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My Journal - Alex


AlexTheGrape

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Finally, my week of busyness is over, and I can finally write a proper post!

Today has been the second day of the Model United Nations Assembly in Auckland, and I can surely say it's been a wonderful experience. Myself and two others represented Slovakia from my school, and together we turned Slovakia from a tiny, insignificant nation into a leader of political and diplomatic affairs. These past two days I have pushed myself to talk with new people in this environment and it has certainly paid off. Although my teammates weren't too concerned with making any new friends, in the breaks I made sure to meet new people and put simply, be diplomatic. Strangely enough I found that many people appreciated a warm greeting, a smile, and a positive attitude more than any words I could say, and I wish to bring that knowledge out of this event. Furthermore, speaking with confidence in my speech and in person gave beneficial weight to my points and portrayed greater value of my words. These two things helped me to make many friends within the assembly, and I seem to have won a few hearts too. I literally walked out of today's assembly with a girl that had had a special interest in me. :x

My speech was very controversial, as needed from my nation's perspective, but I delivered it in engaging ways (rhetorical questions, calling refugees a 'flood' and many other things), and more importantly, said it whilst hardly looking at my script. Although my hands were visibly shaking, I made sure to be loud and clear in speaking individual words so that it was understood well. Call me overconfident or cocky, but I really need to celebrate getting out of my comfort zone as I would never have signed up for this event without having quit gaming; this public speaking occasion may be a turning point in the development of my leadership skills and social life.

I've forgone my morning schedule to get as much sleep as possible before both days of this event, and I will need to start anew tomorrow.

Thank you @Cam Adair for the snapchat shout out! I really appreciate it, if I had a large fan base I'd do the same for you. :) Also thank you for you comment! Perhaps I am discovering my inner stud...

It's 11pm now, so I'll need to cut this one short and get to bed! Thanks reader for making it this far through my post.

Although we have some 30 messages or so received, these ones related to my speech I presented today. I'm thinking I should have gone to see the delegates of Ukraine at the end though. :D 

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Hey Alex!

I see that you suddenly broke your success streak! It's something that you can avoid and I'll give you advice what to do if a situation like that would happen.

For every goal you've set, you should also set an emergency goal.

What does it mean?

Sometimes we have tough days in our life and we can't do first goal we wanted to do. For you it was running. After that as you mentioned, most of the day or even the entire day can collapse.

So, if you have seriously difficult day, you shouldn't give up on your objectives! Just set an emergency goal!

I'll give you an example: My goal is to write 750 words each day, however sometimes I don't have enought time to do it in the morning, so I have an emergency goal to open website where I write my morning pages and write at least 100 words.

Or I have to study for at least 2 hours each days. But sometimes my mind just want to explode, so what's my emergency goal in case of emergency? To study for at least 5 minutes every 3 most important subjects on my semester (chemistry, botanics, anatomy).

And by doing that I'm still in game! By doing emergency goal, I'm not loosing streak, but also not gaining it! It just get stuck for one difficult day and then I can move forward with my streak days again!

Tell me what do you think about it Alex, because I've recently heard about this method and I'm implementing it into my life right now.

Thank you very much for your advice! I apologize for not responding earlier. The idea of an emergency goal seems like a really practical one, as I've sometimes just abandoned my goals altogether if I know I can't complete them entirely. If I set an emergency goal for any of my morning routine parts, it would be fair to say that I don't gain any days on the counter, but I don't need to reset it either.

I'll let you know if this works out, and thank you again for your advice, it will certainly come in handy. :)

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Today I had a slow start, namely due to an interrupted sleep. I really didn't feel up for doing much to start with, but I set an emergency goal and through this got one set of workouts done (as opposed to my normal goal of 3). I meditated and did a brief visualisation, but I skipped the cold shower this morning and so having a hot one unfortunately ended up taking 15 minutes. I'm back to school tomorrow so I will surely be better prepared.

Today I had a call with my accountability partner, and it went very well. This was namely because I inspired him to make positive change in his life (since he ended up going back to gaming and lost all positive momentum for change), and I am now going to reassess my visualization goals and a few other things. I have spoken on stage and solidified some leadership qualities, but I need to go further than this so I'll need to look into doing other leadership and/or public speaking activities, with a new visualisation to suit.

I've also chosen to do the 40 hour famine a few days ago, so the collecting of funds from the neighbourhood by knocking on people's doors will really develop my social skills and affinity for rejection. I simply need to get started!

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful for the opportunity to practice public speaking offered yesterday at MUNA.

I am grateful for my dinner tonight, I know many other people in the world have had no such food.

I am grateful for having family time playing a board game.

I thank the universe for such a wide range of people to meet and forge friendships with.

What I could have done to make my day better:

I could have gotten out of bed immediately upon waking up and meditated, as doing so always gets me ready for movement and visualisation.

What went well today:

Today I did a full on workout session as a study break, and strangely enough, the most interesting thing I could think of doing afterwards was to continue doing calculus homework. How amazingly absurd! Unfortunately I wasn't up for another full on workout in my next study break, but doing it certainly helped my focus.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I will do my morning success routine in its entirety, despite its order needing to be disrupted form getting up early.

Doesn't surprise me that the girls like you ;) The appearance coupled with some soft skills and an easy chick amgnet is created :D Good job on getting out of your comfort zone. sounds like a nice experience!

Thank you for you kind words! I feel my appearance has only been noticeably 'attractive' in the past few months, I'm not exactly sure why that is. Getting out of my comfort zone has been certainly worth it! If you'd like me to comment on your journal, please mention me from time to time, I tend to get overwhelmed by the number of people's journals I could post on, then decide to not post anything, or otherwise just don't dedicate the time. :/

 

This is just a picture I have taken in the garden at home, nothing special about it ^_^

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Edited by AlexTheGrape
Forgot to add a photo!
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Post for yesterday:

Yesterday was a successful day as I got all my morning habits done except for having a cold shower. I had a morning run that took me to a playground where I did some pull ups, and I wish to continue going to this destination in future so that I can get those done. In the afternoon I spend a long time talking with my brother, after he voiced his frustration with his inability to stop playing games when he has pressing things to do. During our long conversation he decided to quit playing video games, and I fully support him for it. The issue is that he wishes to become a video game developer and gaming is part of his personal identity; he's very invested in it. Despite my efforts, I can't get him to join this community just yet, but once he decides its worth writing a journal here for accountability, he'll be well on the way to recovery.

Today's post:

Yesterday I got to sleep late, and I have myself to blame for that. I was fluffing around trying be busy with things that I didn't need to do. As a result, this morning I was not in the right frame of mind to do well in the morning; I only achieved my emergency goal for my workout, forgot to visualise, and had a warm shower.

So I mentioned earlier that I've decided to pick up on the 40 Hour Famine. I have decided to do this for several reasons. The main two is so that I will see and feel what it is like to positively contribute to the world, and second to get out of my comfort zone to stretch my communication skills and get exposed with rejection. I have always thought to myself that I have been a positive contributor to society, but this has been limited to me doing small, infrequent acts of good and not causing trouble or being a hindrance. By making an effort to positively contribute to society at large, I'll [most importantly] make a genuine difference, and will also have more confidence in myself and who I am.

I'm going to make sure I get more sleep tonight, so peace out!

Here's a photo from when I went on my Defence Careers Experience, where we're standing to attention. Being part of the Defence Force is a worthy goal of mine, so I'm going to  implement it into my visualisation practices now. See if you can spot me!

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My post for yesterday:

Morning success streak day 1

Today I got two sets of workouts done in the morning out of my goal of three, so that's an improvement from yesterday. I had a cold shower, although it didn't have much of a positive effect on me. I think I've been overestimating the influence that cold showers have on my day, I've found it is the exercise that wakes me up. I did some meditation and visualization in the morning, but I'll need to refocus what I'm visualizing as I believe it would be better to picture more ambitious goals than I currently have. They'd include:

  • Being a Defence Force Officer (requires academic, leadership, and physical efforts)
  • Performing on stage playing my favourite song on my guitar
  • Becoming the top academic student and getting the Dux award
  • Being the leader of a neighbourhood community group
  • Meeting Cam on equal terms, having no regrets about my decision to quit gaming and being proud of the person I've become.
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My post for yesterday:

Morning success streak day 2

Today has been a good one as I did well in class and generally had a peaceful day. I had a morning run to the park and did my chin ups, even though it was freezing this morning. I had a warm shower, and I haven't had any ill effects because of it - I am finding it's the exercise that's important. I had a good mediation and visualisation session on the bus, and so 3/4 of my morning habits means I've successfully added another day to my success streak. My parents are getting a little worried that I'm having cold showers, thinking that I'm trying to punish myself or something. It seems I'm always on the fence to whether or not I should be taking cold showers, but I can take pride in and be grateful for the fact that this insignificant matter is one of my top issues right now. This means that I don't have any outstanding issues such as time wasting, being unfit, unmotivated, or having social problems like I used to. Although my social situation has gotten a lot better, I know there's plenty of room for improvement, and the same goes for many areas of my life!

On the bus ride home I read a lot of the 'last words' of the students leaving my high school from last year. The ironic truth that I found is that whilst we're in school we're rushing to graduate, but as soon as we do, we forever cherish and feel nostalgic towards our schooling days. From this I take away the knowledge that I need to relish the time I have in this last year of school, and to do so I'll need to be more consistent in practicing my gratitude and to push myself outside my comfort zone so that I live my life to the fullest.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I'm grateful for having running water whenever I need it.

I'm grateful for having self-development books that open my eyes to new helpful and inspirational ideas. 

I'm grateful for being able to spend time with my family.

I thank the universe for this gift of life and all the time it provides to pursue dreams and goals.

What went well today:

Having my morning run was rewarding on a mental level as well as physical. Getting into my school work in class with a clear head and with determination has led to me learning a lot and producing quality work.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I'll use new visualisation goals as my current ones have gotten outdated.

 

This photo I took whilst on a photography outing with a friend a couple of months ago, and in the foreground is a Maori carving. 

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Today has been my rest day, since I give myself one every week. Not only is it a good way to keep rested in the long term, but a timely reminder of how my morning shedule helps me to do better throughout the day. I still managed to do plenty of exercise by delivering fliers for my mother and walking around the neighbourhood, and in doing so had a good listen one of Sam Harris's podcasts. 

I had a school holiday today and thankfully have a long weekend! I have put the day to good use though, I manged to go door knocking to collect donations for the 40 Hr famine, as well as conducting a survey I made to see what people would need and be willing to contribute in a community group. I raised $60 (plus upcoming online donations) and so my outing was a great success! Not only did I raise much needed funding for children in Malawi, I also experienced rejection in a safe environment, got to know some of my neighbours, and stretched my social skills. It was certainly worth the effort, despite being uncomfortable and getting outside my comfort zone.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful for my day off school

I am grateful for having a range of foods to eat

I am grateful for my friendly, caring community and the empathy they have for the poor.

 

What went well today:

Getting out of my comfort zone was certainly beneficial to my personal growth, self-esteem, and with general confidence.

What I will do differently tomorrow: I will make sure to give my morning exercise 100% effort!

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Morning Success Streak Day 3

Today has started off really well, albeit a little slowly. I did my full 3 sets of workouts, meditated, visualised, and had a warm shower. I had a job interview in the morning and went to the doctor's to get a tetanus booster immunisation, so I had plenty of things to do today. I don't think I mentioned earlier but I'm going on a date soon, and today I had a good look online at things I could do with my date. I've found that the movies on aren't ideal, and that there are much more exciting activities on at the wharf, so I'll be much happier to go do activities and shopping there.

I also listened to a 2 hour podcast from Tim Ferris and the founder of the School of Life, both of which I'm great fans of! I've heard Alain de Botton's ideas and philosophies through the school of life youtube channel, but hearing it in his own words and relating it to real life in extended dialogue has been really refreshing and awe-inspiring for me. He'd make a very good mentor!

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I'm grateful for the internet!

I'm grateful for my organisational tools.

I'm grateful for being accepted for an interview today.

I am thankful for the universe and the thousands of days to live it gives.

What went well today:

Keeping smiley and laughing during my interview fooled me into enjoying it, despite being in a cold room with no windows! I'm glad I knew more on how to effectively communicate with people than I did a few months ago by reading self-development material.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

When I get out of bed in the morning, I'll make sure to get into my meditation immediately. This will ensure I don't procrastinate getting up.

 

Here's a sparkly fish at an aquarium I liked :)

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Morning success streak day 4

I started off today well by kicking off with my morning schedule. I got a bunch done that I had planned, although not setting timings reduced my productivity and left me prone to procrastination and relaxing too much. Otherwise I've had a good day!

I recorded a video for Cam that will hopefully be put on as a pre-roll in his next video. My idea is that for each video Cam posts on Youtube, it will have a member from the GQ community say how their life has changed for the better since quitting gaming. I thought it'd be a good idea to show the viewers that the portrayed possible progress is completely tangible - the success of each different person will show how it is not only Cam that has benifitted from quitting games and the different ways it has improved people's lives. Despite being 20 seconds, I am happy I could contribute!

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I'm grateful for the wonderful views and environment I have in New Zealand.

I'm grateful for being able to spend time with my family this afternoon.

I'm grateful for the abundance of resources available to me.

I am thankful for my gift of life and the special time I live in amongst the duration of the cosmos.

One amazing thing that happened today:

There were people nearby when I was filming, and although I was a little nervous with recording the video with them around, after explaining what I was doing they were very interested in Game Quitters. I showed them the website after they wanted to learn more about it, and it was intriguing to see that some strangers (one of them being a gamer) appreciated what I was doing without even knowing my name. Such kindness and interest from complete strangers has been a breath of fresh air for me.

What went well today:

Listing down what I wanted to get done during the day helped me with organisation, and getting out of the house twice lifted my mood significantly.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I will make sure to time myself for work I'm doing so that I keep on track and have limits, breaks, and workouts in between these. I doubt I'll have all that much time for this since I'll be out for most of the day, but I'll make sure to do this with the time I have.

In addition, I will adjust my list of habits to encapsulate my current needs and the best helpful habits with the amount of time I have on a regular school day. I'll then post this in my journal for use the next day.

 

I updated my visualisation goals recently, and I've 'put it to paper' today by creating new pictures for them. There's one that I've kept, and I'm sure @Cam Adair will identify it pretty quickly :P

 

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My idea is that for each video Cam posts on Youtube, it will have a member from the GQ community say how their life has changed for the better since quitting gaming.

Wow, That's a Great idea! Looking forward to your video B|

Edited by SpiNips
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Morning Success Streak Attempt 0 - Ended

These past few days I've been up late attempting to do studying and homework, but I just haven't been in the right mind-set. I've encountered quite a bit of difficulty with getting round to doing my studying, as I've procrastinated heaps and have had difficulty focusing these past few days. I've lost my streak yesterday, but I am back on it today; I even had a cold shower to try and change my attitude. Doing school work during school hours has been fine, I've had the right amount of sleep, and I'm not having emotional difficulty, so I have been a bit clueless as to why my normal motivation to excel has gone to. I have the notion that it could be a combination of things. Firstly, my watch stopped working; looking at it and seeing the time has been a consistent reminder of how much time I have left to do a task and can help to trigger a sense of urgency with what I do. Another reason is that I have been a little distracted with relationship things recently, I'm in a favourable but difficult situation I never thought I'd be in. Furthermore, contact with old school friends have given me some gaming nostalgia as they expressed their longing for me to play with them. I know I'm doing the right thing and I need to be reminded that I am using my time much better now.

I'm setting a goal to consistently do my morning success routine for 21 days (3 weeks), and will now start Attempt I tomorrow.

I'm bringing back the task list to keep myself accountable for everything I have set myself to do on a daily basis, and to individually recognise my shortcomings.

Cold shower

Done.

Workout/run

I had a decent run this morning. I am thinking of re-introducing the 30-20-10 technique to make the most of my 20 minute runs, as I'm currently not pushing myself at all by jogging.

Meditation

I should have done that on the bus, but I was texting people. I might need to make time for this elsewhere.

Visualisation

I've got my new paper for visualisation out, but didn't use it today. No wonder I haven't been motivated :/

20 Minute reading + note taking

Complete!

What I'll do differently tomorrow:

I'm going to plan my afternoon [timed] on the bus home tomorrow so that I minimize procrastination.

 

I'm ending this entry early as I'm supposed to be asleep, but thanks for catching up with my journal!

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3 Week Morning Success Challenge - Attempt 1 - Day 1

Today I had a slow start as I procrastinated to not get out of bed, but once I had a cold shower, I felt invincible! I finished cleaning my room and got into my studying today. I am currently 31 hours into my 40 hour famine, and I'm sure that having no food for so long has negatively impacted on my performance. Anyhow I started off the day well and I wish to repeat that process for the next three weeks as part of the challenge I set myself.

The past couple of days I've been messaging and texting way more than I'd normally consider acceptable, but I think things have cleared up now.

From a call with my accountability partner today, I am now keeping myself accountable for doing a post here every day of the week as well as a few other things. If I don't manage to do that, I have to donate $50 to a charity - that's how serious I am about getting my priorities right this week.

 

Cold shower

Done.

Workout/run

Sunday's my day off exercise.

Meditation

Yes.

Visualisation

Done and dusted!

20 Minute reading + note taking

I didn't make time for that last night.

What I'll do differently tomorrow:

I'm going to plan my afternoon [timed] on the bus home tomorrow so that I minimize procrastination (again, since I didn't manage to do that on Friday).

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3 Week Morning Success Challenge - Attempt 1 - Day 2

Today started off almost perfectly - even though I just finished my 40 Hour famine at 6am and was starving. I made sure to get myself as fully into the cold water as I could (whilst showering), and it was much better than one of my regular cold showers in that I was put under more shock and as a result felt all the more lively afterwards. Today has gone pretty well, I've made more progress today in my homework than yesterday, and yesterday was Sunday! Despite me making a major mistake today by forgetting to go to a tutoring session, I am grateful that I've been able to suck it up and not beat myself over it - that stuff happens, and I am now going to write any special classes I have onto my new home-made mini-clipboard to not make the same mistake again.

 

Cold shower

Done, and done well!

Workout/run

Yup, and it was really refreshing! I didn't have as much resistance to it since I now know that I warm up quickly despite it being winter.

Meditation

Yes.

Visualisation

I got it done on time today, which is something I haven't done in a while now.

20 Minute reading + note taking

I had a quick read, but I'll need to set my alarms again to get me to bed earlier.

What I'll do differently tomorrow:

I'm going to use my clipboard more for planning, and I'll have a run as soon as I get home (like I did today) for the best focus on my homework.

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You've got this man. Loving cold showers too. They always make me feel ready for anything!

Thanks Cam! I'm finding them very helpful these past few days, it's great motivation to hear you do those too, I think you said it in a snapchat too. When did you start, might I ask?

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You've got this man. Loving cold showers too. They always make me feel ready for anything!

Thanks Cam! I'm finding them very helpful these past few days, it's great motivation to hear you do those too, I think you said it in a snapchat too. When did you start, might I ask?

started doing them consistently every day a few months ago. I do contrast ones so hot then cold, the cold really boosts my mood I notice :D

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3 Week Morning Success Challenge - Attempt 1 - Day 3

Today was another great day. I only managed to get one workout set done out of three I'd normally do, and I only have myself to blame for that since I just didn't get out of bed when I was supposed to. School went well, I asked lots of questions, got help where needed, and I feel I'm getting ahead of things. Despite my previous attitude towards cooking being that I pretty much hated it, I've been rethinking my prejudices and previous beliefs today. It would actually be a very useful skill to have once I start university, and would create an outlet from where I can put my creativity and effort into something that provides results and somewhat measurable progress within hours (which none of my habits I'm building tend to have other than making me feel 'energised' from exercise). I've also had a few ideas of my own about how to make fun and interesting foods, so by learning how to cook I may be able to turn them into a reality.

So far my note-taking during the day on my mini-clipboard has been beneficial, I just need to keep consistently using it into the future for more good results.

I didn't have a run as soon as I got home like I wanted to, I simply need to get uncomfortable again and brave the cold.

As soon as I get my afternoon time usage in order, I'll get back to adding my gratitude journal and other reflective tools in my journal.

Cold shower

Done.

Workout/run

Attempted.

Meditation

Yup.

Visualisation

Yup.

20 Minute reading + note taking

I flopped to bed last night, but I have some more alarms on now so that I can dedicate the needed time.

Edited by AlexTheGrape
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