercise, spend less time on the internet, ... but somehow it's not always working. In the past I used to have tremendous amounts of willpower. I had a very strict diet, workout regime and I had really good effort at the gym. I was disciplined when it came to school work etc. Now I'm struggling a bit and I don't really like to be that person. To make it more specific: I want to be able to set a certain timeframe like 6 am - 6 pm and be productive throughout that entire period without giving in to tempations. WHAT I'm reading this book on Willpower, pretty sure someone on this forum suggested it to me. I'm doing meditation as science seem to confirm that it helps. At the moment I'm doing 10 minutes each day and I really like it. I don't use an app for it anymore because the app kinda started annoying me. Everyday I do some small habits that also help with being disciplined. These are small things like doing 10 pushups, 10 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of reading,... even when I don't feel like doing them I will do them. They are easy enough to do and by not allowing myself to avoid them I'm building my willpower muscle. ------ Be more healthy WHY This is something I feel I have to do. I'm not healthy at the moment. My breakfast this morning was 4 scrambled eggs (which is fine) and some brown bread (which is fine) and a Twix + 5 cookies (which is definitely not fine at all for breakfast .. ). I also used to have great endurance and look pretty athletic, but now everytime I put on a dressed shirt or pants my conclusion is I should be careful about my weight. I'm definitely not fat, but if I continue like this I will be. I'm also tired faster and have a lot of headaches almost on a daily basis. Basically I want to go back to the old me. WHAT Exercising is something I'm building right now. I'm just doing 10 pushups per day. I'm also considering a smart trainer for my racing bike. It allows me to actually gamify my workouts. Zwift (https://zwift.com/) definitely seems really appealing to me! It also has a community so that seems great as well. The investment would be around $500 to get what I would want and I'm really considering it. But for now I'm building up my pushups. I will probably add 10 pull-ups soon. Diet is for the future. I will wait with dieting untill my house is finished and I moved. It's easier to buy your own food and not have 100 temptations each day. ----- *** post will still have to be updated with the contrasting exercise ****

Good question. I'm not sure. I guess it's the solo of stairway to heaven or Hotel California. I have to admit, when I don't play them for several weeks they become very sloppy. When I turn down the tempo a bit I feel like I can control it a lot better. I'm definitely not an amazing guitarist, pretty sure you're better. Listenning to paranoid I think I should be able to do it, except for the small fast part. That would probably take me a while to learn.

Thanks guys! Had quite a busy week this week. Had a lot of fun. There's also a sad part. I'm not controlling my behavior like I want to. I'm wasting too much time on the internet. I'm wasting more time than I'm actually gaming or watching Twitch. I think it would be a good idea to only acces the pc at set times. It doesn't matter what I do when I acces the pc. Acces times Working days: Acces to pc between 6 am - 8 am, Acces to pc between 6 pm - 8.30pm Non-working days between 6 am - 9 am , between 4pm - 8.30pm About the habits I struggled when it came to my business. I'm not sure if I enjoy it to be honest. But as long as I'm not sure I'll start doing it again. Playing the guitar comes fairly easy now, but I'm noodling to much on it. I want to do more deliberate practise Waking up early, bit off tracks here as well but mostly I wake up at 7am which is still fine. Meditation: This is going great! Actually bought myself some books on meditation and buddhism Exercise: Going to my home gym is still not enjoyable. I am doing the 5 repetitions each day so I am succeeding at my current target. Reading: Doing this everyday! Bought myself some cool books about willpower and buddhism. Goals Business: Work 7 hours/week on it Guitar: At least 30 minutes with 15 minutes of deliberate practice Waking up early: Stand up as soon as I'm awake (stay away from your smartphone) Meditation: 5 min --> 10 minutes Exercise: 10 reps/ day or 5 minutes cardio Reading: Read at least 10 minutes every day PC: track pc behavior

Turning myself into a productivity machine Something I'm really passionate about it productivity. I love being productive. It makes me feel good about myself. At my job, I'm pretty productive. I can complete my work pretty fast while others seem to struggle with it. I use the remaining time to learn. Obviously, I'm not perfect. I also waste a lot of time, which is also fine at this point in my life. I have periods where my entire days are productive, it makes me lose balance and I suddenly relapse and become really unproductive for much longer. Balance is key. I work with habits and try to increase the time and frequency as much as possible. At this moment I'm: - Doing a full-time job: 33 hours a week (yes that's full-time for my job) - Doing research to start my own business/blog: 7-10 hours a week - Playing the guitar at least 30 min a day (I play every day, sometimes more, sometimes a bit less) - Waking up early, 7 am is the latest, mostly it's 6 am I also try to get more consistent at: - Reading self-help books and actually, implement them - Exercise: This is really inconsistent, I'm not motivated at all. I have my own home gym. Today I started by doing 5 repetitions of whatever exercise I choose. It's about going to the home gym and pick up the weights for a small amount of time. Just to get into the habit. - Meditation: I used to do a long streak of 50+ days, then I tried to up the time and I completely stopped meditating, I've been struggling since. Yesterday I found out the app I use is actually a barrier. It forces me to do a certain amount and it makes me do visualisations I don't always like. Also, the voice gets me out of my focus sometimes and sometimes when I really get into a session it ends. The app is adding frustration instead of help. So I'll do a quick 5-minute meditation everyday, with some relaxing music. When it turns into a habit again I might try the app again since I used to like it and I feel the exercises are good when you're motivated. (Near) future habits/goals: - Lose weight: Exercise + diet - Health - Maybe wake up sooner, not sure yet - Be a fluent small-talker (I'm an introvert and even though I like being one, it's holding me back achieving several goals) - Get to know more people, connect with strangers easily - Do fun things away from the PC At this time I still have a lot of free time. On a free day like today, I'm often already finished by 11 am doing my 'tasks'. That's fine for now. The rest of the day I'm spending a lot of time on the PC. This will change in the near future.

This is my 3rd journal and probably the last one. My first journal was about quitting gaming. Since I succeeded I didn't really feel like continuing it. My second journal was about focussing away from gaming and thinking about life and how to rebuild my life. What actually happened was a possible relapse and a too philosophical thread. My opening post was about how life doesn't really have a purpose. I'm not going into this topic because in all reality it really doesn't matter. It's about living the best life possible. And that's what my third and final journal will be about. It's about living the best possible life, being the best possible human being. Everything I'm doing is always focused on being the best possible version of myself. So I can't really get in a situation where I feel disconnected from my journal unless I stop trying to be the best possible version of myself, which would lead in stopping my journal. What is being the best possible version of yourself? There is no answer to this. It changes. Life, motivation, and willpower are like waves. It has ups and downs, it comes and goes, bigger waves are rougher and often more dangerous. Thinking about the future I have big plans. I want to achieve great things. This doesn't mean I want to be famous or rich. It means being able to look in the mirror and being able to be proud of myself, ideally at every given moment (which is impossible). Looking in the mirror what do I see? I think we should all stand in front of the mirror at least one time a week and think about what we're doing. Are we still on the right track? For me, yes, I am on the right track. No, I'm not performing my best this year. I had a big meditation streaks, I played hours of guitar, I exercised, ... now none of these things are at the same level as they were. But I'm trying and making adjustments. I'm trying my best, I'm calm, I'm happy and I'm in a good place. Am I satisfied? No. And I hope I'll never be satisfied because that often means the lack of a challenging goal. At this moment I'm 'not satisfied' in a good way. I feel comfortable with not being satisfied, So what are the goals? This is hard to answer, basically, it's trying to be what I consider to be perfect. This does not feel like a huge burden, it feels like a nice challenge I'll never complete. I think striving for perfection and enjoying the process is my calling in life. It's the only thing that is consistent throughout most of my life. It used to be something negative, a big pressure, but now it's fun. Where are you right now? Not very far let me tell you that. I think I actually even may have relapsed in gaming, to be honest. I'm playing several games and last week I actually sometimes didn't work towards my goals to be able and play a game. I even started watching Twitch while I said that would be a very bad idea. For the moment I feel I can still kinda control it even though some habits suddenly are very hard to do. So if I'm honest I'm probably not having the best control right now. On the other hand, I'm still doing a lot of stuff so in a way I am controlling it, there's always the option of not doing anything and just game all day. More details about my goals and what I'd like to achieve will come in the following posts. This is definitely a good enough for my opening post.

Definitely! I'm really struggling, though. Today I woke up and just snoozed for an hour because there was no pressure. It felt really nice. Because there was no entertainment in the near future there was no pressure to quickly do my tasks. The downside is that sometimes I sit in the couch and before I know I'm watching television. Watching television is definitely less addicting to me, but it's not what I want to do. Reading a book on willpower now. Hope it will help me .. I used to be a real willpower machine and now I'm the opposite. I will get my willpower back though. The goal is being able to do the ideal day. So I'm working towards that.

Thanks Cam! So I've been really inactive lately. The last few weeks I've been waking up at 6am to work on my business. Didn't skip a day yet! It's going fairly easy even though the results are pretty bad. After coming home from my fulltime job I was actually gaming a lot the last few weeks. Like 1-2 hours most days (not every day). I've let myself completely free and to be honest it's ok. My real problem is definitely my internet addiction. But even that is being a lot better! I don't really know what happened. Last week I was feeling like shit. I didn't even enjoy gaming that much. I was on the internet, I had a lot of fun watching silly videos. But I still felt pretty bad, it didn't fix anything. I became annoyed by my lack of willpower and discipline lately (skipped training again today...). 1 sentence of the book Deep Work kept spinning around in my head ... 'you don't need freedom in your day schedule, your brain just needs enough switching between activities'... I'm not overworked,there's actually no excuse for me to not be productive. So I started being less and less on the internet. I just didn't feel like it. Yesterday I took a drastic decision. I want to try the following. I'm going to try to skip entertainment. It sounds crazy, not sure if it's doable but I'm gonna try to have fun by just doing productive things. I'm still filling in my schedule especially in the weekends but it's looking something like this Wake up & eat (6am) Business Guitar technique Job Home = eat fitness/guitar Study/Draw/Brain exercises (study anything I want to study, could be useful for work, busines, guitar, social life, hacks,...) Guitar Eat Meditate Journal (bought myself a journal today) Ready for bed Sleep (10pm) I think it's definitely possible. Seeing this schedule is actually really exciting! I feel really good seeing it. I'll use this journal as a weekly journal. To keep progress on the big lines. Hope to be able to take this big step and inspire some off you. This is the most happy I felt in weeks ... Let me leave you with this: Having fun doesn't mean you're happy, but being happy is definitely fun

You're pretty smart for someone from the Netherlands ... (I'm from Belgium :-D had to make this comment)