Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - ? Sony Play Station 3 for Personal Development

toasterwater · 10-29-2009, 12:55 PM

I doubt many people here will tell you not to play games, and for good reason. It's admirable to strive for enlightenment, and productivity. An important part of that is to enjoy life.

I recently quit playing video games. While I enjoy playing them, I tend to go overboard. Up until about a month and a half ago I was spending MANY hours per day playing a particular game and was in fact neglecting other, more important aspects of my life. In this extreme example, it is obvious that that was a bad thing.

While part of me misses playing that game (it was fun), the other part of me is very much enjoying the things I do in it's absence. I've found that in addition to spending more adequate amounts of time studying, being clean and organized and social, and even pursuing my hobby playing the guitar (and quite enjoying all of these things), I actually find it very -if not entertaining, at least very rewarding- focusing on personal development.

So to extract something useful for your personal situation, I would advise that if you honestly question whether you *should* be playing that game, consider the following. Think about your life, and the things you do/have done/have thought about doing/would like to do. Now spend some time and try very honestly to decide on a thing or a few things that you enjoy... maybe more than other things. You may come up with any variety of things here whether it's socializing, playing games or sports, solving problems, cooking, studying, painting, etc (the list goes on infinitely in general, but very specifically for you). When you come up with something (or most likely several things) that you enjoy about life, you can start to manifest some sort of goals for yourself. These goals may just be to do those things that you love. They may or may not involve getting better and/or more involved in those things. Try to keep in mind the importance of enjoying (or at least getting a rewarding/accomplished feeling from doing) the things you do during your life. You really do only live once, and for a finite (and unknown) amount of time. Now take a broad look at your life and decide if playing PS3 is important enough for you to spend some amount of time with it.

It's very possible that you enjoy playing it, and theres nothing wrong with that. HAVE FUN! If you really have a feeling of wasted time afterward, maybe consider trying something else.

Either way... Good luck!

10-29-2009, 12:55 PM	#4 (permalink)
toasterwater Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: San Diego, California Posts: 247	I doubt many people here will tell you not to play games, and for good reason. It's admirable to strive for enlightenment, and productivity. An important part of that is to enjoy life. I recently quit playing video games. While I enjoy playing them, I tend to go overboard. Up until about a month and a half ago I was spending MANY hours per day playing a particular game and was in fact neglecting other, more important aspects of my life. In this extreme example, it is obvious that that was a bad thing. While part of me misses playing that game (it was fun), the other part of me is very much enjoying the things I do in it's absence. I've found that in addition to spending more adequate amounts of time studying, being clean and organized and social, and even pursuing my hobby playing the guitar (and quite enjoying all of these things), I actually find it very -if not entertaining, at least very rewarding- focusing on personal development. So to extract something useful for your personal situation, I would advise that if you honestly question whether you should be playing that game, consider the following. Think about your life, and the things you do/have done/have thought about doing/would like to do. Now spend some time and try very honestly to decide on a thing or a few things that you enjoy... maybe more than other things. You may come up with any variety of things here whether it's socializing, playing games or sports, solving problems, cooking, studying, painting, etc (the list goes on infinitely in general, but very specifically for you). When you come up with something (or most likely several things) that you enjoy about life, you can start to manifest some sort of goals for yourself. These goals may just be to do those things that you love. They may or may not involve getting better and/or more involved in those things. Try to keep in mind the importance of enjoying (or at least getting a rewarding/accomplished feeling from doing) the things you do during your life. You really do only live once, and for a finite (and unknown) amount of time. Now take a broad look at your life and decide if playing PS3 is important enough for you to spend some amount of time with it. It's very possible that you enjoy playing it, and theres nothing wrong with that. HAVE FUN! If you really have a feeling of wasted time afterward, maybe consider trying something else. Either way... Good luck!