Don't get Distracted

[Sayonil Mitra]

First of all, I am sorry for not being as active as I thought I should be on this forum. I will try to be more consistent.
OK, now to the topic.
So the situation I am in right now is this:
I want to have a career in music, especially as a guitarist or a youtube guitarist (whichever I can accomplish first). Now the process is becoming a little bit difficult for me because my family members are pushing me to go to computer science and business etc etc. But still I am pushing as much as I can.
I thought I was focused, I was determined to do what it takes until….
I got Fortnite.
(Okay, for those who do not know, this a game that is the rage right now.)
I got so addicted that I became completely stupid. Since i love gaming since childhood, that addiction almost convinced me to leave everything and become a twitch streamer who slays it on fortnite.
yesterday, i sat down and thought hard. What was going on? What exactly I wanted? What exactly do i love?
I tried to think at what it takes to be a good gamer plus a successful twitch streamer. I tried to think what it takes to be a successful guitarist.
This is what I got.
I still wanted to be a guitarist who people like to listen to. I love gaming but that is just a timepass, nothing compared to a true passion.
And the fact that i get easily distracted from my own goals plus the constant discouragement from my family made me lose my mind. I left practising guitar for days. Big mistake.
I am writing this because if anyone out there who easily loses focus and gets discouraged reads this, it might help.
Do not lose focus. If you see yourself changing focus from one thing to another, ask yourself this.
What is that you want to be AND how badly you want that to happen? Think and you will find your true answer.
In general, if you face any big confusion about what you want to become, its smart to think strategically. Look at the most successful people in the professions you want to excel in. See what they did to reach that level, what pains did they go through and ask yourself, for what you are going to accept that much pain, sacrifice. For what you are going to dedicate yourself? maybe you will find the right answer.
( I hope it all made sense)

 

[Calvin Phillips]

I went back and forth too.. hard to juggle hobbies. But I’ll tell you this.. dont aim to get famous through streaming.. the people who get famous there are only really famous for their looks.. and not really the product they are displaying.. ala the music.
I put a cap on gaming. I also make sure I leave 1 day open for guitar. Just 1 day is really all you need to keep going.

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

Agreed brother. I have also started capping my gaming habits.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I think this is one of the most truthful posts I have ever seen. Especially the family part. Family is honestly what ruined me for 6 years. When I moved back from Los Angeles, I was stricken with tribal syndrome and none of my family wanted anything to do with me. That was unless I actually got a normal job and went to college. I can’t even begin to tell you the pressure I was under to try to make them happy. In the long run the only person that matters is us and no one else. I too basically wasted 6 years of my life not knowing what to do. So I relate to this post very very much. Your gaming addiction became my fashion addiction and my baking addiction. It’s something that we can easily get distracted with because we feel discouraged with our true Passion. I am so glad to see you back on here and that you came to this realization because I absolutely love your guitar playing. We can always still have side hobbies. And I think it’s healthy to have side hobbies. And you don’t need to let go of your gaming completely. But realize what you want to do for your money and what you want to do for a hobby. Much luck to you man! This post hit home on so many ways!

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. For me it was when I hit a hard wall in my playing. I just got discouraged and played less and less. I completely stopped playing for a year. I’m not 100% sad about it though, as I was able to get rid of some bad habits I had.
What I do now is schedule my evenings. I get home from work, cook dinner, chat with the wife. Whatever time I have left between then and my scheduled practice time I use as free time to game, watch TV, whatever. Then, practice. After practice I keep some time to cool off before hitting the sack.
The only days I don’t practice are when I have a rehearsal with my band, or I have a guitar lesson, since I’m playing anyways.
Just need to find what works for you. For me it was a rock solid schedule.

 

[Richard O'connor]

for me, i’ve never left the guitar in 22 years. The only thing that distracts me, and its utterly ridiculous is youtube lol. I struggle to keep to any sort of practise routine. If Im on youtube to learn something, you can guarantee 1 hour later i’m either down some silly rabbit hole or learning something completely different. The only thing I do get discouraged by is songwriting. When the well is dry and no ideas are coming, it gets super difficult to keep it up, I even wonder why i’m doing it as i’m not in a band at the moment. But like you I have to sit down and assess what and why i’m doing it from time to time, and in the end I just find I do it for the love of it, and maybe in the not so distant future i’ll get a band together and it wont all be for nothing.
Keep up the hard work Sayonil, it wont be for nothing, you never know whats round the corner.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

I know what you mean, I started playing fortnite the day it came out and in just a couple of months I had over 100 hours of gameplay on it and I told myself: “I have to stop, this is too addicting.” and I did stop. It was for the better, yeah fortnite is very fun to play but you don’t gain anything from it, you just waste your time (unless you are completely sure yoou want to be a gamer or a streamer). I had the same addiction with WoW and I had over 70days of gameplay in just a year and again I told myself i have to stop because i don’t gain anything from in on the real world. When i stopped I replaced my gaming hours with music and i actually started acomplishing something. You just need to have control over yourself and not let yourself waste time on things that you know don’t matter.

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

It feels so good to see that you guys faced this to various extent and overcame those. Now I am back to my grind. The support I get from here is precious.
Jak, family man. They are your one of the biggest strengths and one of the biggest weaknesses at the same time. But we can push through this.