As it turns out, I found I have another form of blahh that is trying to infiltrate my brain (Blahh is a term I’ve come up with for a specific distraction that cuts down on my brain power. I describe it best here: What is “Blahh”?). This type of blahh camouflaged itself in the form of a simple game that I played for 10 minutes here and there. I was not very into it before a week ago. But as my blahh addicted mind grasps at some form of its former screen surplus, it clingged onto a game on my phone. I noticed myself playing this game more and more day by day. I started to play this to the point that I would look at the time and notice that an hour of my day was gone due to this game. I never thought this game would have been this big of a distraction. I have played it in the past and it was never a problem. For that reason, I left it off the blahh list. So, now this list is up to four items. Those four items are Netflix, YouTube, social media, and please welcome our newest addition to the list…iPhone games. No blahh until 6 pm.
I had to reassess my time and productivity as I noticed it slip away. Some of this was due to the games on my phone. The purpose of getting rid of the blahh is to enhance productivity and creativity. Without blahh, I am much more productive with work and personal tasks. I am also more creative and found myself having more thoughts. I notice when I take out the blahh in my day, my mind makes up for the lack of stimulation by producing more thoughts by itself. My mind goes to work. It has to fill the hole that is now there due to the lack of third party stimulation.
People lose their path all the time. It can be difficult to stay motivated. However, it’s important to take a breath and assess your progress. Be honest with yourself about how you are spending your time. It’s ok to stray off the path. When you start a new journey, it’s very unlikely you will have the same vigor a month later as you did when you first started. For this reason, having checkups either monthly or bi-monthly is important. I saw myself creating a state of blahh from the game I played on my phone. For a while, I wasn’t honest with myself. I was trying to convince myself that it was only for a little bit each day. It’s not out of control. Until a few days ago, I was right. Then I noticed for the past three days or so, I have been playing over an hour of this game. This is crucial to understand. I not only was taking away from the tasks that I needed to get done, but also putting my mind at rest. I was not coming up with new ideas. How could you if you are staring at a screen playing a video game? I also loss any momentum that I had accumulated in the day before I turned the game on. This would ruin the rest of my day as I noticed the drop in motivation and excitement after playing the game.
All in all, be careful. Bumps in the road come up all the time. Some things you do today may not seem like a problem and that’s good because that means you have control and it is consumed in moderation. However, that does not mean that down the road you will not take advantage of it later on. For me, a simple 10 minute game I enjoyed became an hour of my day. I abused that freedom. For that reason, it gets moved to the blahh list. I’m not disappointed in myself really. Actually, I’m proud of myself for having the self-reflection that made me clearly see how this was effecting my daily productivity. I’m proud of myself for being honest with myself about my current state. This will only help me become stronger and more self-reliant in the long run.
Dabbl 