Like many of you, my life is video games.
Yet — like many of you — my life cannot only be about games and nothing else.
I have a family, a fulltime job, bills, those that depend on me to show up and work hard. I simply cannot be on the PlayStation 24/7, pouring my time into my favorite hobby right after work.
My life does not work that way.
This year, I’ve endured many attempts at changing my sleep schedule to fit around playing games every day.
My weekdays are slammed with responsibilities and life, and my weekends are mostly open, so long as I’m not spending time with friends and family, or working the weekend shift.
More often than not, my week day is so busy that it’s hard for me to do anything that isn’t working or sleeping.
Even checking my phone is a risk. A 30-minute break is never enough.
It’s a constant go, go, go.
My ultimate goal is to maximize my gaming time every day while balancing work and life.
I’ve tested many different schedules this year, one of them being a biphasic sleep schedule, where I would stay awake until 3 AM, go to work at 6:30 AM, and then come home and crash for three hours immediately after work.
While I was getting a perfect six hours of sleep split up at different times of day, it was affecting more important things in my life.
I realized that a three-hour nap after work to catch up on sleep wasn’t going to work at all.
I had to make a change.
Recently, I tried going to bed around 9 PM and waking up around 3–4 AM, but I am just unable to force myself to get up and stay up literally all day throughout my work day and personal at-home life without feeling completely exhausted.
Waking up is much harder for me than staying up late.
It’s easier to stay up late playing the game while the house is quiet and I am at peace. It leads to better sleep and more motivation to follow my passion.
My issue at the moment is finding the perfect balance between work, life, video games, and sleep during the standard M-F work week…
Why don’t I wait to play video games on the weekends if I have more time then?
Simply put, I don’t want to spend 6 days of my life on responsibilities only to possibly have less than one full day to myself.
My me time is important to me, and waiting for the weekend to live my life isn’t living at all in my opinion.
Even if it’s just for two hours at the end of a long day, it’s still better than nothing at all.
You can make a ton of progress in a game with a consistent two hours a day!
But when I end up going to bed without playing at all, it makes me feel like a failure or a fraud.
I talk about my passion all day just to sleep instead?
It makes me feel weak!
My goal is to make consistent progress in my backlog and personal game goals with the best possible schedule I can create.
Daily consistency is key!
I’ve found lots of ways that simply don’t work for me through trial-and-error.
Tonight, I’ll be attempting to stay up late with a new schedule, netting around 6 hours of sleep and 3 hours of gaming.
If it works, it works.
If it doesn’t, it will be back to the drawing board for yet another attempt to salvage whatever is left of my day before it’s back to work once again.
Here’s the plan:
6 AM — Wake Up
6:30 AM — Work
3:30 PM — End work
4 PM — Daily life and responsibilities
10 PM — Game
1 AM — Bed time
I have yet to test this method for a consistent week, but I am excited to experiment and record my data.
I go by how I feel and how consistent I can be.
Well, let’s hope all goes well!
The goal is longevity, following my passion and to continue gaming each day.
Giving my life away to a corporation for 8 hours but no hours to myself is a waste of life.
If I continue without my hobbies, then I am as good as dead.
I truly will be a failure.
Thank you for reading my blog today.
If you’re a gamer, what is your daily schedule like? How do you stay consistent?
