A bit late this week, but I’ve been fighting off what might be the flu; it’s been going around the office something fierce, and I think it’s trying to bring me down. So far it’s not gotten worse than a runny nose, a cough (which seems to be developing into a seasonal cough I always seem to get around spring that lasts forever but then suddenly developed into a sore throat when I coughed too hard), and some soreness/fatigue. Been that way since Thursday evening, and just been taking it mostly easy since Friday. And by that, I generally mean that I was not productive at all; I was very lazy Saturday and today, much lazier than I’d hoped to be. And once again most of my time (what wasn’t spent in bed resting) was wasted away on Youtube…my eternal distraction, it seems.
Throw in the start of Daylight Savings Time and this weekend is just all messed up. At least I’ve got a short couple of weeks ahead as I’ll be taking a four day weekend next weekend for my birthday. Hoping to hit the hills and do some hiking if the weather cooperates.
Anyway, onto today’s topic. I suppose this is more of a plan that I’m hoping to enact and get myself in the habit of doing, and thought that I’d share my thoughts. It’s pretty much as simple as it sounds: consume less, create more. Spend less time consuming (especially on Youtube), and spend more time creating my own content. IN theory, not difficult, but in practice, it is going to be a challenge, at least for me.
See, I’ve got a major problem focusing on a single thing for very long anymore. Between multitasking daily at work and the easy dopamine hits found in hopping from one Youtube video to another, I find myself in a constant state of wanting to write or work on my worlds, but my brain craving those digital dopamine hits. During this week’s Youtube binging, I came across a very good video from Dave Cullen in which he discusses this exact thing, and offers some suggestions on how to get your focus back. It’s certainly worth a watch.
This works well with a plan I’ve been hoping to implement, but have, as of yet, been unsuccessful with, mainly because of my own lack of willpower. I want to begin shifting myself away from constantly consuming whatever pops into my subscription feed on Youtube and start using that time and energy for working on my own fiction. Basically, I want to repurpose my time and devote it to creating my own stuff as opposed to consuming other content. It seems simple enough, but in practice, it hasn’t been. I tried blocking Youtube and other distraction sites on my computer for a time, but given that I know how to easily undo these changes, it wasn’t amazingly effective. It only took like ten seconds to undo and bypass. I’ve also tried getting myself into the habit of only watching while I’m riding our exercise bike, but that only lasted so long.
I just need to get my ass in gear, decide what it is I really want to do with my time, and make it happen. Then stick with it. Plain and simple.
Generally the only time I could potentially allow myself to watch Youtube would be in the mornings, while I’m still trying to wake up and wait for the coffee to kick in. I’m usually slow getting a move on, and take at least an hour and a half before I’m ready to get going for the day. It probably doesn’t help that I’m far from happy with my current job, so I really don’t have much excitement when I do finally get going. It really seems like the only thing I can get excited for and get going as soon as I wake up is when I head out super early to drive to a state park for a hike. But, if I could stick with that, I would then devote all my time in the evenings after work to writing and worldbuilding.
Of course, so far this plan has not worked at all. I just can’t seem to make myself get in the mindset most evenings due to being so mentally drained from work. I just want to sit there and be a zombie for a while…usually until bedtime.
So perhaps the cold turkey approach is going to be the best method. Just cut it all off, not allow me any viewing at all for at least a month. Supposedly it takes about 21 days of repeatedly doing something before it starts to become a habit, so it seems like a good idea. But given my track record, how am I going to keep myself honest and on track? Dedicated blocking software and random passwords that I don’t allow myself to keep locally, perhaps, hard copy only, stored away perhaps at the desk in my office, safely out of easy reach. This is a big problem for me, so I’m going to have to get serious about dealing with it.
Apologies if I sound a bit less focused than usual; I’m feeling pretty rough, and I hope that I’ll see some improvement overnight that will allow me to actually go to work tomorrow. I really don’t know why this thing waited like three days to get to the point where it’ll affect my ability to function at the office…
Anyway, would appreciate any thoughts you may have about this sort of thing and any suggestions on what I could try to get myself over this bad habit.
Until next time…
