I’m a serial computer games addict. I played almost every stage of console gaming here in the Philippines since 1990 – from Family Computer to Super Nintendo, to Sega, to Sega Saturn, to Playstation 1, Gameboy, Playstation 2 all the way til I settled with PC gaming.
I got hooked with computer games since I was a kid. Strategizing to beat the game was my kind of adventure. If I could, I would stay up late playing – but my parents wouldn’t let me (thank God for my parents!)
Naturally, I didn’t do so well in school – all the way up to college. I flunked a lot of units because I got bored. For me, I felt like there was no real strategy with academics, no real game, not enough stimulation to get me going.
I got especially hooked to this game called DOTA. And if I was to be honest, that’s actually the main reason I flunked a lot of subjects in college. The moment I folded up the game and deleted it from my life was when my life took a climb up.
Granted, it’s a slow, painful climb – an uphill climb. But at least things were going up and getting better.
Today, one of the secrets in my life on my productivity and efficiency is that I keep those kinds of games at bay – LOL, DOTA 2, HON – they’re all pretty much out the window of my life.
Yes I install them sometimes – once in a blue moon when I have lots of spare time to boot. But right after that, I delete them again – all traces of them. Just so I’d find it irritating to install it again and wait for the download and put in all my settings, etc.
I have learned to choose my computer games. I still have mainstream games installed like Hearthstone, Path of Exile, Shadow of Mordor and the likes – but I rarely play them because they have no long-term addictive influence on me.
Being able to deny myself my weakness and delay my gratification in terms of pleasure and entertainment has been a key factor in my life in getting where I am today. A lot of people wish and hope and dream – but they let their thorns pull them down.
It doesn’t have to be computer games. Thorns come in the form of your gang of friends, partying, social media, TV, and so on.
And then people wonder “Where has all that time gone? Why am I still where I’m at in life and not where I dreamed I would be?”
The answer lies in your ability to delay gratification. Discipline yourself for opportunities, efficiency and output.
