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Jason's Journal


gloriousclover

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Day 1 - Joined and posted my introductory post on the forum. Was going to delete my games right after but ran out of time and had to go out. Got home not long ago, and uninstalled Steam. And damn I have a hell of a lot of games. Took about 15 minutes to uninstall, 450 GB freed :o. What's left now is all the individual non-steam games.

Feeling the nostalgia and a bit of regret that I'll never play these ever again (removing the ones bit by bit is definitely harder than uninstalling Steam), but feels alright this way. Reminds me of the scene from Revolver when the MC is giving his money away slowly. Anyway, I'm going to sleep, and will finish removing the rest after work tomorrow.

Did first fencing class in over a year today too. Saw a few regulars I haven't seen since last summer. Good stuff. 

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Feeling the nostalgia and a bit of regret that I'll never play these ever again (removing the ones bit by bit is definitely harder than uninstalling Steam), but feels alright this way.

Did first fencing class in over a year today too. Saw a few regulars I haven't seen since last summer. Good stuff. 

The regret gets better when you do other things instead. Gaming used to be such a big part of our life, it probably won't happen overnight. But it will happen.

Edited by TheJan
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Day 2, feeling pretty good still. Lucky so far in that I haven't had a huge free time block yet (coming up soon though, long weekend). I imagine it's going to be challenging at that point. For now, pretty good.

Appreciate the positive comments and support, surprised at the degree in which it helps! Even if it's a quick message it carries a lot of weight knowing that you're all on the same journey and speaking from experience.

Finished deleting all my games, one by one slowly. @Cam Adair, thinking back to your nostalgia video helped. It's ok that I had my fun, and it was nice to say goodbye to each game and the different things they all had to offer. But on to bigger and better things now.

Interesting note, knowing that I am quitting gaming, I ended up working extra till 7pm or so today. Normally, at the end of a long week, I think to myself, I've worked hard, produced results, and I'm burned out. I'm going to take it easy and just play games all evening. Instead, today I was thinking it will probably help to work a little extra, get a bit ahead of the next week, and hopefully delay the dreaded feeling of not knowing what to do.

Worked great, got that feeling of the flow, was more focused than usual, and am really happy I spent that extra time. Optimistically expecting for it to carry forward in not just career but life outside of work. 

Spent the rest of the evening just chatting with a friend, looking forward to tomorrow. :D 

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Hey Jason, awesome to read your update for day two. Do you have anything planned for the upcoming weekend? Planning ahead will help a lot to avoid cravings and urges to play and that you found you put in more hours to finish the week strong. 

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Thanks Cam! Yes, I had stuff planned for today and tomorrow as well. 

Day 3, woke up, cut my hair, got ready, went to archery with some friends from out of town. Went to eat and shoot the shit for a while, then indoor rock climbing till about 9, and shoot some more shit until now. Pretty much busy all day, didn't have time to think about not being able to game or anything. Good stuff.

Tomorrow is archery again, might climb again, if not I'll likely be home and start looking into some hobbies I might want to do. Going to start with drawing. Other than that, might do a bit of work, get some reading in, and knock some items off the task list.

Nothing planned yet for Monday (holiday), and it's going to be a rest day (physically) so I suspect that is going to be a tougher day. Hoping to be able to get through the next couple days without any form of mindless entertainment too, ie: watch climbing videos instead of an hour of random YouTube.

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Day 3, woke up, cut my hair, got ready, went to archery with some friends from out of town. Went to eat and shoot the shit for a while, then indoor rock climbing till about 9, and shoot some more shit until now. Pretty much busy all day, didn't have time to think about not being able to game or anything. Good stuff.

Awesome day!

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Day 4 (yesterday), woke up, read a bit, got ready, went and did archery with a big group of friends (different group than the previous day) till evening, had dinner with them for a couple hours, then had dessert with another friend until late at night. Basically was out all day, and didn't get a chance to be "tested". Still feeling relatively optimistic about it, as I am eager to get started on practicing some drawing.

Thinking more about how I didn't get a chance to do that yesterday, as opposed to being concerned about not being able to game/be bored/end up on YouTube for hours.

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Okay, a little behind on the daily journal.

Day 5 - Monday - Good day, basically did errands, did a few hours of work, and was practicing drawing the rest of the day. That pretty much took up the entire day.

Day 6 - Tuesday - Less of a good day, worked a long day, but then spent 5 hours watching shows. Was intending to watch for only 2 hours and then do some more drawing but yeah. Not going to let it bother me too much and just go forward, think about what went wrong and how to prevent it next time. For me there will always be TV to catch up on because I watch every few weeks and don't bother keeping up. One thing that's worked for me before is to set a timer for 1 hour, then 30 minutes, then 15 minutes. Kind of how you tell a kid when you have to leave something fun, will do that next time. Definitely open to more suggestions and ideas though! 

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 For me there will always be TV to catch up on because I watch every few weeks and don't bother keeping up.

I hate this feeling of being behind - which is why I mostly just stopped watching TV entirely. I didn't watch much, but I had a Netflix subscription that I felt I had to justify each month by using it. I ended up getting rid of it and don't miss it. There is always more TV to watch, and while others may disagree, I guess there just isn't much value in watching TV to me. I will still watch it when relaxing with friends, but it ends up being 1-3 hours per week at most. Once you start to find new activities, you'll find things that simply give you a better return on your investment on your time than TV.

In the meantime, if you don't want to give up TV entirely, as Cam suggested you could simply choose to only follow a couple shows that you find are the most valuable to you, and use the rest of the time for something more productive. In general though, when it comes to things that we overdo it on, I find it easiest to just cut it out entirely than to try to moderate. Again, different people will have different views.

Edited by kortheo
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Thanks Cam and Kortheo, those are all good suggestions. I also agree there isn't a lot of value in watching tv. I mainly just want to know what happens. The 5 hours of tv I watched that day was actually 20 40-minute episodes. I basically skim seasons at a time. Not sure if I should keep up more often so I don't skim an entire season in one sitting or just better prepare myself for when I do. The only silver lining is it is infrequent. 

Day 7 Wednesday - Managed just 2 hours of tv, practiced drawing, worked, managed my budgeting/finances, went out to eat with my mom. Did a next module of Respawn. Pretty much it and that was the whole day.

Day 8 Thursday - More Respawn, work, tried Headspace out, I've done some mindfulness meditation before but I really need to build it in as a habit. Pretty nifty site that hopefully will help me do that. Practiced more drawing, and went out for late night dessert and just shooting the shit with a friend.

Day 9 Friday (Today) - More work, then went straight to archery for almost 2 hours, then rock climbing for almost 2 hours. Home now, about to do the next Headspace meditation, then may just call it a night or do some reading.

Feeling a bit more tired and mentally lazy. One of those mentally weak days rock climbing, can't really tell if it's all physical or stems from mental > physical. Sleep has been good but maybe nutrition not so much? Or maybe too many rest days shifting the mentality from warrior to peasant haha.

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Okay, lots of catch up. Been pretty busy, productivity has gone up a lot. Generally pretty happy with how things are going.

Day 10 (May 28 - Saturday) - Did some work on Saturday, went to archery, got some reading in, had a 2 hour talk with a friend

Day 11 - Went rock climbing, did a bunch of errands, meditated, had a 1.5 hour talk with a friend, connected with another friend from Korea, went out for a late night dinner to hang out with another friend.

Over the course of May 23-28 managed to keep the entertainment down to 13 hours. Feeling good about that. Aiming to keep it down even more in the next week.

Day 12 - Work, some online learning, drawing meetup, dinner with a friend and was shooting the shit till late night

Day 13 - Work, ran some errands, more reading, studying some concepts on recovery and nutrition. Need to put more effort into recovering and keeping the shoulder healthy between the archery and the rock climbing making it sore everyday. Spent some time doing light cardio and conditioning.

Day 14 (June 1 - Wednesday) - Went into the office for work, then archery and badminton. Hung out with the badminton crew after, spent an hour and a half talking to a friend.

With all the time out of the house I find myself eager and excited for those days when I can be at home and get more reading/learning in. I've also realized that whenever I feel like procrastinating, it's usually about something I know I won't regret doing, so I might as well start it first and see if I feel like giving up. So far I haven't, so I might as well always start all those things I'm meaning to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

More catch up. Just going to summarize what I think are the key points via calendar and time tracking

Days Summary

Day 15 (June 2) - Work, played baseball with the little brother

Day 16 - Work, cousin's birthday, hang out all night

Day 17 - Archery, lunch and catch up

Day 18 (June 5 Sunday) - Errands all day, hang out at night

Day 19 - Work, badminton

Day 20 - Work, team building event with colleagues

Day 21 - Work, prepare for presentation

Day 22 - Work presentation day, hang out at night

Day 23 (June 10 Friday) - Work, rock climbing

Day 24 - Archery, cardio/conditioning, hang out all afternoon

Day 25 - Cardio/conditioning, hang out all evening till late night

Day 26 - Work, badminton

Day 27 (June 14 Tuesday, Yesterday) - Work, took a friend out for her birthday, archery

Key points

- Haven't really had any issues not being able to game. Still think about it now and then, but the concept of being okay with nostalgia still sticking. More concerned with how effectively I am using my time (Pareto)

- May 30 - June 5 - 6.5 hours entertainment

- June 6 - June 12 - 8.5 hours entertainment

- Happy with my engagement/entertainment ratio, challenges in the past was free time at home, and not exercising, what do I do? Now free time is mainly spent drawing, learning about finance/money, lots of reading, planning the next week.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Figure I'll just do week summaries from now on.

Week of June 13-June 19 (Day 26 - 32) Main Time Usage Highlights

8 hours entertainment

5.5 hours of sports/exercise (badminton, fencing, cardio/conditioning)

5.5 hours of hobby (drawing, photo editing)

6 hours of reading books

2.5 hours of online learning

35.5 hours socializing

Couple things that I appreciate which have been helping me on this journey (and before I started it)

> My close friend who I can often schedule an outing with when I don't feel like being productive and don't want to waste time watching YouTube

> My other close friend who is also working on self improvement, we talk weekly on Skype and discuss our weekly goals. Quantify success, plan and execute.

>> Want to also mention, he hasn't played games in a while because his laptop sucks and he's too lazy to buy a new one. Based on our talks it's apparent that the dopamine de-sensitivity is no longer an issue for him since he naturally went through a detox. That being said, thanks to @Cam Adair's Game Quitters, he's also decided that he's just better off without them :D

Today, June 24th, is day 37 since deciding to quit. A few times I thought oO(Ah I miss games) then I remind myself that life (specifically the things I decided I want to do) is better. It's getting easier and more enjoyable making the decision to be productive instead of entertained. This must be where the neural pathways in my brain are already rewiring themselves. Building the habit and doubling down on it.

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June 20 - June 26 (Day 33 - Day 39) Highlights

8 hours of entertainment

25 hours social

7.5 hours learning online

7 hours reading

6 hours exercise

4.5 hours drawing

Experimenting with the health routine. Defined some short-mid term goals with drawing. Overall focusing on no more than 2 things at a time per week. Feel stronger in making decisions and the big picture goals are becoming more clear in my experiences and interactions with people. Also getting easier to not choose entertainment :D pretty happy about that.

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June 20 - June 26 (Day 33 - Day 39) Highlights

8 hours of entertainment

25 hours social

7.5 hours learning online

7 hours reading

6 hours exercise

4.5 hours drawing

Experimenting with the health routine. Defined some short-mid term goals with drawing. Overall focusing on no more than 2 things at a time per week. Feel stronger in making decisions and the big picture goals are becoming more clear in my experiences and interactions with people. Also getting easier to not choose entertainment :D pretty happy about that.

Awesome! :D

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June 27 - July 3 (Day 40 - Day 46)

1.5 hours entertainment

35 hours social

11 hours exercise

8.5 hours learning online

4 hours reading

2 hours drawing

Played squash for the first time during this week. Awesome sport. Looking at my logs, surprised I only have 1.5 hours entertainment. Thursday - Sunday was in Calgary for the weekend, and it was primarily socializing, hiking/indoor climbing, groceries/meal prep, got some reading in, and even listened to course material in the 4 out of 6 hours driving round trip. Spent about 3 hours being entertained with friends, which is not included, as I track entertainment hours as the time I spend by myself. Overall, happy with the fact that I hadn't realized this more than the actual numbers, as it's more indication to me that my good habits and decision making processes are improving.

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