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“Work” Images – Unsplash.com
Introduction
Working is boring. Working sucks.
That’s exactly what I used to say over a year ago. Working was boring, and if I spent my free time working, it was time wasted. Now, time spent not working, is time wasted.
A lot of people will tell you to invest your time in something productive. Forget watching movies, scrolling on your phone, calling until 2AM, and any other things that won’t actually make anything of the time that’s currently at your disposal. And, they could not be more right. If you’re above the age of 14, and are still wasting your time everyday on stuff that won’t benefit your future in 5 years time, you’re wasting your time.
In essence, if you’re in high school, you want to avoid distractions at all costs. No matter what grade you’re in, freshman, sophomore, you name it; if you’re in high school currently, you should be investing as many hours as possible into a better future for yourself and your family.
But, as we mentioned earlier, working is boring. I’d much rather spend it doing something enjoyable, even if it’s simple; like going outside or practicing my football dribbling skills, or whatever.
Let’s fix that.
My Story
Around 3 years ago, I was the type of person that spent his hours calling his friends on the phone, asking if they wanted to play anything. We played anything we could, day to night, usually it being Fortnite; since it was the only game we could all play since it was available on every device and console (alongside Roblox).
So that was my life during quarantine and pretty much before I really grasped the idea of ever doing anything with my life.
It was around 2 years ago that I decided that I wanted to do something with my free time. I didn’t want to do anything that was overly complicated, but complicated enough that it would mean something to me in a few years from now, and simple enough that I had enough motivation to go after. That was coding.
I’ve told this story once, or twice, and -I believe- every time I’ve told it, I mentioned how valuable it was for me in the long-run. It all started when I decided that for a specific summer, I wanted to make a game and learn how to develop a full-blown game from scratch.
Sure, I spent months “coding”, when all I really did was watch tutorials, copy other people’s code, and say that “I knew how to code” – when the reality was that I had no clue what I was doing. However, it brought me into the world of code, software engineering, and computer science. It was because of that step that I took that I decided to learn (for real this time) coding altogether, actually taking it serious with learning languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Swift, and a few more.
And here I am now. Better than ever.
How I Made Working Fun
As you read from the section above, I was successful in learning code because I took the first step, but most importantly because I pursued something that sparked my interest. I took the direction of game development, because for months, I had wanted to build a game.
Even if it sucked, I wanted to build something – build a game that had my name on it, with the credit given towards me. It was during that time that I spent hours every day on the computer, watching tutorials, and slowly building my game; and then another game, followed by another game.
Yeah, I made three games in a single summer. They sucked, and were unplayable, but there were something. They were something to prove that I spent my time at least making something of it.
My familiarity with the consistent working hours, consistent struggle, extended hours spent working, and free time invested in working gave me what I needed to push through the following school year seemingly easier than the last, with more motivation, and with a change of character. I was the same exact person walking in that year, but a very different one walking out.
I was happier than ever, and more fulfilled to work than ever. And the biggest change of all, I loved working. And no, not working on only tasks that interested me, but on anything that made me feel productive, even if was a complete waste of time and a drainage of my mental capacity.
Essentially, my productivity state and level of focus was so good that it was actually not benefiting me anymore. I worked just because I felt like it. So yes, some things, even really good things, should be done in moderation.
My Biggest Takeaway
Work hard and long enough that you get the output that you want, not beyond the point until your input isn’t yielding the proper output that you believe you should deserve. Don’t work 12 hour days just because you think that more hours equals more output. No, no, no, that’s not how this works. More input does not equal more output.
The reason why there’s people that can work 4 hour days, and get paid more than triple the average salary in even the wealthiest countries is because their input drives them higher output. They work less, and put in noticeably less effort, but enough effort for them to make so much of the time they give.
Of course, there are a majority of parameters to the formula of high ROI work. However, beginners are some of the few people that can take advantage of it. This is a concept we’ll cover in another post.
How Did I Make Working More Enjoyable Than My Phone?
All those hacks you see online of setting reminders, breaking up tasks into chunks, cleaning your digital workspace, eating healthier, and sleeping more all work. They do. Sleep is the biggest game-changer.
But don’t let this fool you. I ate like trash, my diet sucked, my sleep could’ve been arguably better, and I definitely wasn’t organized for the life of me, yet my results were through the roof.
The Formula
Why? That’s because I did something no one else did. I trained my mind, almost the same fashion as most machine learning robot models, to repeat the same task again and again. I refused to be lazy on even the most lazy and low-worth tasks, reframing my mind to understand that if I didn’t prioritize this now, my future-self would never be able to forgive my current-self.
Ultimately, I did work, did research, googled too much, put 300% of my effort on a task that the rest of my class wouldn’t even put 50% of their effort on. I “try-harded” on every task given to me. I refused to give up, refused to feel like a failure, and refused to let my future-self down, focusing every ounce of my attention towards my work. If the work I gave back to even my harshest professors was 95%, I failed and didn’t try hard enough.
I spent extra hours every night studying. And even as the end of the year was approaching, and as I gradually got lazier, I didn’t stop equaling the level of effort I originally put in months prior. I started to calm down, focus my attention on bigger and better things other than work, worked hard on the harder tasks, relaxed on the lighter tasks, and better mastered the ability of my long-term memory, familiarity, subject comfortability, and a wide range of other psychological concepts (that I didn’t even know I mastered, just did).
In the end, I came up with the formula:
Time invested + Psychological Familiarity + Mental Storage & Mastery / 2 = Output score
How You Can Make Working Fun
What I did was extreme, and if I’m being completely transparent, I have never been able to return to that old routine. I simply am not the same person. I still do love working, and love focusing my attention on productive habits and activities, rather than undeserved relaxation with no good output. But, if I’m working on something that I don’t like doing, I don’t enjoy it. If it sucks, it sucks. Conversation is over.
But you can still follow the same technique I did. Stop being lazy, stop going easy on yourself. The reason you can’t get back up is because you think life is supposed to be some step-by-step journey to happiness and success. Guess what? It’s not.
I started working, and making something of my life while I was still in high school because I knew the long-term value of it. Reframe your mind to imagine the future, to visualize the future, and to understand the difference between short and long-term value. You fail at successfully doing that, and that’s why you’re unable to progress.
Expand your mind from it’s confined state, and let it sprout. Let it grow. Literally.
“Plant” Images – Unsplash.com
Conclusion
Life is about input and output. What can you do today, that creates a better tomorrow, a better next week, a better next year, or even a better new year? What haven’t you done and aren’t you doing that’s making good use of your time? Think through this, and answer it. Life is good, and working is a part of it.
