UndRt0w

A passion is not something you have. It's something you develop by doing, having fun and wanting to do it even more. Passion has become this almost romantic word where people believe they will find something and they will do it automatically, they'll enjoy it, they'll be good at it, they'll find great succes. It doesn't work like that. You see something that might be interesting, you do it, you do it more, you develop a passion over time. You still need to put in the work. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but it is very fulfilling.

Great tip: Deep work by Cal Newport ... probably one of the best productivity books I've read when it comes to efficiently executing your key tasks at high quality level.

Going deep The past 2 weeks I've spent a lot of my time gaming again. I didn't game mindless, I've thought carefully after every session what I thought about it. I've learned a lot out of this. First of all I was confused. Why was I going from not gaming and being happy, to gaming, to not gaming and gaming again? Why did I change my mind this often in a week time? The answer is pretty obvious. I think I was just bored. I had 3 weeks off of work. After 2 weeks I grew a bit bored. This resulted in me restarting an online business (or at least building one) and me starting gaming again. Initially I started gaming but then I realised I could also restart the online business. The online business was not enough to fill the boredom. Now there's also an answer that was invisible to me and I realised this by rereading a book. During my 3 weeks off of work I started filling my gaps again with internet. Whenever boredom struck I went for the easy solution, the magical world of the internet. The book 'Deep Work' by Cal Newport made me realise this was probably the biggest problem. My (our?) mind is programmed to not be bored to switch from low-stimuli to high-stimuli way to often. When waiting on a train or anything similar I grab my smartphone and read Facebook or stuff like that. This is pretty harmful. The brain doesn't really get it's rest and it gets trained that whenever is gets bored or whenever it's in a low-stimuli environment, it can just switch to high-stimuli. Whenever one focusses deeply on just 1 single task, the brain gets bored and your habit is switching between tabs or tasks. The book even speaks about research that shows a permanent 'damage' in your brainfunction because of this. At home I didn't really have this realisation yet. At work I do. I'm really productive at my dayjob. I get things done quickly, efficiently and with good quality. I'm in a high-stimuli environment but when I need to get focused, I can also do it easily and put myself in a low-stimuli environment and really work deep. An action step I'm taking in my free time So I have periods at work and at least 1 hour a day I work on my business. The rules here are clear. I need to work focussed and it's not problem for me to do this. Whenever there's no higher goal I'm not really motivated to really fill in my time or avoid internet/gaming. One action step of the book (most of the action steps I already implemented during my years of interest in productivity). The book speaks about planning in your online periods. You often hear about 1 days detoxes, or also planning offline periods, but the book makes an interesting point. Your offline periods should actually be the norm, we shouldn't regard it as something special. The rules are simple: You can only go online at your planned online blocks. Never at the offline blocks. When you really need to go online (eg. For information you need to spend your offline block) you can still NOT go online. First try to find a workaround or plan the task during your online block (switch it with another task). OR worst-case scenarion, reschedule the online block within 5 minutes. This provides a good 5 minuites of training your mind not to switch to the high-stimuli environment too easily. It's ok to plan a lot of online blocks when you need them (even for entertainment) as long as you keep respecting both blocks (especially the offline one). I'm really motivated to do this as it will even increase my focus/deep work. Also respecting the blocks will make it more easy to workout and practice the guitar. My current list of habits: Waking up at 6am (I forgot to update you guys on this but getting good at this) Working on my business every day for at least 1 hour Practicing guitar (Need to refocus on this) Working out (ups- and downs, getting there) Reading (ups- and downs, a lot of ups though) Social life: big improvement but not every week yet Journalling: here and to my business friends (accountability) New habit: Deciding on online blocks Week 1: early work 6 am Offline block (I usually wake up checking my smartphone), meditate east 6.30 am Online block, starting the business session 7 am Offline block, deep work business 8 am Offline block, get ready for work 9 am Online block, start working 4 pm Offline block get home, eat, workout/guitar 6 pm Online block for entertainment (gaming is allowed) 8 pm Offline block, listen to music, podcast, play guitar, read book, prepare for bed 10.30 pm Sleep Week 2 6 am Offline block, meditate eat 6.30 am Online block, starting business session 7 am Offline block work on business 8 am Offline block guitar/workout 9 am Online block entertainment 11 am Offline block prepare for work an start working 7 pm Offline block, get home, eat, guitar 9 pm Offline block, listen to music, podcast, read book, prepare for bed 10.30 pm Sleep Weekend 7 am Offline block meditate, eat 7.30 am Online block business 8 am Offline block business 9 am Offline block guitar/workout 11 am Online block entertainment 1 pm Offline block social, guitar, short workout, writing, journaling,... 5 pm Online block 8 pm Offline block and sleep

Hi Cam, I partially agree but I will definitely need to reflect further on what you wrote here. First thoughts without the reflections: - Gaming consequences: For me, they were pretty mild. Twitch was very destructive, though, I'm still avoiding Twitch. Don't plan on ever going back. For me, it was general internet addiction, not gaming I think. I get bored of games pretty fast. - Consider other alternatives first: Agree, did also do that but can't really find things for this specific situation --> After work and doing everything I'm supposed to do, I want to relax at home, do something that's low cost and low effort. The other possibilities were also really passive at home and did not have any benefits over gaming as far as I know. Once I move I may try to switch to listening to podcasts more often, though. I will also probably not get a TV. - Not doing anything other than obligations: I think this is a good point, but it doesn't really apply for when I want to use gaming. I still think I should definitely put a lot of effort in filling my time in the weekend. This is definitely a struggle for me (this could actually be an awesome course for you, you have amazing weekends. I don't know how to start. I bet a ton of people here would want to learn this in a step by step course. Well, that's what I think at least). If there are flaws in my reasoning (especially the alternatives) please let me know. I really wouldn't mind ditching gaming again if I had a good alternative.

Hi man! _It will be something in the productivity field. I'm still researching what exactly I will be offering and who I'm targeting to (probably starting entrepreneurs) . A lot of stuff about sleep popped up. So it might be about that (maybe like waking up early to do a ton of work before you leave to your job). It could also be about focus , time management, energy management, ... I'm not sure yet. Again a plot twist After having a talk with my business mentor I'll actually game again hahaha I can't believe I'm saying this lol... He said my schedule is way too full the way I planned it. He's pretty sure I will get burned out. So he wanted me to have free evenings where I had free time. Since I'm planning waking up at 6 am and finishing work around 4pm, finishing guitar at 5-6pm. I think it's reasonable to use my evening for either games/tv/friends/... when I haven't got any conversations planned with other entrepreneurs or cliënts. Gonna test it out. If I feel guilty again I'll just find a new relaxing thing to do in the evening. I've already shown myself I can be pretty realistic about the influence of gaming so I'm not really scared but I will definitely keep reflecting on this to make sure I don't relapse.

Thanks for the kind words @hycniejsy and also very good questions! I will use most of my time to start an online sidebusiness. In a year or so I want to have a blog and sell an information product. A bit like Cam is doing. About 1,5 year ago I bought the course Zero To Launch from Ramit Sethi (www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com - www.growthlab.com) After starting a blog and doing a couple of guest posts I felt completely burned out, I stopped working on it and I started gaming. I still want to do it however and after a break of a year I feel ready againy! Zero to launch is a high end course. If I would add up all the costs I put in the course + costs for the website and everything I definitely spent over $2000. I learned a lot of important lessons but now I'm not doing anything with it anymore! So I really wanted to restart building my online business. The cool thing is, that this time it's not about the money, it's about being able to do it and overcome a lot of big barriers! I will definitely share my progress here and also the habits I will use to be able to do it. Meeting new people (online and in real life) will definitely be an important part of it! It will be one great journey!

Very good question @WorkInProgress Why I suddenly decided to stop gaming was: I discovered the last few days I would game to fill a void. I didn't need relaxation or anything at the time I was gaming, I was just a bit bored and it was easy to use those 2 hours to bridge that gap. This also means those 2 hours were really empty and meaningless. I'm not saying everything has to have a meaning, but thinking about it it was rather sad that I gamed, didn't even enjoy it that much and it led to nothing. For the last 3-4 days I actually didn't feel comfortable or convinced by gaming. On it's own I don't like gaming, it was the whole community and Twitch that actually makes it very tempting for me. I also never really been a binge gamer. I would game- watch twitch - game - watch twitch- mindless browsing - watch twitch. So I would only game a few hours a day, but I would spend tons of time learning stuff about the game outside the game. If I'"m really bored I'd rather take a walk or go to a bar of do something new. More good things and suprise can come out of doing stuff like that, then gaming on my room. So to answer your question: It was more about wanting to do other things and not feeling comfortable gaming. Realising it was o nly a replacement for boredom it made me feel really empty and bad about the time I spent gaming. I had 2 options: find another game or quit it .. I chose the latter (because I don't actually want to like gaming as I discovered).

It's 0:50am I read some stuff of Cal Newport and Scott H. Young, I just watched a virtual summit and I decided I do not want to return to video games after all. I tried it for 6 days (started on my birthday). It was kinda fun, not what I expected it to be. I can use my time in better ways. I'm gonna invest the time in social and side-business instead. Starting tomorrow I will also do a time log for a week to see exactly what I'm spending time on and for how long. Schedule tomorrow: - 8am wake up and eat - 9am guitar - 10 am meditate - 10.30 am start doing necessary steps towards side business, make a plan - 12pm eat - 12.30 pm revise the 'deep work' book and make action steps - 1pm train - 2.30 pm side business - 4 pm eat and shower - 5pm Guitar - 6pm get to friends

Temper and Stress I am actually a really stressy person with quite a temper. Even though I'm polite overal I can get angryt pretty easily at home. This is probably because it's really time to live on my own but because of financial situation (single and a cheap house in Belgium costs around 180-200k) I couldn't move out. Besides that I'm also really stressy at work. It's getting a lot better, but there's still room for improvement. WHY? I want to be more Zen. I really love people that are extremely positive, down to earth, chill, objective,... It reminds me of buddhists or some athletes. PLANS? Meditate daily. I was doing this before but I quit doing it because I couldn't really find a good time to do it. That's why I should meditate daily and in the morning, even if it's just for 10 minutes. I'll also use alarms as reminders throughout the day. I'll set a reminder at 12:00pm and 4pm IF-THEN If I wake up too late I will not meditate in the morning but I will try to be mindfull on the train ride towards work and do my meditation around 4-5pm right after work OR before bed. If I'm really tired I will try to meditate anyway even though I'm risking falling asleep. Also I can drink a good coffee and wash my face with really cold water.

GOALS: WHY's , PLANS , IF-THEN I'm gonna write down my biggest goals again but I'm gonna start with WHY, then unfold my PLANS, and some IF-THEN rules in case something goes wrong.I'll write a goal down every day. Being healthy, fit, energetic WHY? I want to look good, feel strong and confident. I don't have to be a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, just look good and be kinda athletic. Also being more in shape will give me some great energy again! I really miss the energy I used to have (even though it's pretty good at the moment .. once you get that awesome energy boost from sports, you'll miss it). PLANS *Workout 3x a week --> Saterday and Sunday and Wednesday I'm gonna start with a full body workout in my homegym (Squats, Bench press, Bent over rows, Overhead press, Romanian deadlift, Pull-ups, Arms, Forearms, Calves - 3 setes of each between 8-12 reps with 2 reps left in the tank) *Cardio 1x a week --> Tuesday A jog 15-30 minutes or riding my bike for 30 minutes *Times are planned in. In the weekends it's in the morning, on the weekdays it's either the first thing after work OR before work. IF-THEN If for some reason I would miss a workout because of external causes, I will do it the next day, no excuses! If it rains (cardio) I can do cardio on my stationary bike If I'm really really reaaaaaallly tired I'll still go and do whatever I can. I will still do all the exercises and do all the sets however if I really can't perform, going lighter is ok. This does never result in a really short training session though. ----------- About the gaming, today is the first day I actually games 'a lot'. I think I may have surpassed the 2 hour mark a bit. The other days I didn't play more than 1 hour. I feel like I can control it, but it's not that easy. Also I'm not convinced I'll stick at gaming. I'll probably try starting a side-business again instead. In other news: Going for a new style. Following some blogs on style, time to mature a bit. More news to come about this. Already ordered some clothes online.

Only you know the truth of this. Proceed with caution. True! I have set an additional rule: - No multiplayer games (they don't really have an end and are competitive = addicting) Yesterday I could play since I don't have to work for several weeks. I didn't even play 2 hours.It was fun, but to be completely honest I have much more fun doing other things like playing guitar. Due to a wrist injury I can't play much guitar though, that's where gaming comes in handy. The use of games is relaxing, shouldn't be too challenging. The game I played was 'Stardew Valley'. I'm actually considering growing some of my own crops and keep a couple of animals when I move into my new house in a couple of months. I also started and finished 'The Alchemist' by Paula Coelho .. what an inspiring book!!! Makes you think about gaming a lot to be honest! I will make a post about this in a couple of days! For today: - Woke up early (awesome!) - Went to the store (don't ever do this, so great that I did this time!) - Played guitar (and broke my first string on my new stratocaster) - Went to me new house to work , worked for about 4 hours in the hot sun. It's 4 pm now and I'm pretty tired. There's nothing really to do for today so I'll game for a bit. After that I may do some additional 'work' .. start the book Cam recommended me, change my guitar strings and maybe even finish my plan about the goals I have.

So I've identified my goals. I still have to make a plan around them though: Slim down: exercise and nutritionTemprament and stress control: meditationGuitar for entertaining people and writing musicReading for personal developmentBeing more social with friendsFinding a girlfriend , probably will become important when I move to my new houseBig decision: I feel I can control my gaming problem now. It went fairly easy. I will start gaming again but not as much as before. Given my goals I still have time left on non-working days. Gaming doesn't really seem like a big problem if I can control it. Twitch stays off limits. To make this work I will definitely need clear rules: No gaming on workdaysMax 2h on days where I'm allowed to gameOnly on free places in my schedule (I will start scheduling everything and give myself a clear structure)If this doesn't work I will decide to quit gaming completely

It's been a while since I posted here. First of all today is the 62nd day of the detox. I started with 30 days in mind and quickly changed that goal to 90 days. 60 days in I have to say I'm still considering gaming and even sometimes watching twitch. But for now I'll just don't play since I'm still not feeling sure about what I should do. Anyway I started a new book! Even though I didn't finish 'Succeed'yet, I discovered this book by Cal Newport called 'Deep Work': rules for focused succes in a distracted world'. There are tons of reasons why this book spoke to me: - It's about concentration, deep work and being extremely productive - It's about distractions, internet and social media play a huge role in this book - It also talks about stuff like priorities, resting the brain,... - My boss actually sent us an article about it, which wass a little extra motivation. - I can use this book to restructure the way I do my job and my life. I read around 200 pages in 2 days which is a lot for me. I'll probably finish it today. Next week I want to finish Succeed as well, After that I want to put both books in practice and I will reflect on it here. After finishing both books I will probably also make a decision about gaming. So no deep reflecting this time. Just a small update.

Thanks man I also do the thingy thingy a lot

Autonomy So autonomy for me is a really important part of my life. I really think having discipline is awesome and I used to be a champ at having self-control and discipline. However this is also something that has a lot of ups and downs in my life. It's something I can switch on and off or sometimes it turns off and it's hard to switch on again. Sometimes I consciously decide not to be as strict anymore (on diet, meditation, reading, habits,...) and before I know I lose all control. This is a common thing with many people. In the book this is described as periods where you really need to refocus on the WHY .. why did I start doing those habits in the first place? Are they still important? Is the WHY still important to me? Sometimes the answer is no, that's ok. Sometimes the answer is yes and I need to refocus. Sometimes I don't even think about the WHY. I often lose balance in my life by setting goals and making them bigger to fast .. my 5-minute meditation will be a 30-minute meditation within a month and I will lose interest when I miss a couple of sessions. Another big area for me in autonomy is being able to move the way I want to, feel flexible and be healthy. This obviously refers to being fit and doing sports. Last year I worked out 6 times a week for 2 hours and I weighed around 30 pounds less (I was pretty skinny, had a sixpack and veins on my abs). Then I lost interest and control. My WHY didn't really matter to me (it was purely aesthetic and based on self-control at the time) and I lost interest after fighting it I stopped working out. Also I never really liked working out in the gym too much. I did care about being strong and muscular though. These are the 2 most-important things right now .. habits that come to mind at this moment are: - Doing sports - Meditation So that's it for now regarding autonomy. Obviously I still have other autonomy goals, but these 2 are by far the more important goals regarding autonomy.

Great find Sirjk! I liked it a lot. An important part of my Master Disseration years ago was about identity. Well it was about narrative research challenged with the idea's of the philosopher Deleuze. But narratives and identity was obviously one of the most important things I discussed in the dissertation. It was about how humans see the red line while Deleuze's ideas would actually challenge that (at least in my interpretation). So super interesting stuff. Also just being a small spec of sand, for me, is actually liberating. It also shows you how stupid it is to be ashamed about small things. For example if you rip a fart in public, you would be super embarrased, but probably (almost) no one will remember it a couple weeks later so... Farts are always great examples

I didn't read that book yet. But I think I heard of it and I know the conclussion. If the book is about what I think it's about it's something that really impacted my life tremendously already so I really want to read the full version. I like to switch producvtivity and mind-provoking books so I will read this book next and after that one the 'willpower' book of WorkInProgress

Have you ever thought about thinking about the meaning of life? That stuff is confusing as hell! I'm often spending time thinking about how I should live my life and think about what's trully important. I don't like dogma. I always disliked the idea of going to school, find a normal job, get married, get children, die. What even troubles me the most is that a lot of people don't even challenge these idea's. This is also one of the reasons why gaming attracted me, I can live several lives at once and it's not the 'normal' life .. it's exciting! The only problem was that my most important life started lagging behind a bit and I didn't want that. I'm 51 days away from gaming now and I feel it's time to change focus and think about deeper things. Anyway. My personal believe is life has no meaning at all. This may sound depressing but I think it's the most awesome thing to realise. It takes a lot of pressure away, I can live it the way I think it's supposed to be lived and there is no real wrong answer. For me, life is a gift or even a game. Just think about it, you have to power to make a lot of decision every day about how you want to live your life. You can constantly search for new things, learn new stuff, meet new people,... in a way we all have the power the shape our life as close as possible to whatever we want it to be. This is not an equivalent to having fun or even being happy, it's just whatever you want it to be. It all comes down to living a life worth living whatever that general statement may mean. It means everything and nothing .. it's a bit like the meaning of life, everything ... and nothing. Ok time to get on track. Since this is my journey towards my life worth living I guess I should write about that as well. My first goal is enjoying my life, being truly happy and proud about the choices I make and also making sure I make the best possible choice I can at any given time. This sounds like a huge burden? Well, it is .. and it isn't. In a weird way everybody makes the best possible choice at any given time in my opinion. Even when choices look bad in hindsight, if you regret it, it means you don't agree with your past self which means you are now smarter and you should not blame the person you once were. We change everyday. In a way were the same person that's never the same person. Yes .. I am the derail champion! I am reading an awesome book on goal-setting (Succeed: How We Can Reach Our GoalsBook by Heidi Grant- Halvorson) and I've decided I want to work on 3 big area's in my life which are described as basic human needs: - Autonomy: Feeling you can make you own decisions/ lead you own life - Competence: Being to do certain stuff, being smart, something that gives you a good sense of self-worth I guess - Relatedness: I will go further into this in future posts. I don't want to make this opening post too long though. The search, examination, journey has begun. I hope you, my readers follow me in this journey. This is not just about me, it's about us, all of us. So why don't you join in so we can learn from eachother.

Thanks man, will definitely check that out. Super interested in that stuff!

I 'm back Days without gaming 50 ! I feel I dont even think about gaming lately but I dont really feel good. Atm while typing this I feel sick. I have a headache and I feel a bit nauseous. THe worst part is my arm is inflammated. I cannot play the guitar for 2 weeks and Ive already didnt play for a week. This is so stupid because I really want to play. So yea I feel sick, I can't play guitar. This sucks but Im still having fun listenning to music and learning about gear. Tommorow is the beginning of the new month. I have some goals: - Lose around 10lb weight - Play the guitar and improve - Make new friends and maybe even set some steps towards a girl Since Im changing focus I will change the journal ... 50 days without gaming is a good place to stop, but not feeling that great is a nice cliffhanger for the next journal I guess.

Defintely bought the right book. I might finish it in 2 week or less if I keep going like this.

I just bought a new book. It's called succeed! How we can reach our goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson. I feel a bit uninspired lately and I feel this book will give me the push in the back I need. I really like the fact that she's a phd and academics seem to like the book. I've found that I often don't like books when it's not based on research. What annoyed me about the 48 laws of power is that the laws are phrased pretty spectacular and are backed up by some historic examples. I'm not an easy audience. I always ask questions and when it's to easy to think that the opposite the writer is telling me could also be true, I lose interest really quickly. I feel the book I bought now will definitely change that. Also I want to set new goals and accomplish them. I'm also thinking about starting a new journal here because I'm at a different place now. I feel I've left the games behind me and I feel it's time to reframe it. Instead of trying to stay away from something I want to move towards goals. I've got all this time now and it's time to act upon it. I feel ready and I feel I can make a pretty cool journal about it that's more focused towards stories a new period in my life, while this journal is focused on leaving a period in my life. Days without gaming: 42 Craving: 0/10 Social: 7/10 GOALS Main Challenge : Guitar GUITAR: COMPLETED!REWARD: Buy a Fender Stratocaster American Standard (I was planning to do this anyway, but making a challenge out of it is better!)Challenge 2: Do productive stuff n things n such READ: 4/100 (+4%) switched bookExercise: 6/16 (+6) Worked hard in my house, was really sweaty and stuffREWARD: NoneChallenge 3: Explore new things and areas Cooking 0/5 I have been cooking but not new recipes. Cycling: 16.2/100 km If the weather remains nice I'll definitely still have a changeEnroll in the online positive psychology course and follow the planned lessons (enrolled, didn't watch any lessons yet since it start in a week)Go to the blues bar at least onceGo to the David Gilmour concertGo to the coffee shop at least onceGo to the forest at least onceGet to know 1 new person, doesn't necessarily have to become a friend.REWARD: None

Days without gaming: 39 Craving: 0/10 I actually even almost didn't open my desktop yesterday and today Social: 7/10 GOALS Main Challenge : Guitar GUITAR: 49 /50 (+5.5) Almost there!REWARD: Buy a Fender Stratocaster American Standard (I was planning to do this anyway, but making a challenge out of it is better!)Challenge 2: Do productive stuff n things n such READ: 4/100 (+4%) switched bookExercise: 6/16 (+6) Worked hard in my house, was really sweaty and stuffREWARD: NoneChallenge 3: Explore new things and areas Cooking 0/5 I have been cooking but not new recipes. Cycling: 16.2/100 km If the weather remains nice I'll definitely still have a changeEnroll in the online positive psychology course and follow the planned lessons (enrolled, didn't watch any lessons yet since it start in a week)Go to the blues bar at least onceGo to the David Gilmour concertGo to the coffee shop at least onceGo to the forest at least onceGet to know 1 new person, doesn't necessarily have to become a friend.REWARD: None

True true .. well at least partially. I still want to finish the book but maybe I should keep it as a secondary book. Gonna start the 'inner game of music' again. I stopped reading it midway because I almost stopped playing the guitar and started overplaying games. Lets see if I can start and finish this book before the end of this month.

Days without gaming: 36 Craving: 0/10 I actually even almost didn't open my desktop yesterday and today Social: 7/10 GOALS Main Challenge : Guitar GUITAR: 43.5 /50 (+4.5) Almost there!REWARD: Buy a Fender Stratocaster American Standard (I was planning to do this anyway, but making a challenge out of it is better!)Challenge 2: Do productive stuff n things n such READ: 36/100 (+0%) Not getting this goal.I just don't really enjoy the book but I still want to finish it (even though I don't know why)Exercise: 5/16 (+0) Might get this goal but I really need to wake up right now! It's been busy and I've been lazyREWARD: NoneChallenge 3: Explore new things and areas Cooking 0/5 I have been cooking but not new recipes. Cycling: 16.2/100 km If the weather remains nice I'll definitely still have a changeEnroll in the online positive psychology course and follow the planned lessons (enrolled, didn't watch any lessons yet since it start in a week)Go to the blues bar at least onceGo to the David Gilmour concertGo to the coffee shop at least onceGo to the forest at least onceGet to know 1 new person, doesn't necessarily have to become a friend. I acutally talked to a lot of new people to be honest. This goal wasn't clear enough but I'm tikking it of since I feel I at least did meant.REWARD: NoneIt's getting hard to update this journal because I don't have a lot of desire to be on the pc anymore (which is AWESOME!)