Finding the time, motivation, and energy

[KCAnathas]

Hey there fellow Rebels. Feels kinda awkward yet to consider you my fellows. I'm tired of my status quo. I need to step up my life. I'm just starting on this gaming lifestyle this week.

Not that I'm new to trying to improve my life. Earlier this year I joined the under armor YVSTY challenge. I was going pretty good, although my goal was not the 1,000k. However I hit a setback when my knee was injured from pushing too hard, too fast. Now I know that I needed my challenge to be more diverse. I was so concentrated on the one goal, that I wasn't able to adapt when my body wasn't letting me continue. I recently hit a relative low patch in my life. I've been grasping for anything to pull me up, but not having anything set myself in motion. I made a decision this week to start reading Level Up Your Life, and think this may be the first day of the rest of my life.

I'm a father of 4. @3, 5, 7, 9. Married 10 years now. Been at my job for going on 10 years now. Between home life and work, I really feel like I'm in a rut. Heck, it's deeper than a rut. It feels like the damn Mariana Trench some days. I'm stuck in my job, and responsibilities have me buried so deep that I don't feel like I have time to do anything that makes me happy.

I had the hardest time picking an alter ego name. Ultimately I went with KCAnathas. KC, cause that's me, and an-áthas, which is Irish for very happy (not that I speak Irish, but Google says so, so it must be, right?...)

Quest 1: Create a NF / LUYL character, back story, and initial quests. (Sorta check... I really have a problem coming up with my back story. I guess that's why I'm writing this post like this instead of just the "hi my name is" post.)

Quest 2: Introduce myself. (Check. Glad to be here. I'd really like to get to know and follow the community. You all seem awesome!)

KCAnathas

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[Tyrgal]

Welcome KC

 

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I'm a father of 4. @3, 5, 7, 9. Married 10 years now. Been at my job for going on 10 years now. Between home life and work, I really feel like I'm in a rut. Heck, it's deeper than a rut. It feels like the damn Mariana Trench some days. I'm stuck in my job, and responsibilities have me buried so deep that I don't feel like I have time to do anything that makes me happy.

boy, I can imagine four underage kids can keep one busy a lot. Put a job on top and that's a whole lot to do. Hit me up if you're looking for some input on how to free up more time. Jobwise I helped a few people in the past to negotiate better working conditions. There are also a few good books on time management and self-leadership I could recommend that also give advice for family fathers/mothers.

 

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I really have a problem coming up with my back story

Yeah that can be a bit difficult. I found it helpful to start with considering whether one has a setting one's find especially inspiring (marvel comics, anime/mange, a particular pc game series, a fantasy book novel universe,...) and perhaps build your character and the backstory from there. That's just me, coming up with something entirely original can be fun too, though.

 

Looking forward to seeing you fight and succeed!  

[KCAnathas]

Thank you. I think some book suggestions would be great. I spend roughly 2.5 hours driving in my car every day. I typically listen to audiobooks. Usually just some sci-fi or fantasy. Maybe I should change it up a little.

I started listening to Level Up Your Life, and I think the only frustrating thing is not being able to write down all the thoughts I have while listening and driving.

Job wise, I probably have no good reason to complain, other than my heart just isn't into it recently. I just feel stuck. There's no challenge from day to day anymore.

Anyway, I'm going to try to have my back story done by the end of the week. It's hard when I only get a few minutes a day to really sit down and write something. I try to periodically check the forum to see what's new, but its still a little overwhelming.

(insert catch phrase here...)

KCAnathas

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Tyrgal]

10 hours ago, KCAnathas said:

Thank you. I think some book suggestions would be great. I spend roughly 2.5 hours driving in my car every day. I typically listen to audiobooks. Usually just some sci-fi or fantasy. Maybe I should change it up a little.

I usually go with specialized books on my way to work and with fantasy books on my way back home. I think you may like "The 7 habits of highly effective people" by Steven R. Covey. It's a book on personal change and covers things like time management, priorization and many lessons that can be applied both to business and family contexts. Since you seem in the need to be effective in the time you have, it might be quite helpful

Specialized books like these also have the advantage that, if one listens to them on the way to work, one usually finds new things one can do different in the work place (like communication, leadership behavior, time management,...).

 

 

10 hours ago, KCAnathas said:

I started listening to Level Up Your Life, and I think the only frustrating thing is not being able to write down all the thoughts I have while listening and driving.

Job wise, I probably have no good reason to complain, other than my heart just isn't into it recently. I just feel stuck. There's no challenge from day to day anymore.

It's perfectly understandable to want to have challenges at work as they also represent opportunities to learn and grow! A friend of mine was in something like that, too before he volunteered to prepare and run an introductory workshop for a new software his company wanted to use. He loved that very much as he found out that he liked to teach other people (something very different from his daily job duties). I find that fields like mentoring, teaching, training, or taking on special projects is something especially more experienced people find meaning and joy in and managers are often quite happy to have people who show initiative and can take some load off them. But yeah, depending on one's boss it isn't quite always that easy.

 

 

[Huldra]

Hi you! Sounds like you have your hands full, with all that driving, full job and 4 young kids! Audio books are a great way to be productive even when you are driving, and for note taking, have you considered the Voice Recorder app you probably have on your phone? Just don't implement anything that will make you a road hazard, please...!!  

 

Motivation can be a serious struggle for the best of us. I have found that when my motivation hits rock bottom, it helps to look it straight in the eye, rather than to try and sweep it under the rug. Figure out why you arwhere you are and if changing only one direction can help you in other areas as well. And it sounds like you are already making that one change. By being here - with us! And you have already received some awesome tips from Tyrgal

 

 

[Bookish Badger]

Welcome, and good luck on your journey!