Having so much free time makes me spend it unwisely

[7thLetter]

Long story short, I was ungrateful and got myself fired from a toxic but decent paying 9-5 job.

When I was working this job, I was disciplined enough to sleep early, wake up early, and had some good habits in place. Now that I'm currently unemployed, I don't know what to do with my time anymore. Having the job actually pushed me to work towards things that would get me out of the job. I always valued my time and worked on my side hustles over the weekends, plus I consistently meditated for 40+ mins a day on sat & sun. Now everything fell off and I'm here playing video games, watching movies and half-assing my meditations. I guess I might have to go back to a job in order to get that discipline back in place.. As an INTP I just dislike working for other people, and with other people. I just want to do my own thing.

It's just so counter-intuitive, you would think that its a great idea to free up your time to work on your business or life purpose, but once you have that free time you end up not working on it as much.

Advice?

[Space]

@7thLetter I've been unemployed for more than a year now and I have run into similar problems at times. Some things i've found helpful: 1) have something you're working towards. Create a long term vision, plan or goal and work towards it every day. You need to have a good reason to get up in the morning and to not waste the day. It was only after I became really really clear on my LP that I started to put in the hours every day. Before that I was so undisciplined and lazy. 2) Have some sort of routine. Wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, have a good morning routine, meditate around the same time every day, eat at similar times of the day, etc. 3) Write down a list of things to accomplish for the day. Prioritise 1 or 2 things and spend a good couple hours doing them, with focused, intentional effort. 4) Lastly, as you said, its just discipline. You don't have to be super strict on yourself though. Remember to enjoy your time off work. I'm sure it'll turn out to be a good thing in a long run.

[Knock]

With limited free time, our time is valuable. With endless free time, time is valueless.

A game of football wouldn't be the same if there were no boundaries.

My advice to you is to set some boundaries in your life. Book yourself in to do things with people, to attend events, play sport, whatever interest you. Social accountability is a big motivator here. I would also set some time-bound goals. It could be taking a online course or commiting to doing a blog post 3 times a week.

Lastly, get some intentional suffering in your life. Too much comfort weakens the soul. Spend a day fasting. Try cold showers. Spend a night home with no internet. Doing these things not only makes you grateful for your life, it re-vitalises your energy and gets you motivated again.

[ttom]

@7thLetter  Give it time and make sure you're constantly aiming to make better use of your time. When I shifted from an "institutionalized" life to one of self employment it took me a solid 2 years to really begin utilizing the time I had effectively. I was really young at the time though and my productivity was low after being disengaged in the school system for many years. I'm sure you will make the transition faster than I did. I found it beneficial to work on multiple different tasks throughout the day rather than trying to block out too much work on anything specific. E.g 1 hour listening to podcasts and doing chores, 1 hour writing, 1 hour networking online, etc.

As @Space mentioned above I feel as though you need to construct a vision of some sorts. The primary force behind action is emotion, and in order to feel emotionally engaged in activities, they need to be personally significant. As @Leo Gura would say, we are doing Gods work. If you can truly grasp that on an embodied level, you will have no trouble manifesting the emotion needed to motivate yourself.

A final note, try utilizing altered states. Preferably not drug induced ones ( even caffeine ) because they aren't sustainable long term. Altered states make it incredibly easy to tap into the emotions that will propel your action and intentions. My favorite ways to do this are running ( once you are fit enough to reach runners high ), Dancing ( if you can dance shamelessly and expressively enough ), Cold exposure ( cold showers etc. ), Singing ( In the car, speakers full volume ), Pranayama ( Wim Hof style works nicely ). Any one of these activities brings me to tears ( of joy ) on a daily basis. It's physiologically impossible not to feel inspired if you connect with these practices correctly.

Even learning to manipulate your nervous system through the breath will have profound effects on your capacity for action.

Best of luck, I'm confident you'll pull yourself out of this in no time!

[Leo Gura]

Yeah, that's why self-employment is so hard and most people just cannot do it. Because it takes serious vision and self-discipline to be able to lead yourself. Most people are sheep who suck on the tit of society. They need a boss just to tell them when to wake up, otherwise they would become vegetables.

The self-determined life is not the easy life. The easy life is working at Starbucks for 40 years and then retiring without a single dream or deep thought about life.

You need to have a serous over-arching vision and purpose to your life if you're gonna go it alone. You need to be a fuckin boss on yourself.

[TheSomeBody]

you have the time do dream and do whatever you wanted to do when you where uneployed. have some retreat for a week or more. come refreshed and think about your goals and dreams. and disiplne is the most important