This is not about gaming - Journal

[Reno F]

Looks like you are using your time productively. 

Not as much as you would think, but getting better at it gradually!

Waiting for your AC/DC cover!

I`ll tag you when I have it ready!

Pat Flynn's podcast is a great one!

I know you like it, I got to know it from you!

15 days left!

Yesterday I almost slept without exercising. It was late, and I wanted to sleep. But then I looked at my 3-day streak. It isn`t ok to break the streak when you only have 3 days in. So I pushed myself to do the thing and exercised for about 35 minutes. It felt so good, not the exercise itself but the fact that I overcame the voice in my head telling me that it was late and asking me to go to sleep!

Today I checked some info on stock market investments. I was interested in it when I was working as an engineer, but I had never taken the time to learn about it seriously. I`m thinking of setting two days a week to study on this subject.

This quest on financial freedom is getting on my nerves. Internet marketing is the same everywhere I go, it makes me doubt every single product I see online. But at the same time, it works. What is stopping me from getting my share on the internet? I don't know.

Recently I can feel the loneliness knocking on my door day after day. I have no friends in Japan. My only family here is my wife. Sometimes is tough to connect, as I have to speak on my third language. I remember feeling like that in Brazil too, friday nights, saturday nights... 5 years later and I still feel it. Will I still feel it in the future?

It's 10pm already and I still have to exercise. It seems that voice in the head will have a second round with me.

 

[Cam Adair]

This quest on financial freedom is getting on my nerves. Internet marketing is the same everywhere I go, it makes me doubt every single product I see online. But at the same time, it works. What is stopping me from getting my share on the internet? I don't know.

Can you elaborate? 

[Reno F]

Can you elaborate? 

Sure. This is how I see marketing on the internet:

1. Foment a problem with your audience; Maybe there is a problem. Maybe there isn't one. But the issue should be reframed to look like it is a problem that must be solved.
2. Create a connection, saying you've been through the same problem, tried all the solutions available, lived hard times and saying how much your felt frustrated, etc.
3. Introduce your solution, usually with some free content available, but most importantly, saying all the amazing changes that you will have if you buy the full solution.
4. Sell your solution, usually with a 100% refund guarantee. It is a plus if you offer your solution in a package, with a "discount" on a "limited time", making it a big deal.

This is all done through a extremely long read or a text+audio only video. I was about 21 when I first saw this structure. It was on the dating topic. And now, 12 years later I still see the same strategy being used and taught. I know, it is effective. It must be, or it wouldn't still be used. But after sometime, everyone starts looking the same.

But Cam, my negativity from the last post came from the experience I'm describing below:

The other day I attended a "live" webinar of one of the oldest experts on internet business. But 20 minutes after it had started, my antivirus started running a fullscan and my computer froze (it is kind of old), so I had to restart, hoping that I still had my seat at the presentation (as it was said to be limited seats). Five minutes later, I clicked on the link to the "live" webinar once more and guess what? It all started from the very beginning again. It was all recorded. The chatroom recorded and replayed (maybe bots? who knows). The number of attendants also rose to the same number as before. Had I looked in the mirror at the moment I rejoined the "live" webinar, I would have seen donkey ears on the top of my head. I felt I was being played with. I felt like sheep.

In spite of that, I'm sure their solution works. I had worked for many people; I can see it working. Yet, there is no trust.

Sometimes I think that I'm rationalizing, I'm justifying my lack of action, I'm being set behind by skepticism. Maybe I have an issue with money. Maybe I'm overthinking.

I hope this doesn't sound like a complain.I don't like to complain.

[Cam Adair]

I definitely understand man. It's a very fine line that I try to be as mindful of as possible. For instance, I wouldn't say it's a live webinar when it's a recording. 

The most important thing is to remember what your values are and remain true to those. Others have their own values and that's on them, but you can only control yourself. Ultimately, "the internet" is just a platform. When you go to a grocery store there's a reason why there is always candy and stuff at the register, just like there's a reason why the vegetables are on the far side from the door - to ensure you have to walk through the whole store to get to them. It's subtle practices that increase revenue. The difference is doing your best to ensure the product you're selling provides real value to the person. And then as I said, remaining true to your values. Game Quitters could easily be 2-5x the revenue right now (would make a big difference for me, honestly), if I implemented more "best practices" for an online business. But building community is more important to me so that's how I roll. You get to choose how you roll too.

[Piotr]

You don't build friendship in seconds, so don't be so harsh on yourself by not having any friends, it will come in time. Investment thing seems really interesting, hope you will post more about it in the future. And congratulations on keeping your streak, it was hard, but it was worth it!

[Reno F]

Thanks for the response,@Cam Adair (how do you tag other people with the @ mark?). You are right about it, and I guess that's how things work on the internet. You gotta look carefully to notice the line that separates the marketing from the product. Thanks again!

Day "not there yet"

I had good plans for today, but I choose to stay at home because of wife feeling sick. Not a big deal, but at the same time not very productive for me. It's sunday anyway, so whatever.

This sunday I made a small list of what I want to have done within a week. I use to do it for a few years when I was a university student, and I remember it to be quite effective, at least on my university life. By doing that I hope I can start to look at the long term and have a better sense of goals. I was inspired by some Old Timers from the forum, (@Work In Progress, maybe?) and I'm finally starting doing it.

I'm also going to start recording myself reading japanese to practice fluency and intonation. I don't recomend this to anyone, as listening to your own voice can be quite a shock, but it is a very insightful exercise. I hope I can also start practicing oratory with this exercise (to practice public speaking, I'd need a public). I might not be able to join Toastmasters this month; I got some appointment on saturdays, and the membership fee is quite expensive if you pay it to skip. I still have two weeks to try and rearrange my schedule, but it doesn't look promising.

This week again, I coundl't reach 60kg, basically because of my diet. I need to eat more, put on more calories and more proteins. I have the wednesday free, so I'll try and cook in a larger quantity, so I'll have a stock of ready-to-eat food in my fridge. That should remove some of the burden of cooking and save me some time. Next week I'm gonna wake up weighting 60kg!

One last thing... well, nevermind.

[JSmith]

Thanks for the response,@Cam Adair (how do you tag other people with the @ mark?).

Hitaru got on my case for asking the same question a couple weeks ago, since it's in the FAQ haha.

Just gotta wait after the last letter for their nameplate to pop up, then you click it!  

 

[Reno F]

Ops! Thank you @JSmith

Day 80 something, maybe?

Messed up day! Felt a little sick in the afternoon, stayed in bed. Feeling better now, but it's already 10:40pm. I'll wake up early and make it up for today. Still have some minutes to study Japanese

[Rick Boon]

The fact that you speak japanese is already so awesome to me.

[Cam Adair]

Thanks for the response,@Cam Adair (how do you tag other people with the @ mark?).

Hitaru got on my case for asking the same question a couple weeks ago, since it's in the FAQ haha.

Just gotta wait after the last letter for their nameplate to pop up, then you click it!  

LOL @Hitaru bringing the hammer down.  - sometimes the tag takes a second to show up.

 

[Hitaru]

Thanks for the response,@Cam Adair (how do you tag other people with the @ mark?).

Hitaru got on my case for asking the same question a couple weeks ago, since it's in the FAQ haha.

Just gotta wait after the last letter for their nameplate to pop up, then you click it!  

LOL @Hitaru bringing the hammer down.  - sometimes the tag takes a second to show up.

 

A second, good joke that. It's glitchy as hell dude!  Also that was from the time before I was a mod. Power will not change me and my perfectionism

Now that I've intruded here I gotta read, but I can't right now, noted for later!

[Reno F]

Today I had a near gaming experience.

I finished studying at 11am this morning, So I turned on my laptop and started playing with a graphic manipulation software (GIMP). I would like to have some skill on image edition, so I've started learning the software since last friday. Today I was only going to check out how to use the color channels to create lightning masks, but the next time I looked the time, it was 5pm. To be honest, I checked the clock every hour, but as with gaming, "I'm just going to finish this, then I'll stop". I had many plans for today D: Needless to say I barely ate anything for lunch. I don't wanna look at the scale tomorrow morning D: At least I didn't game, ha.

This is it. Friday I'm recording the song I've been practicing. Time to move on. I'm saying friday because I have a debt to pay on writing. Didn't meet my goal for last week.

Short input today. Good night, fellas!

 

[Simon E]

At least I didn't game, ha.

 

Well, this is what matters.   

[Cam Adair]

This is it. Friday I'm recording the song I've been practicing. Time to move on. I'm saying friday because I have a debt to pay on writing. Didn't meet my goal for last week.

Do we get to hear it?

[Reno F]

This is it. Friday I'm recording the song I've been practicing. Time to move on. I'm saying friday because I have a debt to pay on writing. Didn't meet my goal for last week.

Do we get to hear it?

At your own risk!

Day 81 or 83, I'm not sure

Tomorrow is already friday and I haven't touched on my weekly goals. Let's get something done by tomorrow. Most of the are writing, and I'm still very bad at it. And when I try to be good I spend about 30 minutes to write a few words. There is only way to get better at it and it is writing more. So I'm writing.

I mentioned in some previous entry on this journal that I was keeping other journals to cover different topics. Well, recently I was writing only in two of them and I'll keep it that way. Besides this one, I have another way that functions the same way as this one, but I write it in Portuguese. And today I created another one, where I'll dump all my feelings and emotions on it so I can get them out of my mind and have a better focus during the day. I wrote on it for the first time today, like about 20 to 30 minutes non stop. One hour later I was feeling much lighter, with clearer thoughts. I'm not sure either if this is an direct effect from this writing exercise or if it will work again the next time I write, but I'm going to figure it out. Meanwhile, I'll keep the crap out of this journal and try to use this to make positive reflections.

Things to do tomorrow:

• Record a song
• Clean the fridge
• Clean the shower room
• Write a blog post (even without a blog to write on)
• Record myself reading in japanese (two texts, and these are not to be published here!)
• Send a few more resumes, if there is something interesting to do

I wonder if I should put things like these on my calendar. I have lots of free space on my calendar and I fill those with one activity from my habits/to do list, because I like the flexibility to do what I'm feeling like doing. But I do realize that one needs to have strong discipline to keep doing what is important even if you feel inclined to leave it for later. Maybe I should do an experience with writing everything on my calendar.

That's all for today, folks. Have and awesome day!

[Reno F]

Quick follow up from yesterday's post:

• Record a song: I did it! But I erased it later! I had so much trouble setting everything up to record it! I won't go into details, but the result was good enough. I erased because there was a lot of noise from the pick hitting the strings and because some of my bendings were a bit out of tune. But I'll record again, and upload somewhere.
• Clean de fridge: done.
• Clean the shower room: not yet
• Write a blog post: not yet. this is becoming my nightmare.
• Record reading: done, but for one text only. second one needed practice
• Send resumes: gonna do it later tonight.

That's it. I still have tomorrow to finish my weeklies. Let's do the final sprint!

[Cam Adair]

I will be away for your day 90 post so let me do this now.

[Reno F]

I will be away for your day 90 post so let me do this now.

I like the part that you know I'll make it .

I have a request, Cam: I'd like to see you using the water from the just-built well in Tanzânia. I'd do it if I was there, but since I'm not you, would you do it for me?

Day "just a little longer"

Unproductive as last sunday, but I recharged for the week so that's good enough. I left in the morning for a kind of flea Market in a nearby park with wife and a friend. It was quite nice day, there was live music and I ate churros (or Spanish dougnuts). I had to give two english classes to an old lady and that was also refreshing. After getting home I reviewed some kanji and messed around on the computer, sorting files and checking out the fórum. Now, to my reflections:

1 - I could only do half of my weekly goals. I noticed that one goal that was based on writing was giving me a lot of pressure, mainly because I hadn't figured out how/what to write. When setting my goals for this week, I will break down some activities in smaller ones, making them easier to think about/handle. I now understand better one of my weaknessess and I'll have a workaround for it until I'm good enough for not needing it anymore.

2 - I wrote 3 times on my emotion dumpster journal since I created it - I'm calling it the Gray Book. Whenever I'm under stress, I open it and start writing until I feel I have said it all. For all the three times, I felt much lighter a few minutes later and it was way easier to focus on a creative/mental engaging activity. The first time I wrote, it felt like magic. All worries were gone. I'll keep on experimenting with it, and perhaps makeit  a habit.

3 - Unfortunately, I had to keep some of the planned activities for last week on this week's list. This time I'm better prepared to tick them out.

Hey, I got this Japan flag beside my name. Hope people don't think I'm Japanese.

Stay cool, guys. LifeIsGood!

[Reno F]

Last week of Detox!

#lifeisgood kind of day. I got my dailies done, AND ticked of some stuff out of my to do list. I'm finally reaching a good spot between planning & acting/ getting things done.

I had a vision today. A vision which I see myself writing well, and people paying me to write stuff to them. That vision, was a strong one. It was more than that. A prophecy, an omen. It demanded a new commitment. Therefore here I am, speaking in front of all of you, witnesses of these words: I am now commiting to do everything it takes to have professional writing skills. It is somewhat scary to have that level of commitment. You know, "what if I can't" sort of self doubt. But at the same time, it is challenging. I'm finally excited with a brand new challenge that I, myself, chose! Now I need a plan to level this skill up. I gave it some thought today, but I'm giving it more thought tomorrow before I set it public.

1 hour ago I was improvising on back tracks, something I've been doing for 5 minutes at every 2 days or so. But this time, for the very first time, pieces of the puzzle started to fit. I was actually playing well! It sounded like music! I havn't had this "AHA" moment since I solved my last mathematics problem! I want to get the guitar again right now and keep on playing, but I still have to work out. I may suck next time I play, so let me sleep feeling great about it today.

I hope you're having a great day, folks!

Thanks for dropping by!

[JSmith]

That's amazing! Best of luck to you on your quest!

Did your vision appear to you, or did you just make it?

[Piotr]

Keep that vision and recall it daily. Through visualisation and hard work it will become reality.

[Reno F]

That's amazing! Best of luck to you on your quest!

Did your vision appear to you, or did you just make it?

I was browsing something on copy writing, I think, and something just clicked on my head. Maybe it was the chalenge aspect of selling, I don't know. But I was charmed. I've Always admired writers. But now I can see myself being one.

Keep that vision and recall it daily. Through visualisation and hard work it will become reality.

Oh man, I don't like these two words together "hard" and "work". They wear me out. But yea, it will definitely become a reality.

Day "almost there"

Guess what: I wrote a long post and when I was trying to mark @SpiNips to show him my recording, I lost all my text. So first of all. I recorded AC/DC. The recording is really bad (you should see my "amp" and mic). But I did it. I effing did it!

What did I write before? Oh, ok. At the beginning of the detox, working out was very easy to do, but now it is very hard. I Always leave it for last and by the end of the night I'm so tired I barely can do it. I should start it in the morning, the first thing after breakfast, for the sake of exercise quality. But for that, I'd have to eat earlier... gotta think about it.

Second: I proudly did my writing task today. I wrote a post for my roleplay and I liked the result. It is still crap, but I like the crap I wrote. now I gotta wait for a response, so I can write again. Meanwhile I have a plan to keep writing everyday. I set up a list of topics that I have na opinion on or want to write about so everyday I'll pick something from the list to write. I also plan to start a blog to publish some stuff (maybe monetize it, but that's not the point of the blog yet). I have na idea for the things I want to write about on it. More News on that soon.

Lastly, I forgot. Maybe it wasn't so important. Damn, I'm starting to get annoyed with the autocorrect function of MS Edge. Just because my system is in portuguese, doesn't mean that I want to have my writing corrected to portuguese. Still can't find the option to turn it off. Gotta get back to Firefox when writing.

Thanks for Reading. You are Important.

AC_DC - You Shook Me All Night Long (Reno Cover).mp3

[SpiNips]

Oh boy! I've been waiting for this! ????

[Fagus]

Well done with your recording!

[Piotr]

Really nice cover! How long are you playing?