For the primary time in 10+ years, I rewatched my 2012 TEDx discuss:
“Nerd Health and Resetting the Sport 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 also help folks.
So I write and share my concepts. And generally, I power myself to get on stage. For this discuss, I needed to take two buses by 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 evening 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 may watch the discuss on YouTube, which surprisingly has over 100,000 views.
My Largest Shock Rewatching…
It wasn’t as embarrassing as I assumed!
Child Steve really had some first rate concepts and was an okay storyteller! Particularly when you think about I had rewritten the whole 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 probably the most, and I feel the one I need to spend probably the most period of time on:
All through most of my early 20s, I spent an unhealthy period of time taking part in video video games. On the time, I had satisfied myself that the video video games have been the issue. That they had grow to be too addicting, too pleasant, they usually have been the rationale I wasn’t making a lot progress in my actual life.
The truth is one stage deeper. It wasn’t simply the video video games. It was that I didn’t have a lot life to sit up for. I didn’t like my job (promoting building gear), I didn’t have targets or issues in my private life to sit 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 guide Indistractable, if we don’t handle the basis explanation for distraction or escape, our brains will get excellent at discovering one more factor to get hooked on!
In different phrases, when you can go one stage deeper as to WHY you’re procrastinating or avoiding actuality (presumably with the assist of remedy) it may possibly make it easier to get out of the rut.
As soon as I discovered one thing to sit up for (for me it was turning life into an journey online game like Zelda and EverQuest), all of the sudden video video games grew to become a far much less interesting use of my restricted free time.
As of late, I nonetheless play video video games usually (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 truth of an issue in life.
Possibly I’m scared to get again to work on my secret-book-shaped undertaking, as a result of I fear it’s not adequate. Or possibly I’m avoiding an uncomfortable dialog or addressing an actual downside 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 Listing, which I renamed my Epic Quest of Superior. For 8 years, this was a giant focus of mine.
Actually incomes expertise factors for carrying out quests in actual life.
I did this after exercising around the globe and residing 14 months of journey journey.
I even obtained a guide revealed about turning life right into a recreation, Stage Up Your Life, again in 2016. I just lately reacquired the rights to this guide, and I’m hoping to place out a Model 2 within the coming yr.
(That is why you may’t purchase it now, sorry about that!).
12 years later, life is a bit totally different.
When you’ve been studying this text for the previous yr, you might need seen a theme: acceptance and self-compassion.
I’ve modified my perspective on targets.
I had run myself ragged for over a decade, constructing Nerd Health, giving as a lot as attainable, chasing the following purpose. Every purpose led to the following purpose. Every dragon slain required me to go discover one other dragon.
It grew to become an infinite loop of perpetual “extra extra extra.”
And finally I spotted that I had gotten fairly distant from what really made me completely satisfied.
These previous few years, I’ve determined to reside a bit otherwise.
As an alternative of huge long run targets with dramatically organized plans, I’ve narrowed my focus to: “How can I’ve day right now?”
I reside as if I’ll NEVER “get there.”
I nonetheless have targets, and I nonetheless have issues I hope to perform in life.
I’m simply taking part in a distinct recreation than I used to be at 28. I feel this “life is a recreation” philosophy served me nicely on the time, and I feel now I’ve added a couple of further doses of actuality to how this performs out.
For anyone caught in a rut, and escaping an excessive amount of into digital worlds, I feel occupied with life like a online game is usually a fairly enjoyable solution to attempt to escape of that rut.
It may not work for everyone, however I feel having issues to sit up for, and targets to work on, after which discovering methods to make tiny bits of progress may also help.
I cowl this in an article known as “A Nerd’s Information to Success and Happiness” which nonetheless holds up!
Just a little 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 have been tremendous optimistic!
There was one remark although, that offered me a singular alternative to do one thing I’ve at all times wished to do.
Show anyone mistaken on the web.
In my discuss, I discussed that I hoped to at some point 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 probably the most sturdy and empowered.
I went and located a video of myself from 2018, the place after 6+ years of devoted, gradual development 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 mistaken! 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 recreation 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 chance to hit the RESET Button. If there’s a thought or id you have got that’s 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.
Keep in mind, our data carries over, and we by no means begin again at sq. one.
Sport on, my fellow nerd!
-Steve
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