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 digital camera.
And but, I’ve concepts that I believe may also help individuals.
So I write and share my concepts. And generally, I drive 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 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 Greatest Shock Rewatching…
It wasn’t as embarrassing as I assumed!
Child Steve truly had some first rate concepts and was an okay storyteller! Particularly when you think about I had rewritten your 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 probably the most, and I believe 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 had been the issue. They’d develop into too addicting, too pleasurable, and so they had been the explanation I wasn’t making a lot progress in my actual life.
The fact is one degree 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 development tools), 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 conduct 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 superb at discovering yet one more factor to get hooked on!
In different phrases, in case you can go one degree deeper as to WHY you’re procrastinating or avoiding actuality (presumably with the assist of remedy) it might probably aid you 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), abruptly video video games turned 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 most likely as a result of I’m avoiding confronting the fact of an issue in life.
Perhaps I’m scared to get again to work on my secret-book-shaped mission, 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 truly working exhausting 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 an excellent 8 years, this was an enormous focus of mine.
Actually incomes expertise factors for carrying out quests in actual life.
I did this after exercising world wide and residing 14 months of journey journey.
I even obtained a guide revealed about turning life right into a sport, Degree Up Your Life, again in 2016. I not too long ago reacquired the rights to this guide, and I’m hoping to place out a Model 2 within the coming 12 months.
(Because of this you possibly can’t purchase it now, sorry about that!).
12 years later, life is a bit completely different.
In case you’ve been studying this article for the previous 12 months, you may need observed 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 doable, 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 limitless loop of perpetual “extra extra extra.”
And ultimately I spotted that I had gotten fairly far-off from what truly made me blissful.
These previous few years, I’ve determined to reside a bit in another way.
As an alternative of huge long run targets with dramatically organized plans, I’ve narrowed my focus to: “How can I’ve an excellent 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 sport than I used to be at 28. I believe this “life is a sport” philosophy served me effectively on the time, and I believe now I’ve added a number of additional doses of actuality to how this performs out.
For any person caught in a rut, and escaping an excessive amount of into digital worlds, I believe desirous about life like a online game could be a fairly enjoyable option to try to escape of that rut.
It may not work for everyone, however I believe 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 referred to as “A Nerd’s Information to Success and Happiness” which nonetheless holds up!
A little bit little bit of nuance and perspective can go a good 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 supplied me a singular alternative to do one thing I’ve all the time wished to do.
Show any person improper 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 implies 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 robust and empowered.
I went and located a video of myself from 2018, the place after 6+ years of devoted, sluggish progress and deal with 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 improper! Hahahaha
Petty and pointless? Yep!
Satisfying? Very.
Two Buttons: Energy and Reset
I completed my discuss with one thing that was much 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 once we’re born, and it turns off once we die.
However we even have a chance to hit the RESET Button. If there’s a thought or identification you will have 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 attempt once more, even in case you failed the final time.
Keep in mind, our information carries over, and we by no means begin again at sq. one.
Sport on, my fellow nerd!
-Steve
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