Practice #2 - Trick to Fix a YouTube Addiction

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 I'm currently dealing with an addiction with YouTube. 2 00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:06,100 Let me talk about it. 3 00:00:06,100 --> 00:00:10,940 So over a couple months ago, before last summer, 4 00:00:10,940 --> 00:00:14,720 so it was probably maybe six months ago, 5 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,680 I really started to reduce my screen. 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,480 And honestly, it was probably even earlier than that, 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:23,920 probably a year ago even, 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,280 but I really started to reduce my screen time. 9 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,520 And over time, I would make different changes. 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,320 And it got to the point where over summer, 11 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:35,920 I was just not on my phone or my computer at all 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,680 for a couple weeks straight and maybe even months. 13 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,880 And then once I started getting into posting on YouTube 14 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,480 and posting on a podcast, 15 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,120 for some reason I just kind of got back into YouTube. 16 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:54,000 I kind of allowed myself to rationalize 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,160 that it was a good thing that I was actually learning from it, 18 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:01,040 which is kind of weird because I know that it's not good. 19 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,760 And I actually heard that Alex Formosi talk about, 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,440 it's funny because I heard him talk about this on YouTube, 21 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,080 but I heard him say that, 22 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,560 I heard him say that we tend to forget 23 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:18,480 the negative side of things, but we remember the reward. 24 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,120 So the example he gave was, 25 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:27,120 let's say you were in an abusive relationship. 26 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,080 After a couple years of being out of it, 27 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,480 you people remember the reward, 28 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:34,800 but they forget the punishment. 29 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,440 So they kind of crave that relationship again. 30 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,680 And then once they get back into the relationship, 31 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,800 then they realize and they remember all the punishment 32 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,120 that came with it. 33 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,200 And they don't want to deal with that anymore. 34 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,000 And so I feel like that was the same thing with YouTube, 35 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,320 where I forgot about it. 36 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:02,320 Like us as humans tend to remember the reward, 37 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,200 but forget the punishment. 38 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,000 So I forgot about the punishment, 39 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,480 but I remember the reward. 40 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,160 I remember that I learned a lot of information, 41 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,200 whether it was actually practical or not, 42 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,000 it didn't really matter at the time of my rationale. 43 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,200 And so I learned a lot of information. 44 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,360 And what I ended up doing was I slowly, 45 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,240 but surely started kind of peeking at YouTube. 46 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,240 I like loaded up the webpage just to see what was on my 47 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,120 for you or the home page, the recommended page. 48 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,200 And then I would check to see if there was a good video 49 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,640 or not, and then I would watch it. 50 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:46,480 And so surely I started watching more and more and more, 51 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,640 and then I started scrolling more and more. 52 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:52,480 And then I realized I was a conscious 53 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,080 that I was like still watching YouTube 54 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,120 and it was not good for me, 55 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,480 but I was still choosing to watch it. 56 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,920 And then I saw this video that really stuck to me. 57 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:04,360 And it was just called, 58 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,360 Why You Go Searched YouTube for Answers to Your Problems, 59 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:11,160 or something like that. 60 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,880 And then in that video, he was just talking about 61 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,720 how people tend to get information. 62 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,200 They tend to go get their information on YouTube 63 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:22,680 for answers to their problems. 64 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,720 And they tend to go to the, 65 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,920 or they tend to watch like maybe 10, 20 videos 66 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:31,760 on that same topic. 67 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,520 And so me watching that video at the end, 68 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,960 he just said the solution is to just cut out YouTube 69 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,120 and go on a content fast. 70 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,080 And I realized I knew at that time, 71 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:46,800 I knew that that's what I had to do. 72 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,160 So I bookmarked that video, 73 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,160 just because I wanted to be reminded 74 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,720 of the decision that I made. 75 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,400 And then I also had like another video lined up 76 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:01,280 because the way I watch YouTube is I click a few, 77 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,800 I click a few thumbnails, 78 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,000 or I click a few videos and open them in new tabs. 79 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,040 So I have maybe like five or six videos lined up 80 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,040 and I just watch them in order. 81 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,600 And I had one or two videos lined up 82 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,040 after the video I just watched, 83 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:19,720 but I decided not to watch them 84 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:21,480 because I made a new decision. 85 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,560 And the decision is I don't watch YouTube. 86 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,080 I am someone who does not watch YouTube. 87 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:31,840 And I realized that I needed one to change my identity, 88 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:32,920 which I did right away. 89 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,560 I was, I just immediately welcomed my new identity, 90 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:38,520 which was actually a returning identity, 91 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:40,160 because like I said over summer, 92 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,120 I was not really watching any YouTube. 93 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,280 And that's because I had the identity, 94 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:47,240 people would ask like, oh, did you see this video? 95 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,240 No, I would always say, no, I don't watch YouTube. 96 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:51,440 That's part of my identity. 97 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,400 Now it's becoming part of my identity again. 98 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,640 So I immediately fixed my identity 99 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,240 and then I kind of had a contingency plan. 100 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:03,800 So let me explain. 101 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,800 Right away, I remembered when I was tracking my bolt score, 102 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:11,680 which your bolt score is basically 103 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:13,560 how effective you are at breathing. 104 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,840 And it's a score that you track daily. 105 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:21,320 And I was tracking that for probably two or three months 106 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:22,720 straight. 107 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:24,800 And it was really satisfying for me 108 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,200 because I had that piece of paper 109 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,200 and I sat it next to my bed. 110 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,040 And right away every single morning, 111 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,160 I would just write down the date 112 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,680 and then I would write down what my bolt score was. 113 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,080 And so the piece of paper got really long 114 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,240 and it got pretty long. 115 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:44,080 And I was tight. 116 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,160 I like wrote down a lot of information on it 117 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,080 and it was pretty filled up by the end, 118 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,000 by the time I decided to stop tracking my bolt score. 119 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,160 And that was very satisfying. 120 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,880 And so I wanted to use that strategy again, 121 00:05:57,880 --> 00:05:59,120 but instead for YouTube. 122 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,280 So I immediately grabbed a blank sheet of paper 123 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:04,720 and wrote down the date. 124 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,120 And I believe the date was like December 3rd. 125 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,960 And I wrote down the date and I wrote down 126 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,200 the title of the piece of paper. 127 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,680 And it was like, write down the date 128 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,600 and every single time that I watch YouTube. 129 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:25,200 And so my goal was to keep that piece of paper 130 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:26,680 as clean as possible. 131 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:31,360 I had already wrote down one date on it. 132 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,720 But now my goal is to keep it as clean as possible 133 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,920 and not have any kind of, any like words 134 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,520 or numbers on that piece of paper. 135 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,440 Not have any penworks on that piece of paper. 136 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:45,800 Just keep it blank. 137 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,360 And it actually worked because the next day 138 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,280 after I got home from school 139 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:54,240 and I was getting ready to sit, 140 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,720 I was like sitting down to start like working 141 00:06:57,720 --> 00:06:59,800 on editing a video. 142 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,040 I was really tempted to get on YouTube. 143 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,680 And I was like, I did get on YouTube 144 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:10,240 because I was just, I just went on to YouTube 145 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,840 because I was gonna, I was doing something on my channel. 146 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:14,200 So I had to get on YouTube. 147 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,400 But when I clicked on YouTube, 148 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,200 I had the option of either go to my profile right away. 149 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,400 And by the way, on my computer, 150 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,960 I have extensions on my YouTube, like on Google Chrome 151 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:29,840 to where whenever I go on YouTube, 152 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:31,360 it's just a blank screen. 153 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,320 Like I don't have any videos that show up. 154 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,920 So that means that I have to search for videos 155 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:36,760 for them to show up. 156 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,160 And when I do search for videos, 157 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,280 they show up with just the title. 158 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,840 There's no thumbnail or nothing. 159 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,400 And then when I watch a video, 160 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,400 there's no title or comments or like recommended videos. 161 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:53,320 It's just the video. 162 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,480 So it's all, it's like distraction free extensions. 163 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,160 And I found out about those extensions 164 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,080 on a Hamza video that I watched probably a couple of months ago. 165 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,880 And so when I was clicking on YouTube, 166 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,880 I had the option, like my intention was to work on my channel. 167 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,040 Like I was gonna create, 168 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,760 I was gonna organize my channel and create a new playlist. 169 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:19,360 And so that was my intention. 170 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,000 So I was gonna click on YouTube 171 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,440 and then go straight to my channel. 172 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,480 But then once I clicked on YouTube, 173 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:30,280 I had the desire to watch a random YouTube video. 174 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,440 I had the desire to turn off the extensions, 175 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,520 which is what I usually would do 176 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,440 when I was slowly getting back into watching YouTube videos. 177 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:40,360 I would always, 178 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,120 because I've had these extensions on for a long time, 179 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,560 but I would always turn them off 180 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:48,760 and then like refresh my page and look at the home screen. 181 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,400 And then I would turn them back on afterwards. 182 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:57,400 And so I had the desire to turn off the extensions 183 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:02,400 but then right when I was about to like make my decision, 184 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:04,920 whether I was gonna do it or not, 185 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,960 I immediately thought about that sheet of paper 186 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,960 that I started tracking my YouTube, 187 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,040 like watching YouTube on that sheet of paper. 188 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,800 And so because of that, I immediately remembered that. 189 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,880 And so at that time, the decision was easy 190 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,400 because I wanted to keep that sheet of paper clean. 191 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,400 My goal, I was reminded of my goal. 192 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,240 So now the decision was easy 193 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,240 and I decided not to watch a video. 194 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,480 And so I decided to actually get into work 195 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:38,040 and I was able to get into Flow State very easily. 196 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:43,920 And that is the power of figuring out different tools 197 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,080 to figure your addictions. 198 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,240 And that's, and I wasn't told, 199 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,440 like no one told me about that trick. 200 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,520 I just kind of came up with that trick 201 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:53,920 with my own imagination. 202 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:58,920 And imagination is actually one of the laws of success 203 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,320 in Napoleon Hill's book called 204 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:03,720 The Law of Success in 16 Lessons. 205 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,160 So I used my imagination to hear my internet 206 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,200 or to cure my YouTube addiction. 207 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,680 And it's definitely working. 208 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,560 So that's the end of the video. 209 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:15,600 And have a good day. 210 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:17,360 Well, actually, these are my practice videos. 211 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,200 So only hardcore fans of this channel 212 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:21,800 are actually watching these videos. 213 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:43,800 So if you're watching them, have a good day.