How I Tricked My Mind Into Learning Time Management And Became More Productive
I used to be a video game addict. I fondly remember my high school years when I would come home from school every day and rush to my laptop so that I could enter the virtual world of massive multiplayer online games (MMOs). Video games were my escape, and despite my solitude and lack of a social life in the real world, in the virtual world, I had many “friends” who praised me for my gaming accolades, and whom made me feel like I belonged.
Through video games, I found unparalleled comfort and joy, which often times led me to dismiss reality, and which subsequently led me to put myself in dangerous situations. For example, in my last two years of high school when I was at my busiest, I continued to play countless hours of video games each night and delayed academic responsibilities until the wee hours of the night, and very frequently, even until the early hours of the morning. On average I slept 4–5 hours per night during those years, and as a result suffered various health issues. When describing my chest pain, my doctor said, “your body is like a car, if you don’t take care of it properly, then it’ll start to break down more frequently over time.” You know you’ve hit a new low, and that you’ve got to change, when your doctor uses the analogy of a used car to describe your heart condition.
Upon starting college, I gave up video games because I realized that my expensive college tuition was enough of a reason to start taking academia more seriously. But this led me to adopt another bad habit — spending all my spare time on YouTube. I recently finished reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and my bad habits can be explained by what’s called the Habit Loop. In the Habit Loop, there is a cue (returning from class, and getting to my desk where my laptop was), then there’s the routine (playing video games and/or watching YouTube videos), and finally there’s the reward (thrill from playing video games or going on YouTube). Now the reason, I picked up watching YouTube videos after letting go of video games is, as Duhigg explains, because of the “Golden Rule of Habit Change,” which basically states that “you can’t extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it.” Duhigg explains this further in his book, but basically I had substituted one bad habit (video games) for another (YouTube videos).
For the first two years of college, I felt like I was repeating my last two years of high school all over again. But then one day, a friend asked if I would go the gym with him. I meekly agreed since at the time I really had no interest in weight-lifting or running. Little did I know at the time that, that simple gym session would profoundly change me life.
Although motivating myself to continue working out was initially difficult, I soon figured out a way to trick my mind into believing that I loved going to the gym. At the time, I was unaware of the Habit Loop concept, but I was aware of the fact that I was wasting an incredible amount of time surfing YouTube, and wanted to replace that habit with exercising instead. So I started a new routine where every time I came back to my desk and fired up my laptop (the cue), I went on YouTube and watched motivational videos instead (the routine). This gave me the thrill and rush (the reward) I wanted. A lot of these motivational videos were narrated or included speeches by athletes (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Muhammad Ali, Rocky, etc.) so I became motivated and obsessed with becoming the best person I could, both physically and mentally. This pushed me to stop spending so much time on YouTube and start going to the gym frequently, even on days when I didn’t feel like it. Whether it was running or weight-lifting, each gym session always left me feeling happy, accomplished, productive, and overall much better about myself. Those feelings were natural byproducts of exercise. It has been proven in studies that exercise causes the release of protein BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) and endorphin chemicals that help release stress, block pain, and even create the feeling of euphoria. So simply put, the reward (the feeling of thrill and joy) was the same, while my routine (replacing video games and YouTube videos with physical exercise) was different and just much better for me.
My gym routine not only improved my physique, but it also transformed almost every other aspect of my life. As Duhigg would note, my gym routine became a Keystone Habit, a habit that has the power to start a chain reaction, thereby changing other habits. Through my Keystone Habit, I became more confident in myself and started doing a lot better in social environments. I also became more aware of my health and diet. I watched what I consumed and adapted a very clean diet (of course, I did occasionally have cheat days, which is perfectly fine considering I’m only human). I also began performing way better academically because I became noticeably good at managing my time. My gym routine forced me to become incredibly productive because having a gym schedule meant that I only had several more hours afterwards to focus on my work before going to sleep. On top of that, I also had to balance my part-time job and extracurriculars. With my gym routine in place, I unconsciously started adopting good habits, and things no longer became a chore for me. Even as I am writing this post, I realize that two years ago, I would’ve thought that blogging was such a chore and that I didn’t have time for it, but today, it’s exciting, and it’s something I’ve managed to make time for despite my busy schedule.
Edits made by me
As I wrap up this post, I want to emphasize that learning time management and becoming more productive is something that anyone can learn, even someone who has a terrible procrastination problem like my high school-self. I had to learn it through adopting a gym routine, but the learning process can be simplified if only one becomes more aware and conscious of their habits. For me, even though I’ve picked up a lot of good habits, there’s still a lot more I want to do. I’ll continue to work on them, but for anyone else who wants to do the same, I urge you to read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg as a starting point. I’m also open to sharing my other techniques, as well as learning from others about theirs. Feel free to comment or message me.
-Jimmy
Originally published at www.jimmyluo.com on March 5, 2016.
