I rewatched my 2012 TEDx talk for the first time in over 10 years.
“Geek fitness and resetting the game of life.“
My first thought was, “Wow, Steve. Those sideburns are amazing.”
My next thought was, “Striped shirt, jeans and flip flops – what a bold choice!”
Then I was a little more lenient with myself.
I hate being in the spotlight, I hate speaking in public, it makes me feel nauseous every time, and I don’t like being in front of a camera.
However, I have an idea that I think might help people.
So I write, I share my thoughts, and sometimes I force myself onto a stage. For this talk, I had to travel by two buses through the jungle of Ecuador (where I was living at the time) and then take two flights to Atlanta.
I stayed over at my friend Cuppy’s house and decided to stay up all night the night before my talk and rewrite the whole thing. That morning, I practiced my talk in front of his two dogs, then rushed over to Emory University, went all-in on YOLO, and shouted my talk into the universe.
Twelve years later, watching this lecture again, I have some thoughts.
If you want to go on a trip down memory lane Watch the talk on YouTubeAmazingly, it has been viewed over 100,000 times.
What surprised me most when I rewatched it was…
It wasn’t as embarrassing as I thought it would be!
Baby Steve actually had some pretty good ideas and was a decent speaker, especially considering I’d just rewritten my entire talk 12 hours prior and had had zero sleep. Oh, I wish I could be young and innocent again.
This is the slide that made me laugh the most and the one I want to spend the most time looking at.
For most of my early twenties, I spent an unhealthy amount of time playing video games. At the time, I convinced myself that video games were the problem – they were too addictive, too much fun, and that was the reason I wasn’t making much progress in real life.
The reality is a level deeper. It wasn’t just about video games. I just didn’t have much to look forward to in my life. I didn’t like my job (selling construction equipment) and I didn’t have any goals or things to look forward to in my personal life. So I escaped into video games.
Now that I’m older, wiser, and my sideburns are shorter, I have a deeper understanding of human behavior and my own struggles with procrastination and avoidance.
As my friend Nir Eyal wrote in his book: Lack of concentration, If we don’t address the underlying causes of distraction and avoidance, our brains become very good at finding something else to obsess over.
In other words, if you take a step further to think about why you procrastinate or run away from reality (perhaps Therapeutic help) It helps you get out of a rut.
Find something to look forward to (for me, that was turning my life into an adventure video game). Zelda and Everquestt), suddenly video games were a less attractive way to spend my limited free time.
These days I still play video games regularly (just Fallout 4), but now we know much more.
Video games are a big part of my life. probably Because I am avoiding facing the reality of the problems in my life.
Maybe you’re scared to tackle that secret book-shaped project again because you’re worried it won’t be good enough, or maybe you’re avoiding awkward conversations or addressing real issues in your life.
So the solution isn’t to turn off the Playstation, it’s to deal with the problem that I’m actually trying hard to avoid.
Good to know why Instead of blaming it on video games, I put it off.
How is my epic quest progressing?
In my talk I will be talking about the “Epic Quest of Awesome” which I have renamed “The Bucket List”. For the last eight years, this has been my main focus.
You literally earn experience points by completing quests in the real world.
After I did this Exercising around the world And live 14 months of adventure.
He also published a book called Turning Life into a Game. Level up your life. It was published in 2016. I recently reacquired the rights to the book and hope to publish version 2 next year.
(So it’s not currently available for purchase – sorry!).
Twelve years later, life has changed a bit.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter over the past year, you may have noticed a theme. Acceptance and self-compassion.
It changed the way I look at my goals.
I’ve been building Nerd Fitness for over a decade, doing everything I can, exhausting myself in pursuit of the next goal. Each goal led to the next. Every time I slayed a dragon, I had to go find another one.
It became an endless loop of “more, more, more.”
And ultimately, I realized that I had strayed quite far from what truly made me happy.
Over the last few years, I’ve decided to live life a little differently.
Instead of big, dramatically planned long-term goals, I focused on, “How can I have a good day today?”
I was like I’ll never get there.
I still have goals, I still have things I want to achieve in life.
I’m just playing a different game than I was when I was 28. I think this “life is a game” philosophy helped me then, and it makes the game play out even more realistically now.
I think for people who feel like they’re stuck in a rut and are escaping into virtual worlds too much, thinking of life as a video game can be a pretty fun way to get out of that rut.
While this may not work for everyone, I think having something to look forward to, a goal to work towards, and finding ways to make incremental progress helps.
Regarding this,The Geek’s Guide to Success and Happiness” still applies today!
When gamifying life, a little nuance and perspective can go a long way.
Step into the comments section…
I made a risky choice by stepping into the cesspit of the internet.
In the comments section of my videos.
I was surprised to see that 95% of the comments were extremely positive.
there was One The comments gave me a unique opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do.
Prove someone wrong on the internet.
During my talk, I mentioned that I would like to one day deadlift over 400 pounds. I grew up thin and frail and was later diagnosed with spondylolisthesis, a condition in which two of my vertebrae are out of alignment.
For the past 15 years, the deadlift has been my favorite exercise. It’s the movement that makes me feel the strongest and most confident.
I went and found My video from 2018over 6 years of slowly growing and focusing on getting stronger, I achieved a 420 pound deadlift at 172 pound bodyweight, no belts or straps, just a double overhand grip.
And so it was. 12 years later I had to respond and let the person know that I did it.
Honestly, I’m happy to prove the online commenters wrong! Hahahaha
Small and unnecessary? Yes!
Are you satisfied? Very much.
Two buttons: Power and Reset
My talk ended on a much more powerful note than I had anticipated.
The original Nintendo Entertainment System has two buttons: a POWER button and a RESET button.
In the game of life, you can press the power button once: it turns on when you are born, and it turns off when you die.
But there is also an opportunity to hit the reset button: If there are thoughts or identities that no longer serve you, or aspects of your life that aren’t functioning well, it’s okay to hit the reset button.
Even if you failed last time, it’s okay to try again.
Remember, Our knowledge is passed onand we’ll never go back to square one.
Game on, fellow nerds!
-Steve
###
