Regret from playing games all day, lacking work ethic

Jamzies · ‎30-10-2019

It always happens when I have a day off from school. Even more common on the holidays when I'm alone.

I would play the whole morning and a good chunk of the afternoon (with tasks in mind but no motivation) only to realise and suffer from regret to this. There's this tingling feeling of playing video games all through the day, only to stop for an occasional toilet break or lunch. Which would be rather flawed.

Fortunately, I have a diary, but I've barely used it over the last week. I have managed to use it before but it's not like old habits die hard. It didn't stick for very long and I'm back to step one, having annoyance over what I had done.

Simply continuing to regret would be... well, useless, so I want to stop having the same events occur again and again. Has anyone else experienced this problem, or are there some suggestions I could consider?

(FYI: It's not a major problem, but avoiding it would be beneficial)

Doolhof · ‎31-10-2019

Hi Jamzies,

Welcome to the community here. I'm wondering if you might be able to write down a plan for the day. Schedule in time for gaming and other things that need to be done.

When you have your lunch, do you continue to use games? Maybe you could schedule half an hour for lunch away from Gaming.

You could use an alarm on your phone, set it for say in 3 hours time (just a suggestion of time) and when it goes off, force yourself to do something different.

Make a list of things you would like to achieve in a day. Tick them off as you manage to do them. If there are still items on your list, continue on the next day.

It can take a while for new habits to stick.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for.

I know I can get lost in reading books and watching mindless T.V. Sometimes our minds need a break, sometimes we need to push ourselves a little to achieve other things as well.

All the best from Dools

romantic_thi3f · ‎31-10-2019

Hi Jamzies,

Thank you for your post and I think that Dools has given you some great suggestions and ideas.

I think the biggest suggestion I can give you is to do your tasks first. Whenever we play, it's common to lose track of time to the point where the only thing that stops us is needing to go the toilet! If you were able to reshuffle your day so that you do the productive things first, it allows you to not only get things done, but then use the gaming as a reward.

You mentioned the diary in your post and it sounds like you're wanting to get back into that - what were you using the diary for?

RT

Jamzies · ‎31-10-2019

Hi RT (and Doolhof),

About the diary... I was trying to utilise it as I commonly heard teachers considering diaries as an important tool to manage time and work. I always had the pieces of work in my mind, but the allure of gaming threw me off and wasted the whole day and afternoon before I realised. I would still be thinking about it, but there was little attention kept to it which ended up being forgotten before I wrote it down at the start of the day.

I was thinking of restarting the whole habit (which is what I'm attempting again), but the feeling of sitting at a desk for countless hours wasn't something that kept my motivation unless it was a favourite subject or posing not much difficulty last time. Being honest, I sometimes sneak in a quiet 30 minutes of play, which isn't the smartest thing, and so I was hoping I could use the diary to plan ahead further and reward myself eventually. I was probably was too greedy for relaxation, wanting to save tasks for later but never having the motive.

So yes - the idea of rescheduling is something I'm going to have to change. Hopefully, I can fix it before I complain again...

(Side note for Doolhof - Unfortunately, yes, I do play some at lunch break.)

Jzies

romantic_thi3f · ‎01-11-2019

Hi Jamzies,

It's good to hear back from you.

Ah ok - like a scheduling diary? If you were to keep this habit up, what would the diary look like? Would it be 9am meeting, 12pm lunch with x?

Just trying to get a better idea since diaries are so unique for everyone!

What do you think stopped you from continuing this habit the first time around?

RT

Doolhof · ‎01-11-2019

Hi Jzies,

Just a thought around the diary, gaming and getting things done.

Some things I have learnt are to take one day at a time. If say one day you game more than you desire, remind yourself you can try tomorrow to change that.

When writing out your diary, make plans for the week and have easy to achieve goals.

All the best from Dools

Jamzies · ‎02-11-2019

Hello again RT,

Hmm... the reason is hard to recall, but I think it may have something to do with the monotony and repetition of the habit. Seeing a goal become completed does give a sense of satisfaction, but sometimes you work for too long on one and end up leaving other things blank, which has happened a few times to me.

Yes - this would be more of a schedule diary where I write down the work today, any reminders, how long I should do this, etc. It could be that I'm constantly setting multiple tasks with a shortage of time and causing myself to not be able to complete all of them. Perhaps setting "easy to achieve" goals as Doolhof said would be the most optimal solution to increase the efficiency.

These posts did get me thinking about my usual habits, so thank you!

I'll post another reply if I have any more troubles regarding this topic.

Jzies