Jump to content

NEW VIDEO: The EASIEST Way to Stop Gaming

PureDiscipline's Journal :D


PureDiscipline

Recommended Posts

Hi guys, I'm Ryan.

I could rehash whats in my introduction post but i will just leave that Here if anybody wants a little more context.

At the moment its the 26th of June (and i quit Wednesday). I've made progress but there's a few things i still have that will be challenging.

1) I have to sell all my steam counterstrike skins. They only become trade able after the 31st so I have to got fend off the urge to relapse.

2) I gotta either sell or give away the 3 steam accounts, an xbox 360, a ps4, a ps vita, and infinite games for all.

I joined HabitRpG and am finding it quite fun :)
Funnily enough before reading respawn there were a few things in my life i had just began introducing thanks to reading a lot of information of zenhabits.net so it won't be that drastic of a change in my life.

1) Meditation: I have just hit 7 days straight of 20 minutes a day and find this immensely helpful. The calmness and understanding it brings about how to listen to your body and mind, and understand what it needs and then constantly be changing as a person as a result of the self reflection is invaluable.

2) Diary writing: It gives me a way to manage my goals and see their progress. It puts my thoughts on paper and helps me sleep better at night knowing the next day i have already built a structure plan so i have less to worry about.

3) I have to pick up new habits to fill the void gaming left. I figure why not do it in the most beneficial/profitable long term way possible? I am going to learn coding (starting with python) in order to put some of my ideas into action in future. I already went to university (which admittedly i barely attended cause of poker and video games) but did learn a fair bit about the business world and marketing. Specially with poker my understanding of finances and business and management have all grown. A cool Video about Coding and why you should learn it

My first goal is to eventually code something to give to Habit RPG so i can contribute in some way.

4) The second thing i want to pick up is learning about psychology. What makes us think the way we do, i know so little about my own problems it would be nice to figure out how to fix them and understand people better. I will aim to read about psychology at least once a day, even if its just a small article.

5) I have a mountain of books i bought but never read but really wanted to. Every night i will be reading for at least 30 minutes. At the moment im reading The science of Self-realization by his Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Surprisingly my urge to game is quite low atm, i am not struggling at all. But I've been down this path before and i know its unlikely to last unless i solve the problems taking it away created.

Anyway i am also making it a goal to update on here :) The community feel will just make quitting gaming all the more easy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things being a bit challenging is ok. This is a way for you to grow and develop your skill of overcoming adversity.

Remember it's best to have default approaches to potential obstacles consciously chosen prior to them happening. This is all about how success is about the training you put in. HabitRPG is a great step for you.

By developing a meditation base you can go to it any time you're feeling any urge to play and it will recenter yourself. Remember to always go back to the fact that this isn't about gaming, it's about you creating a new life for yourself, so even if you have some games nearby that's not what they are about. Gaming is just your way of fulfilling unmet needs. So in times of urges or cravings, as meditation teaches you, become more aware of what in your life is missing in the moment. Are you just bored? Are you feeling anxious? Are you overwhelmed?

Identifying this will go a far way to help create an action plan. (Watch my video on how to deal with stress whenever you need a reminder of this.)

For example, if you're feeling overwhelmed, it's all about organizing what you need to do into baby steps.

Your new activities are perfect. Coding is great because you can do it at home, and daily reading and writing are two of the best investments you can make in yourself over the long term.

One activity I would think about sometime soon is a social activity. Something that will help you get out of the house and meeting new people outside the gaming community. Focus on getting your routine down the next few days and just think about the social activity a bit.

Love that you have a journal up here. Made my day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One activity I would think about sometime soon is a social activity. Something that will help you get out of the house and meeting new people outside the gaming community. Focus on getting your routine down the next few days and just think about the social activity a bit.

Love that you have a journal up here. Made my day!

?:D I plan on picking up fishing and rock climbing (with different friends in each). #gettingbacktonature

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 3

Today was pretty productive. I learned the basics of Windows Shell so now i can move around the code lines. Funny how after all these years gaming i didn't know what GUI meant (now i got a bunch of other Jargon to go with it)

The short version: Directories are just another name for file/folder, Path = just the folder address, GUI = graphics user interface and CLI = Command line interface

And the coding itself seems really straight forward and logical and sorta like a puzzle :D

Managed to get through the daily tasks and have started waking up earlier and earlier. When i gamed i used to sleep 4am till like 1pm every day 9-11 hours generally.
Now i am sleeping at midnight and waking up 8.30am :D (which is huge for me).

One of the reasons that games played such a havoc on my life was that i would work till 1am playing poker. Then need to De-stress and unwind (pokers stressful) so i would do so playing CS:GO for an hour...which normally turned into 2-3.
The blue light that the PC monitor emitted disrupted my melatonin production which is a key thing in the body for sleep. I thought i had insomnia because my mum gets it but turns out i was just a noob at structuring basics on the day :o

Although for anybody who does use pc's a lot i do suggest Gunnar glasses (they supposedly limit or block the blue light) and flux so the screen brightness changes with long hours of work.

I have never been so on top of my work on such a consistent basis <3

I organized a fishing day trip for a couple days from now, and for HabitRpg i have found out what i would like to eventually code in :)

A way for the site to let you play around with the order of the tasks better instead of them flipping about, or adding a priority system where it can auto-sort them.

How do people sign off on daily entries O.o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Ryan! Awesome that you have a journal. Are you taking Cam's 30 day challenge? That's what me, Leprosy, and Matthias are doing :)

?

?I couldn't find it in downloads. Where is it?

Although my life is pretty busy already. I don't know if i have the time to do anything more :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

?I couldn't find it in downloads. Where is it?
Although my life is pretty busy already. I don't know if i have the time to do anything more :(

The 30 Day challenge is Cam's product for helping gamers move on from games. It is the step he has designed to follow after Respawn. ?Cam should provide a post in the forum and link to it.

A big part of the challenge is about finding time in your life to do the things that are important. The guide he provides helps you do just that. I wouldn't just turn down this opportunity. I think his challenge is worth making the time for, especially if you are trying to replace video games. Now, if you already have a schedule and direction in your life and don't need help moving on from video games, that's no problem, you don't need the challenge. But you might want to consider it :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 3

Great job having a productive day! How did it feel? One trick I've learned to help me do the things I want to do is by taking a minute to recognize how good I feel? after days where I'm productive. This helps build a positive feedback loop where being productive = feeling good.

But if you don't take the time to recognize how you feel, you don't build the same loop. So this has been really key for me, especially for building self-esteem, taking courageous action, etc.?

?I couldn't find it in downloads. Where is it?

Thanks for the note Zane. I'll make a post about it. You can find the Challenge here.?? It's not time-consuming and has the best concepts I've learned over the last six years to setup your life for success. If you have have any questions just let me know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 5: Was too busy yesterday to post unfortunately.

Atm i am still learning the basics in the coding about just how to bounce around code and figure out where i am (i plan on finishing that today :D) then getting onto the cool stuff.

Finally found out the guide you guys were talking about i thought i had already purchased ^_^. After checking records and realizing i didn't i snapped it up. When i get a chance to breathe I'll have a read and hopefully do the 30 day challenge :)

I had an urge to game the other day, but i realized that pretty quickly i was lacking direction/structured goals in different areas. So i took the day off to dedicate towards building goals and watched a documentary to relieve some of the interest in it. Documenatry was called Lost for life and was about teenagers who commited murders with interesting stories about their background. Definitely worth a watch but its sort of dark so might not be everybody's cuppa tea.

Made me rethink the amount of stress it can take for somebody to crack can't be that large. And that small things help everybody.

In order to understand everybody better in the family i wrote down their stresses and issues on their plate on a piece of paper. Then looked at one way i can make each of their lives easier, and maybe gain or learn a skill on the way. So to start with today i washed a completely un-necessary area of the house to help my mum who's stressed by a tonne of stuff out so she had less to worry about and something positive to make her happier.

Father i took the time to have a long conversation with, and made him a few cups of tea and provide encouragement on his current work.

Today i am looking to fill my room with inspirational people i particularly am impressed by in order to gain that extra energy i need at times :D

The more i structure things/evaluate situations, the more i want to do them i tend to find so that constant self-evaluation of goals and achievements coupled with meditation is one killer combo :D.

Important to do's: 2 more days till i can clear my steam account of its skins. Then change all the details on all accounts and try sell em.
Change xbox 360 account details and sell console/games/account all in one go.

Sell Vita/Ps4 and change account details.

Finally read and start the 30 day challenge :)

On a cool note i read that Cuba has a cure to lung cancer now and has had it for a few years. Yay humanity!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 5:

?Being busy is a good thing, especially right now when you're new to moving on from games. I basically stayed as busy as I could for an entire year when I first quit... it was pretty funny. Continue to focus on what you really want now that you've quit games. Focusing on how you will feel about yourself now and in a future months as you continue to progress and live life with integrity is the key. When I spoke at TEDxBoulder I was mega-anxious for five weeks up until the date. Every time I got a bit crazy I focused on how I would feel after it was done (proud of myself) and that helped ease my emotions.

The contributions you're making for your family is huge. Big ups to you. This is the type of action that goes a far way not only to develop better relationships with each of them but also to develop a better one with yourself. Contributing and being of service is one of the most powerful ways we can improve our self-esteem and confidence.

Thanks for grabbing the challenge. Really appreciate it and looking forward to reading about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

?Being busy is a good thing, especially right now when you're new to moving on from games. I basically stayed as busy as I could for an entire year when I first quit... it was pretty funny. Continue to focus on what you really want now that you've quit games. Focusing on how you will feel about yourself now and in a future months as you continue to progress and live life with integrity is the key. When I spoke at TEDxBoulder I was mega-anxious for five weeks up until the date. Every time I got a bit crazy I focused on how I would feel after it was done (proud of myself) and that helped ease my emotions.

The contributions you're making for your family is huge. Big ups to you. This is the type of action that goes a far way not only to develop better relationships with each of them but also to develop a better one with yourself. Contributing and being of service is one of the most powerful ways we can improve our self-esteem and confidence.

Thanks for grabbing the challenge. Really appreciate it and looking forward to reading about it!

?^_^ just got done watching the rejection ted talk, that must have been hella-scary. (and awesome job on it, serious props)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 7 (7 days not gaming, 3 days without weed)

:D hi guys, missed last nights post cause GF was over.

I've been doing a lot of look into the changes i would like to implement and self-evaluating. While nothing particularly cool happened like with you guys and your worldly travels I have got a more clear cut path now :)

-Aiming to wake up @ 5.30 or 6am (I've never been a morning person but since i introduced steady bedtime its been easy)- Atm i wake at 8.30 to 9am (scaled back from 1pm)

Waking up early means i never have the excuse that things got in the way, so i can never miss meditation/exercise again.

-I've booked flights for some live poker tournaments in Melbourne Australia for October

-I have decided that by the end of the year, my goal will be to move to Australia and live with a friend, while i learn more about coding so i can start making my own websites for business or going to coding school.

-I want to own and shape a bonsai tree one day, they just look bad ass

-Recently i began investigating diet since i had a lot of troubles with it in the past and never really knew much. My parents took the Paleo lifestyle and Im reading all the books i can about it. All i know is since giving up grain in my life i feel 800x better in every way.

-I wish to start learning how to cook so i can prepare dishes the night before, maximize energy and how my body runs. Plus knowing how to make something more than 2 minute noodles would be cool.

-I want to read the habit changing book that was mentioned in one of the journals on this site once i clear through the pile iv still got :)

Yesterday i cleaned my room from top to bottom for the first time in ages. I found $94.50 in New zealand dollars (largest coin $2) and $122 Australian dollars just sitting around my room somehow lol

Today's the day i can finally sell my CS go skins and get rid of the steam accounts :D

I also watched the documentary Fed Up about the food industry and sugar, which was pretty eye opening. Specially with the amount of horrible disease the processed food brings!

Finally I've started reading the Challenge that Cam wrote, pretty solid material and would recommend to anybody on this site who hasn't already bought it. <3 DAT psychology

Link to comment
Share on other sites

?^_^ just got done watching the rejection ted talk, that must have been hella-scary. (and awesome job on it, serious props)

?Thanks for watching! I forgot to come back to this on Monday but the talk itself was a lot of fun. The first one (TEDxBoulder) was much scarier, but I used it as an opportunity to push past a major fear. Still blows my mind it even happened haha.

Day 7 (7 days not gaming, 3 days without weed)

Finally I've started reading the Challenge that Cam wrote, pretty solid material and would recommend to anybody on this site who hasn't already bought it. <3 DAT psychology

?Introspection and finding the time to actually think about what you want is a huge step. Don't underestimate it. The reason more people aren't living the type of life they want is because they aren't even aware of what that looks like to them. It's hard to create something you aren't aware of! And remember, it will evolve over time. When I first quit I had no idea I'd be writing this to you from Thailand, but over time that's where things have gone. There's been so many small changes along the way that have led to where I am today. The same will happen for you.

For example, learning more about diet and nutrition was a major step for me. Traveling was more of an exercise in wanting to see if I could actually travel and maintain my diet (I don't eat any gluten, dairy or soy) when I was in countries that I didn't speak the language. So I challenged myself to go and try it, and it's all worked out for the most part.

If you haven't been to a farmers market before, bring your girlfriend (girls like them) and talk with the farmers. Ask them about vegetables or ingredients you have never seen before and what would pair well together. Then go home and cook it together. It's a great date and a lot of fun.

Happy you're enjoying the beginning chapters of the challenge. It was a lot of fun for me to write! :)

Edited by Cam Adair
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 8 (8 days game free, 4 days without weed)

Today was nothing exciting. Just Poker/reading on diet and reading the games challenge :) .

But i did put the last of my CS go items on opskins.com so as of now i can start putting all my steam accounts onto a trade site.

Question...where do you guys sell your old steam accounts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 9 (9 days game free, 0 without weed)
Ok so me and my gf parted ways agreeably last night due to the fact that i will be moving overseas as a goal for 2016. It ended on good terms, and all was happy :)

I also found out while experimenting with different types of teas that im allergic to chamomile. I kept wondering why i was sneezing continously all day & what it could be. Which sucks cause it was good to ease into sleep. Any ideas on replacements?
I ended up vaping again when i hit a boredom point at which i was watching documentaries. My coping logic at the time was that i had just had reasonably significant life changes and a lots going on in the last 12 days. If i change too much it could snap back. When i did get high i was relaxed again and felt motivated and interested in everything again and i learned about the appeal of weed after thinking about it some more. I am thinking that i am gonna maybe have to change my view on how frequent i do it and just try to balance my life and see if i can moderate it, and make a rule that if i do it more then 2 days in a row i have to skip 5 or something.

Also began planning things on a calender (lol, so simple but i never did it)

Atm i came up with a tonne of great ideas and did work on a bunch of topics. I feel good. Hopefully this motivation can hold off till the friends schedules ease up.

Game wise i have actually had zero urges. I didn't even think of it and iv been picking up consoles and moving them into boxes today too. I do have 3 a steam account though, i don't know where to sell it or what its value is on the market (its worth $2600 and has 297 games w/ a few thousand hours and clean clean rep) + the other 2 i didnt evaluate but theyre probably 1k+ each. The urge to play it isn't bothering me since i kinda feel its been replaced by other interests. But I know its a bad idea to keep it around so i am thinking i will lock them somehow and remove my access until the date that the steam box releases thus the market value of accounts might go up. Since new players might move over who were on consoles and il have several hundred games available to them at a lower price.
So the marketer in me just refuses to give the accounts away if its around the corner too, moneys money.

Anyway im going back to watching a doco about meth, all hail national geographic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 9 (9 days game free, 0 without weed)

Good to hear you're in decent spirits about your relationship. ?

One of my good friends, Phil Drolet (google him if you want to see a badass - he's a high performer), has always had a rule that he can't smoke two days in a row. I've always found that to be pretty solid. My relationship with marijuana changes a lot and I think about it a lot (have only smoked once since February after a 5 month stretch of every day use), but I feel good right now without it. I'm not one to say there aren't real benefits to it. My rule though is if it's hurting my ambition, willpower or drive, I take a break.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to hear you're in decent spirits about your relationship. ?

One of my good friends, Phil Drolet (google him if you want to see a badass - he's a high performer), has always had a rule that he can't smoke two days in a row. I've always found that to be pretty solid. My relationship with marijuana changes a lot and I think about it a lot (have only smoked once since February after a 5 month stretch of every day use), but I feel good right now without it. I'm not one to say there aren't real benefits to it. My rule though is if it's hurting my ambition, willpower or drive, I take a break.

?After looking more into different addictions i just realized i am addicted to every part of my life. Thanks Game quitters for the appifany <3

I tend to think that everybody in this forum has an addictive personality in general. So its probably beneficial to stay away from weed. However going through so many changes at once and not knowing how to comfortably cope with them all i feel might not be an ideal strategy. But moderation isn't in our nature.

I decided to prioritize my various addictions and break down which is the worst offenders money wise, productivity wise and health wise. And then from there i have put together a rough plan of action about systematically destroying each one and then moving on but making sure not to relapse into old ones as new challenges create additional voids.

If video games change the brain structure, and porn, and weed. Then surely keeping any addiction in your life is gonna make you more susceptible to relapse into other addiction areas right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

?Yes, it is right that you will relapse into other addiction areas, it is just that you have to get into addictions that have a positive effect on your life. Sport, Music, a band or work are just some examples. Ofc if you get hooked up too much they are still unhealthy, but playing bass for 2 hours and then watching one episode of a series and getting stuff you have to do is much better than playing games for 5 hours and getting nothing done

?Anybody read books they can recommend on procrastination?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, weed was never an issue. I've gone for stretches of about a month straight of smoking every day (in the evenings only). For me, it didn't stop me from accomplishing anything as long as it didn't require intense concentration. Once, I ran three miles after smoking because I wanted to see what it felt like and I had a routine of running then. Another time I got high and spent a few hours cleaning the house. One of my favorite uses for weed was to make my weekends feel longer. When I limited my use to Fridays and Saturdays only, my two day weekends felt as relaxing as a four day weekend.

Quitting weed for me was always easy. I've done it probably twice in the last two years, and never once had an urge to do it. Of course if I had this relationship with video games, I wouldn't have quit them. I could also go to a party and drink a lot, but I never had any urges to drink. I just did it when I knew it was going to be fun. I know all of these substances affect all of us differently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, weed was never an issue. I've gone for stretches of about a month straight of smoking every day (in the evenings only). For me, it didn't stop me from accomplishing anything as long as it didn't require intense concentration. Once, I ran three miles after smoking because I wanted to see what it felt like and I had a routine of running then. Another time I got high and spent a few hours cleaning the house. One of my favorite uses for weed was to make my weekends feel longer. When I limited my use to Fridays and Saturdays only, my two day weekends felt as relaxing as a four day weekend.

Quitting weed for me was always easy. I've done it probably twice in the last two years, and never once had an urge to do it. Of course if I had this relationship with video games, I wouldn't have quit them. I could also go to a party and drink a lot, but I never had any urges to drink. I just did it when I knew it was going to be fun. I know all of these substances affect all of us differently.

?I have had multiple stretches of different levels of use. I've had a month month period where i used it 6-8 times a day and was more or less on a continuous high. And iv also used it on a weekly basis.

I find there's a strong difference between its usefulness and the frequency of use.

If you use it only on weekends or when you do suffer from a lul in creativity it can be used to refocus and break through mental barriers of things you might not want to do but don't know why and address problems. However if i use it more regularly it just becomes a state of 'sober is boring' and i use it (like videogames) to replace any problems im lacking in my life, as a De-stressor and as fun.

I wouldn't say its bad,and can be really beneficial at times. But i think i have to really structure rules around it to not ever relapse into the states of dependance and abuse. Booze on the other hand has zero appeal to me now and i feel sick even after slight amounts of consumption of any kind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day 12 (12 game free, 1 weed free)

The last few days has been fulled with work basically but i did learn more about week structure and that trying to accomplish what you want to accomplish by keeping the same schedule on each day not only gets a bit boring, but it is also a little less productive since less time allocation to each task means you can't get into it as much :)
So iv gone ahead and structured my week more like a standard 9 to 5 worker (funny cause that's the reason i gravitated towards poker, the ability to avoid the 9 to 5).

And set aside Friday for errands, Saturday for social/hobby fun and Sunday for self evaluation for weeks goals, short term/long term and self-evaluating other aspects.

I also came up with a future website idea i am rather excited about working on that can make an effect on people, do some good and also still operate as a business. Instead of adding it to the back of my one day work on list, iv decided to gradually work on in for 15 minutes a day until i hash out the main details and break down a propper plan. It will be fun putting coding into some use later on now that I've got more of a reason to learn coding :D.

Also watched a documentary called Blackfish about sea world & killer whales. After seeing it i can safely say i understand why all those activists were standing with signs asking to free them.

Game wise I realized i still have my darn consoles sitting in the house, and i haven't gotten rid of my steam account. Fail!

Started learning how to cook to implement my new diet. I am pretty bad in the kitchen so i am just starting small with 1 meal a day.

Finally got a bunch of work out the way so i can throw all my efforts into the 30 day challenge read :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey hey! I'm finally back online after a crazy 28 hour adventure from Northern Thailand to an island in the south.

Anyways, wanted to address something you said earlier about addictive personalities.

I've been reading a really great book lately called In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...