The Simple Habit That Changed My Life
Our dreams may be closer than we think.
Dreams often appear in our lives. Dreams are an accumulation of goals, and every fulfilled goal becomes fuel to push onwards in achieving our dreams. But, regardless of the size, resistance may soon follow. I feel that resistance is the compass pointing to the path to achieving greatness. However, if not consistently checked, the friction can keep a dream out of reach. Here time becomes the double edge sword. Giving into resistance long enough makes it easier to let go. However, if we can handle time with elegance, we can chop down any resisting behemoth. For me, resistance is still a brutal fight. But it is no longer the master of my dreams. My dreams never came within arm’s length until one day, when an accidental discovery became a life-changing process.
If I had only tried. I have probably made this statement more times in my life than I care to count. If I had only focused more on game design when I graduated college, I could be making art for a living. The truth is, I gave into resistance and barely tried. I was facing a harsh reality. Will this continue for the next ten years? A new dream has been born - I want to be a full-time translator and make games on the side. I had to be done with these regrets.
Luckily in 2019, the need to switch workplaces sparked curiosity. While building my resume, I wanted to track how much time I used to land a new job. That is how I found an app called ATracker. Without sounding too much like a sales pitch, I think this app did more than help me get a job. I feel it changed my life entirely. Using games as an analogy, just as every hero needs a quest log before going out, ATracker became my quest log. The simple-to-use interface and customization got me on track towards my goals. ATracker also identified the elusive resistance stalking me for years without my knowledge. Here is how I set up my app, and here is what happened over the following two years.
If you want to know more about ATracker, check out the links below. ATracker is available for iPhone and Android.
Apple App
Andriod App
Time is money. A phrase we all know. However, I prefer to interpret it as “time is like money.” An obvious fact, but how we spend our time is what dictates what we get from life. If we spend all our money on an expensive item, we can only buy that expensive item. If most of our time is spent on one activity, we can only do that activity. An obvious fact but one I often forget. My first month using the ATracker made this apparent.
It was clear to see. My resistance was my use of time. I have finished many games but have not fulfilled many goals. During April, I spent one-hundred and thirteen hours. Eighty-nine of those hours were on a game system, not my dreams. Games are patient. Dreams usually are not. After physically seeing my habits, I could steer my behaviors to focus on time-sensitive ventures. The shift caused game time to be reduced to two hours a week, and I began using more time on my goals. Once my energy starting flowing in a favorable direction, more significant changes started to amass.
Before pursuing my goals, I was unhappy. I would use games to escape reality. But regardless of the endless hours in games, the reality was still a reality. I had dreams, but they never got any closer. With my newly found ATracker quest book, my focus shifted, and so did my happiness. Devoting hours for leveling fictitious virtual characters was traded to leveling my physical form. Tangible achievements were felt at my fingertips. Small chunks of time accumulated to significant results. My reality was being designed, and the need for escape lost its appeal. I began to theorize that happiness is based on how present we are in reality, not how separated we are. I started to feel that using games as medicine for aches offered similar medicated results — nothing ever healed. But fulfilling goals worked like a massage. It may hurt, but the outcome leads to a goodnight’s sleep and an eagerness to take on another day.
I feel it is necessary to mention that games didn’t fade from my life. Conversely, my enjoyment deepened. Just as a favorite meal eaten every day will become bland, games played every day will become mundane. The few hours I do spend in games are now savored, much like a mouth-watering favorite dish.
Once I started accomplishing tasks, chasing dreams, and experiencing achievements, I felt like a hero overcoming quests and acquiring treasures. Life started to feel like a game. As challenges would arise, I was excited to charge. The once timid me was now surpassing challenges with enjoyment. Naturally, these challenges increased in difficulty, but the treasure was twice as good. Recently ATracker, my quest book, has become more elaborate, and even tasks I once disliked have become tasks I don’t mind. The hero of my real life is now taking shape. Moving onward in this newly found game, my final challenges slowly became more apparent in the upcoming final battles. Here is what my ATracker app looks like now.
Through the simple act of downloading ATracker, I was sent on my first quest towards my dreams. While these dreams have not been fulfilled yet, I do know I am on my way.
After this experience, I did start looking at time as such.
Our time is set in life. We cannot directly extend this time. But we can transpose our goals to fit into the time we have. Raging over heavy traffic, grumbling over a long coffee line, sinking excessive hours into a game is a step in a direction I don’t want to go. I feel these moments are better used for getting 1% better in life.
