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| Original photo credit: picjumbo.com |
I used to play a lot of video games. I played with my children. I played after the kids went to bed. I used to play when I got up! I'm slightly embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes I played three or four hours a day. Other aspects of my life stagnated. I wasn't reading. I wasn't exercising. I wasn't conversing with my family. It was bad.
I realized that I needed to change around my priorities. I started reading good motivational and educational books. I started to exercise. It was hard at first, because I had to stop playing the games I had come to love. At first, I started to just reduce my time in order to do more reading each day. Then when I started working out 20-30 minutes a day, I reduced it even more.
The surprising thing was that as I started to increase these positive behaviors in my life, I eventually stopped playing video games all together. It started out gradually, but it ended very abruptly. I realized (at least at a subconscious level) that whatever joy, satisfaction, or escape video games were giving me, it was no longer feeding me like the vision of a future where I was smarter, fitter, less stressed, and with better relationships. As Jim Rohn said, "When the promise is clear...the price is easy."
Now, I won't be foolish and tell you that this is easy. Some of you may be struggling with habits and addictions that have served you in some way for years. What I will offer are a couple things I did to help me overcome my vice (at least this one) and use that time and energy more wisely.
First, I wrote down what I wanted. These weren't necessarily goals at first, they were just concepts or phrases that were attractive to me:
- I want to be in better shape.
- I want to be of better service to my clients.
- I want to be a better father and husband.
- I want to fulfill my potential.
After I wrote these down in my journal, I started to ask myself questions, "What does a person who does [fill in the blank] do? What activities and habits do they have? What activities and habits don't they have?
- Does a successful business person play video games? Maybe, but probably not as much as I do.
- What types of things to healthy, fit people do? Exercise, eat well, and keep their stress levels down.
- What kind of activities do good fathers do (and I looked this up on the internet)? They spend time with their children, they encourage them, and they teach them.
I did this quite a bit, mainly using my journal, but also just talking to myself. I realized there was a bunch of stuff that I could be doing but wasn't. So the next step was to start small. Here are a few examples of what I did that got the momentum going, but didn't "break" me.
- I tried to work out a minimum of 10 minutes as often as possible.
- I took note of when I spent quality time with the children - conversing with them, playing sports, helping them with chores.
- I decided to read something motivational or educational 10 minutes a day.
- I decided to read something related to my business at least 20 minutes a day.
The final thing I did was to decide what the price I was willing to pay to do these things. Fortunately, I was able to steal a lot of time from the video game playing. However, there are a few other things I committed to doing. I stopped eating at fast food restaurants (although I still occasionally stop for a breakfast sandwich and a coffee from Tim Horton's). I also made an effort to stop whining and complaining - I'll have to write more on this another time. Finally, I stopped watching late night television in an effort to get to bed earlier.
By taking these little steps, I got the momentum going in the right direction. Admittedly, I didn't come up with this process before I did it. When I started, I just realized I needed to make a change, and my first reaction was to ask myself, "What do you want to change?" The following steps were all logical next actions from the first step. However, now that I'm sharing them with you, perhaps you can apply them more efficiently than I did.
My Challenge to You
Is there something in your life that you'd like to change? Some aspect that isn't ideal for you? Commit to making a change and try out these steps. If you have other steps that you think belong in this process, let me know. I share my thoughts with you with humility, and I am always looking to learn as well. God bless you and I look forward to hearing from you.
November 10, 2015 Workout
Time of workout: 11 AM
Warm-up: ~10 minutes
Kali Stickwork (double and single stick)
Shadowboxing
Foam Rolling
Push-ups 5 reps x 3 sets
Stretching (mainly chest area)
Bench Press: ~15 minutes
1. 115 x 5
2. 125 x 5
3. 125 x 5
4. 125 x 5
5. 125 x 5! This last set was very hard and I struggled to get the bar back to the rack.
5 minute rest
Conditioning
10 sets of 10 Kettlebell Swings on the minute.
Jump rope in between sets.
Stretch: 10 minutes
Total Workout Time: ~45 minutes
Post-Workout Comments
This was a great work out. On days where I have more than 20-30 minutes to train, I like to do a strength movement, and some type of conditioning - e.g. Crossfit-style MetCon, Running, Rowing, Boxing, etc.
One area in the weightlifting I want to improve is my breathing technique. Right now, it's not a big deal, but as the resistance increases, it will be an important factor both for safety and for maximum performance. I experimented during the bench press, but will have to do more research. I'm finding with these heavy lifts that they are more technical than I once thought.
The conditioning was hard! I was breathing heavy, but it felt great. I need to push myself more. In this particular session, I need to find a way to measure my efforts between the Kettlebell swings. Greg Glassman from Crossfit ruined me, because now I want to measure my output on everything! On a side note, Crossfit is cool. I cannot afford the time or money right now to train at a Crossfit gym, but I like their general philosophy.
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