The last days of the challenge..
The challenge, to cut out all video games, tv shows, and social media for a single week. The goal, to force myself into programming even when I would rather sit on the couch and watch a tv show or play a video game. Well, it has been the full week, here’s some of what I learned.
When it comes to social media, it’s a very little thing, but it can consume hours upon hours of my time. To stop wasting time scrolling through my feed, all I have to do is never log in (simple). This was extremely easy for me and I haven’t broke this part of the challenge once. However, it hasn’t been all forward progression, I woke up on Saturday, and felt like I had been hit with a sledge-hammer. I would have been better off if I had left the house completely, and forced myself only into continuing with my Android course. Instead, when it got a bit tougher, I turned back to tv shows and video games to numb my feelings of discomfort.
Looking forward, I will be continuing with the absence of social media which for better or worse has shaved many hours off my total time wasted. I will also be continuing watching limited amounts of tv. In regard to video games, I will take a similar approach to tv. The biggest reason for limiting, and not eliminating, is because I get a lot of enjoyment out of both of those, and I’m not as ready to give up those vices quite yet.
Overall, I think this challenge was an interesting experience and it helped expose problems, rather than fix anything. That is the first step in changing a behavior, identification. Moreover, I believe that this challenge could be improved by keeping a daily log of activities, this would allow you to see and calculate how much time was spent in each category. For better or worse, this method of documentation would be a much more effective resolution practice. Finally, I think challenging myself even for a short period, netted some fantastic results, but there is a lot to improve upon.
What did I really accomplish?
- I have a better understanding of where I waste the most time
- I was able to cut out ALL social media
- I progressed more in my Android courses
- I forced myself into thinking about my actions and how they could be better spent
Did I stick to the challenge 100%?
No, but to be fair, if the problems I had were deeply rooted, it wouldn’t make sense to fix everything in one week. I would say I stuck to the challenge about 65-70% of the time.
Will I continue parts of this challenge and do a more effective one, later on?
Yes, I believe that eliminating social media is a huge step forward, and next time I will focus on cutting out video games and tv shows,
You mentioned discomfort on Saturday, what do you think the cause of that discomfort was?
I’ve thought about this a lot, and the cause of that discomfort wasn’t due to being physically sick, but rather my brain sending signals of pain when I knew the course of my day would have been 10+ hours of learning.
How do you combat that feeling of pain, and move past it?
This is something I haven’t fully cracked myself. The only logical answer I would have is, completely take yourself out of the environment. Leave the house, go somewhere and return back ready to work or take your laptop with you and work anywhere with wifi.
Thanks for reading, and challenge yourself!
