Well, it's been several days since I've last written up an accountability post. The entire point of these is to keep myself sharply following these items as closely as possible. If I can do this without an accountability list, then I could technically quit - however, I'm not yet at the point of habit.
So let's create a new one for today:
- Stay on my phone for <1 hour
- Exercise
- Stretch
- Meditate
- Draw
- Walk outside
- Get off the internet by 8:00 p.m.
- Go to sleep by 1:00 a.m.
- Watch a TV show or movie with my family
A reasonable list. The weather outside is totally lousy, hence I didn't bother including "search for new glasses" on the list. For a change, bad weather is a legitimate excuse; even my city cancelled a large event for safety reasons. No problem - I can do everything else on my list!
Tomorrow I'm going to have an appointment in the middle of the afternoon, and it's likely that the optical stores will be closed, or close to closing (don't you love the English language?), by the time I'm back from the appointment. No problem... Wednesday it is.
I will say that I already failed one item on my list: staying on the phone for less than an hour. I once again woke up earlier than usual and tried to see whether I could go back to sleep for a little while instead of just getting up and getting on with my day. Not a wise decision, as I ended up on my phone for nearly 3 hours. What a waste of time!
Well, I'm a man of action. Obviously this continues to be a problem despite the fact that I openly acknowledged it in a post a few days ago. A problem requires a solution.
While writing this post, I dug a bit deeper into my phone settings and found a way to restrict when I can use the internet app on my phone. It'll be an extra barrier for me. If an emergency comes about and I need to disable it, then can be done, but for the most part, this should suffice as a barrier to remind me to stop wasting time.
It's funny... there are quite a few aspects of life in which I can (and do) take control easily. However, I seem to lack the self-control to stop wasting time on the internet unless I specifically but barriers in place. I suppose that's an example of addiction.
This is frankly a tough one to break because of the importance and daily use of the internet in our lives. It simply comes down to using it effectively and efficiently, and not losing too much time on it. A little bit of time wasting is acceptable - it's called moderation. That's not what I was doing.
By instituting these restrictions upon myself, I hope to establish better habits over time so that I can naturally tell myself "no" without having to use them.
To a small degree, it has worked: I've been able to get myself off the internet earlier than my timers multiple times over the past week and a half. I did go over the time limit a couple of times when I lifted the restrictions temporarily, so I still have work to do - but it's a positive change thus far.
Let's see if I can keep working my way to break these bad habits. It's never too late to make positive changes!