Someone said something to me yesterday. I was telling him about how poor my work ethic is, and about what a shy, quiet person I am. I was born that way, and it hasn’t been an easy process to change. This guy was several years older than me. He is a real socialite, going to whatever parties he can, meeting with lots of different people on a day to day basis. But he told me he hasn’t been very social until recently. In fact, at my age he was just like I am now with a very closed circle of close friends and not very open to new people.
He told me something along the lines of the following:
“I wish I was the way I am now at your age. I go to all these parties and meet all these people, but my body can’t take it at my age like the way yours could.”
He was basically telling me to suck it up and have a kick ass life now while I can really enjoy it. And he is completely right. While he was talking about my social life and my honest inability to really converse with someone I don’t really know well, it can also apply to my work ethic, too.
The reason I haven’t blogged here as often as I used to was because I have just been lazy. I could lie to you and say I’ve been building new campaigns all day long, that wouldn’t be the full truth. Sure, I but in at least 3-4 hours of work a day, but I know I could do more. What I’ve really been doing is playing Borderlands and Dragon Age, and while they are both great games, they’re time wasters and in the end I don’t get anything productive done from it.
So I’m not really sure what to say other than if you are going to change, change now. If you are going to work hard, work hard now. If you are going to build a kick ass campaign, build it now. If you are gonna do anything productive, do it now. Your future self will thank you.
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I definitely agree that it is best to live out your life while you're young and at 26 I'm trying to enjoy my life as best I can. But take it from me, you don't want to over abuse your youth either.
I took advantage of the fact that I'm young and can probably party better than if I were 36 years old. But just the other week I had a total wake up call. I treated my diet poorly, ate junk food often, snacked on crap like chips and crackers all day, and to top it off I'll work more than 10 hours a day and have no time to exercise.
Well it caught up to me, and I had a small issue with my liver/kidney/gallbladder. Take it from me, definitely enjoy but don't put yourself in a position not to be very healthy and mobile 10 years down the road either. Just because you can smoke or drink all day doesn't mean you should not still moderate. and that is the thing I learned for myself with a serious wake up call. I'm taking much better care of myself hoping that I don't have another catastrophic episode and it is definitely hard to re-train my habits.
Def. good advice.
But who says you need to drink to have a good time! I'm honestly trying to quit… not doing very good at it though.
I don't smoke though. Did for about 2 weeks and then I was just like… wtf am I doing?
"knew people"
whoops
I'm 33 Justin and I don't know if it is the fact that I have 2 chlidrens or that I am "actually" 33 that make me more relax. But I partied a lot before my first child (at 26). And when I mean a lot, it's "a lot"! And for being a super-socialize animal, I guess practicing is the way to go. For myself, I guess I'm still like you but no one of my friends would tell that…perception is different for different people. Reading your blog from time to time I wouldn't expect you to "be" a shy person…
Interesting approach to a work ethic post. I'm doing my best to obtain the "do it now" mentality. It is always tough though. I hope the time you are putting in is paying you back well. I'm shooting and missing lately but i'm working on some new stuff so we will see. Later!
Yah I agree, smoking and drinking isn't necessary to have a good time, but that goes with anything to have a good time, I'm a heavy Cola drinker and can have a great time with Coke products than realize that it was excessive and killing my liver as a result. So even the things that seem harmless can hurt.
But I like living by moderation these days.
[...] think this goes hand in hand with what I said the other day. So I guess I’ll be the copycat and try it out. As long as what I say yes to won’t [...]
heh, if we kick it in thai land I will show you ways to say fuck the fear, and try to live life on the edge of your comfort zone. thats been my life motto my whole life :)
i was always shy, like.. more than normal, up till age 22 or so. 2 years later im pretty much a social butterfly as gay as that sounds. i love girls, i love interacting with people and I have actually gone to the bar sober (gasp) just to test myself and see if i can have a fun time. i Can, granted i do liek drinking too, but.. just push yourself little by little every day and you'll start to see big improvements. whether thats asking a girl out, or if thats too much just say hi to every person you walk by. the more you feel stupid, the more you know what you're doing is working. when you feel that it's 'not you', thats your old self telling you that which is afraid of change. just DOOIEEETT!!!