For the primary time in 10+ years, I rewatched my 2012 TEDx discuss:
“Nerd Health and Resetting the Recreation of Life.”
My first thought: “Whoa, Steve. These are some EPIC sideburns.”
My subsequent thought: “Daring alternative with the striped shirt, denims, and flip flops!”
Then I gave myself some grace.
I’m deeply uncomfortable with the highlight. I hate public talking. It makes me need to vomit each single time. I additionally don’t like being on digicam.
And but, I’ve concepts that I feel may help individuals.
So I write and share my concepts. And generally, I pressure myself to get on stage. For this discuss, I needed to take two buses via the jungles of Ecuador (the place I used to be residing on the time), after which take two flights to get to Atlanta.
I stayed at my buddy Kappy’s home, and the night time earlier than the discuss, I made a decision to remain up and rewrite the entire rattling factor. That morning, I practiced my discuss to his two canines, after which hurried over to Emory and simply went full YOLO and shouted my discuss into the universe.
12 years later, rewatching this discuss, I’ve ideas.
If you wish to make a journey down reminiscence lane, you possibly can watch the discuss on YouTube, which surprisingly has over 100,000 views.
My Largest Shock Rewatching…
It wasn’t as embarrassing as I believed!
Child Steve really had some respectable concepts and was an okay storyteller! Particularly when you think about I had rewritten the complete discuss 12 hours prior and was on zero hours of sleep. Oh, to be younger and naive once more.
That is the slide that cracked me up essentially the most, and I feel the one I need to spend essentially the most period of time on:
All through most of my early 20s, I spent an unhealthy period of time enjoying video video games. On the time, I had satisfied myself that the video video games had been the issue. That they had grow to be too addicting, too fulfilling, they usually had been the rationale I wasn’t making a lot progress in my actual life.
The truth is one degree deeper. It wasn’t simply the video video games. It was that I didn’t have a lot life to stay up for. I didn’t like my job (promoting development tools), I didn’t have objectives or issues in my private life to stay up for. So I escaped into video video games.
Older and wiser and with shorter sideburns, I’ve a greater understanding of human habits and my very own private struggles with procrastination and escape.
As specified by my buddy Nir Eyal’s ebook Indistractable, if we don’t handle the basis reason for distraction or escape, our brains will get excellent at discovering yet one more factor to get hooked on!
In different phrases, when you can go one degree deeper as to WHY you’re procrastinating or avoiding actuality (probably with the assist of remedy) it will probably aid you get out of the rut.
As soon as I discovered one thing to stay up for (for me it was turning life into an journey online game like Zelda and EverQuest), abruptly video video games turned a far much less interesting use of my restricted free time.
Lately, I nonetheless play video video games commonly (I simply completed Fallout 4), however I now know extra.
When video video games take over an excessive amount of of my life, it’s in all probability as a result of I’m avoiding confronting the fact of an issue in life.
Possibly I’m scared to get again to work on my secret-book-shaped venture, as a result of I fear it’s not ok. Or possibly I’m avoiding an uncomfortable dialog or addressing an actual drawback in my life.
So, the answer isn’t unplugging the Ps. It’s addressing the issue I’m really working onerous to keep away from.
It’s higher to know why I’m procrastinating as a substitute of simply blaming it on video video games.
How’s My Epic Quest Going?
In my discuss, I discuss my Bucket Checklist, which I renamed my Epic Quest of Superior. For 8 years, this was a giant focus of mine.
Actually incomes expertise factors for undertaking quests in actual life.
I did this after exercising around the globe and residing 14 months of journey journey.
I even received a ebook revealed about turning life right into a sport, Stage Up Your Life, again in 2016. I just lately reacquired the rights to this ebook, and I’m hoping to place out a Model 2 within the coming yr.
(This is the reason you possibly can’t purchase it now, sorry about that!).
12 years later, life is a bit completely different.
When you’ve been studying this text for the previous yr, you might need observed a theme: acceptance and self-compassion.
I’ve modified my perspective on objectives.
I had run myself ragged for over a decade, constructing Nerd Health, giving as a lot as attainable, chasing the subsequent purpose. Every purpose led to the subsequent purpose. Every dragon slain required me to go discover one other dragon.
It turned an infinite loop of perpetual “extra extra extra.”
And ultimately I spotted that I had gotten fairly distant from what really made me comfortable.
These previous few years, I’ve determined to reside a bit in a different way.
As a substitute of huge long run objectives with dramatically organized plans, I’ve narrowed my focus to: “How can I’ve day at present?”
I reside as if I’ll NEVER “get there.”
I nonetheless have objectives, and I nonetheless have issues I hope to perform in life.
I’m simply enjoying a unique sport than I used to be at 28. I feel this “life is a sport” philosophy served me nicely on the time, and I feel now I’ve added a couple of additional doses of actuality to how this performs out.
For someone caught in a rut, and escaping an excessive amount of into digital worlds, I feel interested by life like a online game could be a fairly enjoyable solution to attempt to escape of that rut.
It won’t work for everyone, however I feel having issues to stay up for, and objectives to work on, after which discovering methods to make tiny bits of progress may help.
I cowl this in an article known as “A Nerd’s Information to Success and Happiness” which nonetheless holds up!
A bit little bit of nuance and perspective can go a great distance when gamifying life!
Wading into the Remark Part…
I made the perilous option to wade into the cesspool of the web:
The remark part on my video.
I used to be shocked to see that 95% of the feedback had been tremendous optimistic!
There was one remark although, that offered me a novel alternative to do one thing I’ve all the time needed to do.
Show someone incorrect on the web.
In my discuss, I discussed that I hoped to in the future deadlift 400+ kilos. I grew up scrawny and weak, and I later realized that I’ve spondylolisthesis, which suggests two of my vertebrae don’t line up.
For the previous 15 years, deadlifting has been my favourite train. It’s the motion that has made me really feel essentially the most robust and empowered.
I went and located a video of myself from 2018, the place after 6+ years of devoted, gradual progress and concentrate on getting stronger, I deadlifted 420 kilos at a body weight of 172 lbs. No belt, straps, and double overhand grip too!
And sure. 12 years later, I HAD to answer and let the man know I did it.
Not gonna lie, it felt good proving a random web commenter incorrect! Hahahaha
Petty and pointless? Yep!
Satisfying? Very.
Two Buttons: Energy and Reset
I completed my discuss with one thing that was way more highly effective than I had anticipated.
The unique Nintendo Leisure System has two buttons: POWER and RESET.
Within the sport of life, we get to hit the ability button as soon as. It activates after we’re born, and it turns off after we die.
However we even have a possibility to hit the RESET Button. If there’s a thought or identification you may have that’s now not serving you, or some side of life that simply isn’t working…it’s okay to hit the reset button.
It’s okay to strive once more, even when you failed the final time.
Bear in mind, our information carries over, and we by no means begin again at sq. one.
Recreation on, my fellow nerd!
-Steve
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