They say..

Gaming is bad for you.

Gaming is a waste of time.

Gaming is a poor persons addiction.

Gaming will rob you of your social life.

Gaming is a waste of money.

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And need I go on??

Well first lets start with what I believe to be true.

So first of all is gaming a waste of time? well it depends.

If I asked you how long do you play games for on a daily basis? If you answered a few hours per day then that's fine as it seems like you have control over the situation. However if you had answered I spend all day on games then this might become a problem.

Talking from experience I was once that teenager | young adult who had a gaming addiction but how?

So I would wake up grab some breakfast and a coffee and go straight on the PlayStation to play zombies and I would be on there from 09:00am until 18:00 pm to come off for food, a spliff and a can of monster then back on the PlayStation until early hours of the morning.

The saddest thing was that was my life for years until I had fallen for a woman and fell in love with her kids and 9 and a half years later we are still together.

I mean this is hard to believe as I was an active child, I was always going running with my brother, was doing martial arts then things took a turn for the worst problems in my family life, friends I thought I had threw me under the buss, Had a fighting reputation, a drinking problem and soon enough everything just became too much so I went into myself, became a shell and to me my online zombies friends were the only true friends I had.

This was bad because In reality I had no social life, I had no job, no money, no real friends, no ambition no drive - nothing.

So I needed to change if I really want my relationship to work and if I'm going to commit to the family life then I need, I must find a way to change things.

So I started my self development journey and I came to realise that I really do enjoy playing games from having a fight on Street Fighter, getting spooked playing Silent Hill and other horror games and even just playing the Witcher 3 and admiring the beautiful colours and the atmosphere.

So cutting gaming out of my life was not going to happen so I thought.

Id play zombies at the weekend from 11:00pm until 3:00am so my and my friend would bust up zombies through the night then money problems happened so I could no longer afford PlayStation Plus so new thought.

what if I can enjoy playing these games and share with others my passion and help others see what I see.

So I created a gaming channel on YouTube @gflowe1567 and I started uploading gaming clips and reaction videos I haven't uploaded for a while because self development took me to learning parkour and body flow mastery.

Aside from that I thought ok what if I had set myself weekly targets and If I meet those targets I can then gift myself time on the computer to play games and that seemed like the best idea I had thought of as this will contribute to my drive - my willpower to meet my targets, then I would be able to play guilt free.

This worked! So now I'm in a state of mind where I no longer feel I need to play a game rather a few times over the couple of weeks I may play games by myself and other times I get to play games with my family, and being a dad who plays computer games with his kids is so awesome!

So my point is that so long as you manage your gaming time and do not neglect your daily duties like family, partner, Job, your own personal development then you should be able to play games guilt free.

Now I also know that tech is moving so fast and in this day and age some peoples jobs are to play games and create gaming videos and stream games and with and a work from home job you need to remember to look after yourself and keep to your own targets.

If you are a Freelancer or you work from hope then it is important to have your own routine Here are some notes.

As a freelancer, you have the freedom to choose your own hours, but you also need to be disciplined and productive. Here are some tips to help you plan your freelance work week effectively:

• Jot down specific goals each week. Productivity starts with the right planning. At the beginning of each week, write down your goals
• 1. What do you want to achieve? How much time do you need to spend on each project? How will you measure your progress?
• Create an overview of your long-term projects. Break down bigger projects into weekly to-dos, keeping the 20 hours/week rule in mind
• 2. Use time tracking tools to estimate how much time each of the planned client tasks takes or add indications2.
• Address freelance FOMO. Freelance FOMO is the fear of missing out on opportunities or being left behind by others. To avoid this, focus on your own priorities and quality of work, not on the number of projects or clients
• Balance your work and life. Freelancing can be rewarding, but it can also be stressful and isolating. To maintain a healthy work-life balance, make sure you have some time for yourself and your loved ones. You can also use tools like Xolo or Upwork3 to manage your freelance tasks and communicate with your clients more efficiently.

I hope these tips help you create an optimal work schedule as a freelancer.

There is also more I would like to say on the matter.

Being a gamer means that when you play games you are always going to need to inspect, research, practice, finding solutions, level up, save, try harder game modes.

Now what if we could put these practices in real life?

We can! let me show you.

Inspect - Inspect your challenges and your moods be at work, school, family, self development

Research - Research how to overcome the challenges, how to change your moods,

Practice - Practice overcoming your challenges, fears, exercise, work, self development

Finding Solutions - finding solutions to your problems be at work, school, family, self development, fitness.

Level Up - Level Up in where your at to where you need to be

Save - Document your process being on a notepad or a diary

Try Harder - Try harder in everything you do.

Simple games concepts can be applied to our lives.

Think levelling up like in a game you have to level up to fight a boss and get the trophy and that's the same in changing jobs as you have to level up in order to increase your value to be able to change job roles, beat the boss as they say the interviews and then get the reward the higher pay check or freedom.

The answer to its a waste of money will depend on how much you spend on gaming and why?

If this is because of your job and you need the right equipment and the latest games to keep fans happy then I suppose this is justified and as for a lot of the things you have in your home office you can claim tax back on.

If you are an average Joe | Tracy that needs to spend money on Xbox Game pass, or PlayStation Plus in order to play certain games or with your friends then again its justified as times have indeed changed and you have to pay to play online, its not much different then a business paying for adobe and they are not cheap.

Most of the things you have or subscribe to cost money, the person that tells you gaming is a waste of money and most likely the ones who have a paid subscription on Spotify.

However if you are the type of person who needs to buy the newest in game items or skins it may not be too much to start but these prices and payments do add up, if you have your finances in order and the money you spend in game is the same money you would use to get yourself a takeaway or a coffee this is what we call spare money and that's fine.

However if you do not have any money saved and you are buying in game items just because then it might be worth rethinking it.

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Gaming can improve ones mental state and help you carry the gaming principles to your everyday life and it can also work against you so you have to be able to control it and assess the situations.