How To Balance Adulting With Nerd-ing
Adulting is hard. We all know that, but it's harder still with so much incredible content being thrown at us 24/7. This happens in all walks of life and interests. Between social media, browsing the interwebs, or watching TV, there is a constant influx of content for us to try to fit into a finite amount of time. Let's dive into the wonderful world of self help and time management. Here are some tips for keeping up.
Skyrim quest log, made by dexmachina of Skyrim Nexus,
Make a Content Schedule:
- I know I personally can barely keep up with what shows air when. For example, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones air every Sunday night... annnnd that's about it. Keep a general weekly schedule for when your favorite shows are released to watch live or on demand the following day. This can be done for TV as well as Podcasts. You can even use your handy smart phone or device to set reminders or recurring events in your calendar.
Set Time Limits:
- I can get lost in a deep RPG for hours and not even realize it. Some games like Fallout, Skyrim, or the Witcher are easy to sink 100+ hours into without blinking. It's unfortunate that I have to be my own parent but isn't that the definition of adulting?? Set a timer or alarm on your phone. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to get off your couch, but maybe it means to get to that backlog of episodes you've been putting off.
Make An Interest Hierarchy:
- Prioritize your interests in a scaled order of operation. Let's be honest, I'm going to take a week off when Red Dead Redemption 2 comes out and that will encompass the top fourteen spots on my list of priorities, but at least I know how I've decided to alot my time. If you're in a relationship and you know that there is a game coming out that you're planning on obsessing over for a while, give your partner plenty of warning ahead of time so they can prepare for the shock and neglect.
Set goals:
- Sometimes the quickest way to get through the next piece of content is to finish what you're currently consumed by! Set a goal for when you want to have a game or series finished. This can be challenging with certain games when you don't fully understand the scope, but for those sprawling open world games, you'll have to go back to setting time limits. If you're a member of Xbox Gold or Playstation Plus, either put aside some of those free games until you've finished the bigger AAA titles, or inversely, you could hold off on juggling all those Skyrim side quests for your twentieth play through and knock out some shorter indie titles for a quicker sense of accomplishment.
Balancing "real life" and our fantasy worlds can be a difficult task. This is why a majority of my interests take place in far less mundane world than the real one we actually occupy. Between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and all of the network stations, it's nearly impossible to keep up with it all. The good news is, everything can be streamed at our own comfortable pace. So if you want to watch nothing but four, one hour long episodes of Critical Role with a sprinkling of PUBG for months, more power to you. That other content you put off will be available once you want to get back to it. Just remember to hop out of your fantasy world long enough to maintain your real world and you'll be alright.
Let us know if you have any helpful ways of balancing the massive amounts of content thrown at us everyday!