I apologize for my sideburns and striped shirt

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 believe may help individuals.

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 means of 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 pal 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 canine, 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 believed!

Child Steve truly had some respectable 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 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 have been the issue. That they had turn out to be too addicting, too fulfilling, they usually have been the explanation 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 stay up for. I didn’t like my job (promoting building tools), I didn’t have targets or issues in my private life to stay 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 pal Nir Eyal’s guide ​Indistractable​, if we don’t deal with the foundation reason behind distraction or escape, our brains will get excellent at discovering yet one more factor to get hooked on!

In different phrases, if you happen to can go one stage deeper as to WHY you’re procrastinating or avoiding actuality (probably with the ​assist of remedy​) it could possibly provide help to get out of the rut.

As soon as I discovered one thing to stay up for (for me it was turning life into an journey online game like Zelda and EverQuest), all of a 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 repeatedly (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 venture, as a result of I fear it’s not ok. 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 laborious 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 a very good 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 all over the world​ 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 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.

(For this reason you may’t purchase it now, sorry about that!).

12 years later, life is a bit totally different.

In case you’ve been studying this text 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 potential, chasing the following aim. Every aim led to the following aim. Every dragon slain required me to go discover one other dragon.

It grew to become an limitless loop of perpetual “extra extra extra.”

And finally I spotted that I had gotten fairly far-off from what truly made me joyful.

These previous few years, I’ve determined to dwell a bit in a different way.

As an alternative of huge long run targets with dramatically organized plans, I’ve narrowed my focus to: “How can I’ve a very good day immediately?”

I dwell 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 special recreation than I used to be at 28. I believe this “life is a recreation” philosophy served me effectively on the time, and I believe now I’ve added a couple of additional doses of actuality to how this performs out.

For anyone 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 technique to try to get away of that rut.

It won’t work for everyone, however I believe having issues to stay up for, and targets to work on, after which discovering methods to make tiny bits of progress may help.

I cowl this in an article known as “​A Nerd’s Information to Success and Happiness​” which nonetheless holds up!

Slightly 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 all the time wished to do.

Show anyone unsuitable 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 discovered 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, gradual progress and give attention to 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 unsuitable! 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 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 id you have got that’s now 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 if you happen to 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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