My First 30-Day Challenge

Oct 7, 2020

Cannot consume anything, including movies, shows, podcasts, articles, Google searches, music, or even books for the first week (until October 14th).

Explanation: I am allowing myself this indulgence because I don't believe books are something I use to procrastinate, or to learn without ever putting the knowledge into practice. In fact, I want to read more, which I think will happen naturally by allowing reading when nothing else is allowed.

I am allowed to lookup information, etc. only when it is for research purposes for something I am working on, or a direct tutorial to something I am working on.

i.e. I can watch and follow along with a painting tutorial to learn the methods, but I can't sit on the couch and watch painting tutorials.

I can't play video games, but I can play card games and board games.
I can watch workout videos during my workout sessions.
I can make purchases, but only if I have thought about them for a week or longer.
I can't check my stock market earnings/losses except when buying/selling stocks.
I am allowed to check Amazon on Prime Day (Oct 13-14) to see if anything I have in my Wish List is on sale, and I can check the Overboard backpack I plan on buying this month to see if it has gone on sale.

A bit worried. Before this the longest Consume Zero challenge I've done was a week, and it wasn't strict at all. In fact, I watched several episods of Brooklyn Nine-Nine with my wife during that time.
I'm scared I'm going to slip up. I already opened a newsletter from Patreon and started reading it before remembering that definitely isn't allowed during Consume Zero.

As I've said in other places on this website, Consume Zero is not about being more productive, it's about leading a more fulfilling life. I hope I will find fulfillment through creativity and creation during this experiment.

Overall, I am expcting this experiment to be challenging but fulfilling. I have high hopes and I will continue to check in here during the next thirty days to share my progress.
8:45pm: Consume Zero is always most difficult for me in the evening. In the morning I'm typically working on personal projects (even when not doing Consume Zero) and in the afternoon I work at my day job. Come the night, when all I want to do is relax, it is hard not being able to read a book or throw on a movie and veg out.

Today was particularly difficult because I had date night with my wife. Date night is often synonymouse with movie or TV show night for us because we live in a very boring city without much else to do. So this date night I had to get a bit creative and it was not easy.

It started off with us playing with Play-Doh and having a competition to see who could build the best sculpture.
Next we played 500 Rummy. I won :)
After that we ordered take out and spent some time eating together.
After another card game I was at a loss for what else we could do and ended date night earlier than I normally would have.
This wasn't a big deal, we were both fine with it, it's just interesting how difficult it is to think of something to do without consuming some kind of media.

Besides date night, I didn't find the day too hard. I got a lot done on my various websites, went out to take photos in the morning and had an awesome encounter with a Green Woodpecker, and got started on a new painting.

I've been feeling really tired at night, much earlier than I normally get tired. I think it must be that I don't have anything to distract me from my tiredness. Normally I am watching or reading something which serves as a distraction.

It's always night that is the hardest. That's when I usually want to relax and watch a movie after work.
The last couple of days I've gone to bed earlier than normal.
Despite occasionally wishing I could read or watch a movie, I've been finding myself working way more on a new website I want to get up for a business I'm working on.

I've found myself mindlessly checking my lists on Amazon the last few days when I go to just check on one item.

Because of this, I'm going to completely stop checking Amazon, except when I have something I need to buy or to check the prices on Prime Day as stated in the rules above.

I listened to some music today because my wife turned it on while we were cooking. One of the hardest parts I've found with Consume Zero is trying to work it into a comfortable life with others. It's a difficult thing to explain to people because it's an odd thing to do.

I started learning coding with Treehouse today. I'm super excited for this journey to learn Python/Django, and hopefully more after those. My company, LivaLiva, will have a dope new website once I learn more. (Update 2023: LivaLiva is now Unobserved)
I'm not sure if I would have started this journey without Consume Zero. I probably would have, but I certainly wouldn't have worked at it so intensely. I studied Python for over 4 hours today!

Today I got into a political argument with my sister and it made me quite angry. I'm talking to the point that it actually felt as though my stomach were tied in a knot for several hours.

Maybe angry isn't the word here. I was disappointed, surprised, and confused. It caused a lot of stress.

As I tried to release the tension and destress, I once again realized how grateful I am to be doing Consume Zero.

I found myself checking my stock earnings today. Even as I told myself I wasn't allowed by my rules of Consume Zero, I still went through with it and checked anyway.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time it's happened either. I guess I'm addicted to checking my stock portfolio's performance.
This is something I'm going to work on more. No more checking!

I decided to end the experiment 2 days early due to my anniversary. I wanted to celebrate with my wife on this day, and with Corona happening I knew there was a good chance that would include watching a movie or two.
This experiment has been amazing and it has taught me a ton. I will most definitely be repeating it regularly for the foreseeable future.

I'm already thinking about doing another one week Consume Zero in another week or so. I might even start doing one week on, one week off.

Without the constant dopamine rush that movies, games, podcasts, etc. bring, all I wanted to do was program all day (even though I just learned programming during Consume Zero).

That alone is reason enough to do Consume Zero again - my productivity and happiness skyrocketed.

Consume Zero