Just a quick update, everything is going good. I am glad I decided to try to do this challenge.
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The experiment has been going good. This was actually the first Saturday I had off since I started the challenge. Also sorry for the lack of posting last few days have been busy. I am noticing a difference in the amount of time I have with not being on social media all the time. Usually on Saturdays I am on Reddit and YouTube for most of the day telling myself I will start homework in few minutes that I inevitably delay for hours. Here is what I have done today:
- Read 20 more pages of “The Republic” by Plato
- Completed a test I had due
- Wrote in my journal
- Watched a video to better understand how bitcoin works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4)
- Was able to use an Aurdino to control a little RGB light.
The cool thing is its not even 14:00 yet and I have already done a lot more than I usually do in an entire Saturday.
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Good job! That’s an impressive list.
Ah, love 3blue1brown.
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Things are going good as far as the challenge is going. However it has been a stressful week which is why I have not written much. But just wanted to give an update.
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Well I am doing okay on the challenge but I am highly stressed. I found out today a family member has COVID 19. I am honestly tempted to just end the challenge as I want to get my mind off things. But at the same time I know thats not a healthy way to cope with my stress. If I do end it here at least I made it a full 21 days, and probably will do a challenge like this when things are more normal again. I dont know havent decided what I am doing. What do you guys think I should do? Continue the challenge or end it here at 21 days?
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So sorry to hear about your family member! I wish them a speedy recovery.
I think you said it yourself: mindless social media browsing is not a healthy way to deal with your stress. I suspect it would not even be all that helpful since it might very well add to your stress instead of truly helping you cope. This is not the time to quit your challenge, this is the time to double down! Find other ways to cope like talking with friends, thinking of creative ways to express your love and support for your sick family member, going on a walk, I don’t even know, think of whatever you want, pretty much anything is better than scrolling through social media.
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Well I did not end up completing the entire challenge I ended it on December 12th. Also the person I was worried about is doing good now, they had a rough time with covid but doing much better now. For the last two weeks I decided to see how I did going back to how I use to do things. I can say with certainty that I feel much worse. I was a lot happier when doing the challenge. Also since ending the challenge my productivity has dropped significantly. Because of this I am starting the challenge again but modified as I want it to do longer but make it more sustainable. I am going to add some specific rules:
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I may watch two entertaining videos/audio (podcasts) a week (Can not total to over 2 hours a week). This includes movies and tv shows.
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I may watch entertaining videos for unlimited when watching with friends (this does not happen too often I feel it is a positive social activity).
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When it comes to watching education videos I found there were two main types. Straight education videos and entertaining education videos. A good example of entertaining educational would be electricboom. This can cause one to listen way too much to entertaining educational videos while not getting a lot out of it. To help prevent this I am adding a new rule. For any educational video I must write a 200 word summary of what I learned before watching another educational video. This can by typed or written by hand. This will ensure I am actually learning.
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When watching an educational video I must finish the entire video before moving on to the next one.
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There is a partial ban on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook (though during the last challenge I was maybe on Facebook for a total of 30 minutes), TikTok or any similar platforms. I may use these apps for 30 minutes on Saturday from the following time Windows, meaning I choose one and only one time window: 1:00PM-1:30PM, 6:00PM-6:30PM, 8:00PM-8:30PM. Unlike the news these ones can NOT be even a minute off from the given time Windows. If I miss the time Windows then I just don’t get to browse any of the listed apps.
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I may listen to any podcast or video (listen only obviously) type while driving or walking in a store. This does not count against my time. If I feel like the rule is abused any during the first two weeks the rule will be adjusted.
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I may listen to podcasts/informative video with audio on my lunch break at work and it does not count against my limit.
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For news I am going to work on the following sechdule:
M-F: 6:05AM-6:15AM, 12:00PM-12:10PM, 6:00PM-6:10PM.
Weekends: 12:00-12:15PM, 8:00PM-8:15PM
Note these times far as when I exactly start these end end this can vary slightly. For example if I wake up at 5:40AM and therefore may listen to news from 5:40AM-5:50AM, but the start times should always be within an hour of the specified time.
I will post updates at least once per week with any new rules I based on if I feel like I find any loop holes and just my general thoughts. This challenge starts December 28th 2020 at 12AM till April 2nd 2021 12:00am. Since this challenge is going so long I wanted to make it sustainable which is why I am not completely cutting off all entertainment as I feel I would fail at that.
If you have any suggestions on rule changes let me know. I will make a beeminder goal for tracking purposes later today.
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The challenge is going good I have managed to stick to it with no issues. I am thinking of making a few tweaks but nothing major. One thing I thought of doing is maybe changing the limit to 4 videos with the same 2 hour limit. However I am going to wait a minimum of two weeks (Jan 17th I think) till I would make such a change. Second I wanted to clarify exactly what an “Informative” video or podcast is. It would be something that is say news related that tells what is going on currently or something like a product review. In other words not a straight up just entertainment video but also not necessarily an educational video.
I am seeing the same benefits I saw last time I did this challenge. For example when I was at my sisters house I didn’t spend the entire time on my phone I actually talked with other people and interacted more. Come April 2nd I might just restart the challenge with a few tweaks and continue that until 2022. As the two weeks I was not doing the challenge I felt much less happy.
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You’ve inspired me to
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read this again Augmenting Long-term Memory
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try adding a (infrequent) meta-goal about improving other goals (changing wording, dropping and adding a better one to reflect my current “problem situation”, etc.)
This is my second week and there was a bit of a miss this week. I read and listened to news (From social media, news outlets and Youtube) out of the time ranges given due to a major event that occurred this week. I have not yet added exceptions to the rules where I am allowed to do certain things under unusual circumstances so since it was not in there I am going to marking it as missing it this week in my Beeminder goal. As long as nothing crazy happens next week I should get back on track. Besides this incident things have went well. I have listened to about 75% of book called “Good Bye Things” By Fumis Sasaki. It has been a good listen I have actually got rid of some stuff since reading the book and due to this my room is cleaner. I cant say I agree 100% with everything the aurthors states but I can see there is a lot of stuff that just sits around that I dont need. Planning on finishing it this week.
I really like the idea of creating a meta-goal. I may set it to twice a month. I will probably create it tomorrow or Monday. This semester at school has been delayed by one week so thankfully I have one more week of freedom.
I am going to make another tweak to the rules. I am going to allow watch review videos of products. As I feel this can be helpful with purchase decisions. However kind of like educational videos I want to make sure I am getting something from it. So After I watch a review video I must do the following:
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Write a 100 word summary of the review.
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List at least two pros and two cons.
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List at least two benefits it would bring to my life.
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State how often I think I would actually use it.
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State how long I think the glow of the product would last (that initial excitement when you get a new product).
Like educational videos I can’t watch another until I do this assessment.
Did good this week. No major issues, as a note I will be paying attention to the news more this week due to upcoming events.
Forgot to log my completion in Beeminder but everything went okay besides that.
Hi everyone haven’t posted in a while. Not gonna lie kind of fell of the wagon. Gonna start back up again and do a hard reset of the challenge which now goes to June 2nd. Gonna rework some of the rules. One thing I’m gonna start doing is posting my screen time stats. Also I got someone gonna be my personal accountability partner. I’m actually gonna end the beeminder goal and pay this person directly as they will ask me directly for proof of completion and if I don’t have they will ask me to pay up. The latest I will start back up is March 1st. But could be sooner want come up with some comprehensive rules that will be sustainable for long term. I feel this last time my rules were a bit to strict and we’re not sustainable. But at the same time don’t wanna be consumed by social media. Gotta find a balance.
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Hi everyone, I did not end up posting my new rules set but I have been using it now since March 1st and it seems to be working great. One thing I did differently is add an award system. As if I do some studying or school work I can then get on my phone. It has greatly cut down my phone usage. I would usually spend about two hours a day just on Reddit alone. Today I have only been on Reddit for 27 Minutes total, so a lot of improvement. I also feel like the rules are not so restrictive that I will fall off the wagon this time.
Rules:
Weekly Subject: I must choose a subject that I will focus in on for that week for productivity time. I may have the same subject many weeks in a row.
*Weekdays (Sun-Thurs): Only 1hour and 10 minutes of social media (Reddit, Twitter, Tik Tok and etc. per day). There is then a separate allocation time for video content also 1 hour and 10 minutes. As a note once I get home from work, I must spend at least an hour on school work (After school is over must be based on the weekly subject) before doing any social media. Note that I may do these things on my work lunch break since I never do homework during that time anyways. But it still counts against my time. *
Friday: 1 hour and 30 minutes of social media and 2 hour of video content. No work needs to be done
Weekend (Saturday-Sunday): 1 hour and 30 minutes of social media and 2 hour of video content. This is only after one hours of doing schoolwork that day (After school is over must be based on weekly subject)
*Additional Rules: *
1. I may not listen to podcasts during schoolwork.
2. If I am sick enough to not got to work, I may ignore the time restrictions for that day.
3. I may break the video time rule for educational videos. However, after each educational video I must write one thing I learned from the video down in notes or paper.
*4. I get two buffet days for each month. If I declare a buffet day, I have no time restrictions for that day. These do not stack from month to month if they aren’t used they disappear. *
*5. There is no limits on the number of podcasts I listen too. *
6. I must use the Forest app to track my time.
7. I may use social media before I get home from work without having focus time. As I don’t have time before work to get that hour in. But once I get home I can not view any more social media or videos until I have completed my focus time.
Punishments:
If I fail I will pay my accountability partner $5.00. If I violate the rule again during the two days after the first failure I must pay my accountability partner another $10.00 and I am reduced to half my normal allocation of fun time for 3 days.
Things have been going great. My screen time has remained low and I have been completing tasks. I have also added in Habtica to reward myself for me keeping with it. I exercised for 40 minutes today. Screen time is below an hour for social and video apps today. I think I have finally found something that works for the long term.
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Wanted to update everyone. I successfully completed the Challenge! I am not going to officially extend the challenge further. However I like the way it has been working so I plan to continue it. I have also started incorporating Habtica to add rewards. I am thinking of slightly reducing screen time limits also to force me to do more to earn more screen time via Habtica. Also on a second note I AM FINALLY DONE WITH UNIVERSITY!!! I have now been offered a promotion at my work place. As I have stated previously in this form the reason I have the current job I have is because of Beeminder. So thank you Beeminder team!
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Congratulations on all counts!!