My adulthood started off kinda meh.
I barely passed my high school-leaving exams, dropped out of college twice, and since I opted for a general education high school, I was left without any profession. But hey, that was more of a concern for my parents. Education was never really my thing.
I had plans to learn programming and start my own business. After many arguments with family, I stood my ground: instead of going to a college once again, I’d use that time to self-educate on things that would actually be useful for my work (practical skills, marketing, etc.).
Unfortunately, flexibility can lead to laziness, and lack of progress can be discouraging. Due to my own fault, I ballooned to over 240 pounds and lost touch with most of my friends. From an outgoing extrovert, I became introverted, shy, and, let’s face it, quite a sad dude. Some started worrying about me because instead of the promised progress, I was spiraling down day by day.
I assured everyone that “things were getting better”, but I only did it to get them off my back, so I could focus on what mattered most to me: computer games. In them, I could escape from real-life problems and transform from a lazy, overweight dude into a great warrior leading a mighty guild. Finally, I was someone, finally, I was needed.
I’m not saying games are bad. I still love them, but damn – when they become an escape and a priority – that’s a sign that something’s wrong. For several years, I played for 14 hours a day, and nothing mattered to me as much as the virtual world. What’s worse, it didn’t just affect me, but also my family and friends.
Luckily (or maybe not), I got hooked on MMORPGs. It’s a genre where skills usually take a back seat.
I learned that consistency and perseverance are more important than happiness, talent, or momentary bursts of motivation.
It’s thanks to these traits…
I lost over 60 pounds:
I built many internet projects from scratch, which now allow me to live off something that could basically be called passive income.
Currently, my sites are visited over 2,000,000 times every month and require practically no regular work. I haven’t even logged into some of them for months.
And now I’m working on developing GamifyRoutine. To show how important consistency is and to make it easier for you and me.
In the past, my gamification system was based on several highly personalized spreadsheets, my own program for drawing rewards, and Discord, where my friend and I manually listed our progress. Now it’s easier and more enjoyable.
How did I learn consistency?
I flexed a bit, but that’s not what I meant. Sure, I lost weight, but who got himself to those damn 240 pounds in the first place?
I was to blame, but I didn’t have the strength to change my life overnight.
It always ended in failure. I’d return to obsessive gaming, then for a few days, try to pull my life together, return – and so on…
“Just get up in the morning, bro”, “Work harder than others”, “Learn to enjoy doing difficult things” – who the hell am I, a masochist?
Luckily, I heard better advice, or rather, a calculation that made me think:
“If you read just 10 pages every day, you’ll read 3650 pages every year. After five years, that’s over 18,000 pages, which is about 50 books.”
I thought to myself, “hmm, what if I read 100 pages every day? After five years, that would add up to… Nothing! I’d get discouraged after two days.”
The conclusion was simple. Instead of, as usual, burning out after a few days, I could make slower progress, which in the long run would give me much better results… It’s just like in games, consistency is key!
But how to become consistent?
You can help yourself with gamification. I made a deal with myself: I could allow myself to relax only after 6 p.m., provided that on that day:
- I walked at least 10,000 steps.
- I ate no more than 2200 kcal.
It was kind of like a “daily quest” – I wanted the reward, so I had to do the tasks (although I eventually grew to like both, especially the walks). Thanks to this, I practically didn’t skip a single day.
I lost an average of ~5 pounds per month. It’s not a hardcore number, but consistently maintained, it’s a whopping 60 pounds in a year.
Of course, I could cheat myself and award myself even when I didn’t complete the tasks. But that’s not what it’s all about. What helped me the most was always sharing my progress with close people and my accountability buddy.
The effects weren’t visible overnight, but over time, I began to see gradual progress. That’s why I implemented the same system immediately at work and studying. Spoiler: it helped me tremendously in these areas too.
If you also want to make changes in your life, look into self-discipline and habits. It really helped me because if I waited for “motivation” to come, I probably wouldn’t have made it. Especially because motivation rarely stick with me for longer than a week.