They suck . . .
What sucks?
Let's call them time-suckers.
Time-suckers are like vampires (who also suck). They suck away the time you have to do your work on your blogs. I deal with a lot of time-suckers in my life.
I have to admit that I have an addiction. It is to video games. I could play video games for hours upon end! That's probably why I became friends with some at WA who have video games as their niche!
But I barely have time for friends or work on my websites because of time-sucking video games.
Each night I sit up until early in the morning. Not writing my book for National Novel Writing Month; not writing my blog posts for my websites. Nope. I sit up playing video games.
You may be asking yourselves—what is a 53 year old grandma doing playing video games well into the wee hours of the morning?
The answer is simple—I am addicted!
It is something I have been working on. I force myself to stop playing at about 11:30 p.m. because I want to write at least a few words on my novel. If I get them posted by 11:59 p.m. they count for that days number!
But sometimes I let those time-sucking, time robbing games take over and I find myself still playing them at 3 a.m.!
In and of themselves, video games are not the problem. They can be fun diversions to a stress-filled day. However, they have been taking over much of my free-time.
Today, I wrote a post for my grandparents site. I discovered it had been nearly a year since my last post on the site!
This is the only site I have monetized at this point and it is the only site I have not written a post on in months!
I'm not going to beat myself up over this. If you have time-suckers in your life, I am writing to let you know, you are not alone. I am also writing to ask if anyone has some good ways to help manage their time-suckers? I am totally open to any advice!
My "why" hasn't been strong enough lately to fend off these vampires! (Although, my granddaughter was hopeful that I would get fired so we could spend more time at home which is my ultimate goal!)
Anyway, if you have some timely tips on rescuing myself from the time-suckers, please feel free to post them! I need all the help I can get!
Have a great weekend!
Karin
Recent Comments
17
Oh God. I can absolutely relate to this! My time suckers are tv shows! I can spend hours watching them, especially Law and Order SVU. I used to spend the entire day during a summertime watching that show. I got to the point of finishing a whole season (23 episodes) in one day. I still spend a lot of time sucked up in that show, but I’ve set time periods for doing that. For example, I try to watch one episode per day but only when it’s dinner time so I can eat and enjoy my food while watching my favorite tv show. If there’s a new episode then I’ll only tune in and watch that specific episode when it airs. So far, I have managed.
These vampires that are taking you away from posting are not easy to defeat. Whenever you feel the need to play a game, take a moment and a deep breath and start on something else (blogging). At first it will be difficult, it will get easier after a while. This is what I had to do to get back on track. Find a reason not to play but that will not cause you stress.
Jerry
Funny Karin, but real. You won't believe what my time sucker is ( after) WA. Yes, that's my time sucker right there. Everyday I start out checking my email , then read a few blogs, then answer some questions then browse around some more there goes two hours in the morning.
Trouble is, if I put that 2 hours into learning a new technique, or starting a new post, I'd be further along. Good blog, Karin
I used to play them a long time ago, Karin, but I know how you're feeling there are a lot of people I know who play them and feel the same way that you do!
Jeff
Karin,
I get it!! I'm glad I'm not alone in this!
I've been reevaluating my why, how, and goals which I have found helpful... it's still in progress stage, but it's working!
💖 Shaunna
You have to find something that will be a more powerful motivator than the video games. Perhaps you need to sit down and write a list of all the reasons you want to meet your goal. Think about those reasons and try to get the mindset that you are the only one that can do what you have to do, so you'd better get busy.
It's not easy...you have to have something that gives you a sense of urgency, so you have a reason to stop the games. I've gotten to the place where I become very uncomfortable if I leave WA tasks for too long.
It's a hard one. Try setting an alarm...give yourself some kind of reward when it goes off, but first, turn off the games. If you can get yourself to turn off the video games when the alarm goes off, that is a first step. Best of luck -- not an easy one.
The only suggestion I can make is to have the will and make your priorities. You write them in a schedule, like in school. Then you wake up on schedule. That doesn't mean giving up games. Just make a little order in your life.
Success.
Carmen
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I love movies and can get sucked into two or three in one setting.. but since joining WA ... I set myself a goal sheet ... in order to get the privilege of watching a movie I have to reach that weekly goal
Last night I’m happy to say .. I reached my goal and spent two and half hours in bliss(with Fellowship of the Rings) ... now I’m set for this week as I want to watch the second and eventually the third ... I had to write so many posts for my website.. had to do x amount of training... and had to research for my next two product reviews ... don’t know if this helps but I have a list of about 50 movies I want to watch... can you imagine where I’ll be in fifty weeks if I continue being disciplined to stay the course ...
well my DREAM is big enough ..., and this is the best platform I’ve ever found to reach IT...
you just made me even more focused....
Set yourself goals with a reward ...
Hope this helps ... long comment ... I believe this is the best tool to stop those time suckers
Tim