If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may currently be what is known as an NPC or Non-player character, and we have all been there.
If you haven’t died yet, chances are, you will. From energy loaded curious children charging at anything new to regulated shaped by society machines seemingly wasting their life away. It’s easy to hate on the system, but creating a functional economy isn’t easy and until we have AI for everything, a lot of mundane work still needs to be done by humans.
What is an NPC?
We are creatures of habit, we seek financial safety and we want to be comfortable at all times. This comes on top of the endorphin highways we build with sugar, video games, and attention/confirmation from others in the classroom or with likes on our SNS.
A non-player character (NPC) is any character in a game which is not controlled by a player.*
*I.e. not conscious.
To the inexperienced eye, this might look like a picture of a “Smartphone Zombie” specimen. However, upon further inspection, it’s clear this image captured a well-camouflaged NPC in its natural habitat. (Lifeless eyes, couldn’t have an idea if its life depended on it, and the usual “9–5-Walk” posture even after putting the phone down).
When you are an NPC, you are not really conscious. You are on autopilot and the vast majority if not all of your decisions and actions are based on feelings. Initially you eat something unhealthy because it’s delicious, cheap and/or convenient and before you know it, you developed a habit and are now facing serious health issues as well as an ever-expanding wardrobe size because time doesn’t care and passes by no matter what.
How To Be Motivated 24/7
The real question is, do you want to be motivated? Wouldn’t that just mean going with what you feel like again? Rather than being dependent on emotions, develop a self-improvement/life plan.
Picture your perfect day. What would that look like? Driving to the beach in a luxurious car with your gorgeous wife? Be really, really honest with yourself and then picture all the things you long for.
All the skills, the kind of body and wealth you envision, the goals you want to reach and most importantly – what’s the purpose of it all? Do you just want to be rich for the sake of it, or is it because you have social entrepreneurial projects you aim to invest in? Do you just want to just look good and receive a lot of compliments or is your workout meant to keep you in crisp shape to tackle what life throws at you? What about your language skills? Don’t you wish you could play that instrument you regularly think about?
Purpose and Perspective
The idea is to constantly improve, eliminate short term pleasure and focus on what you truly want. One way to do this could be creating a daily, weekly and monthly to-do list with steps that bring you closer to that goal and then rigorously executing it – whether you have time and feel like it or not. Let’s dive into an example:
Daily: Write an Article, Do 100 Push-ups, Squats, and Sit-ups, Read a book for 1h, Protein Shake, Study Python for 1 hour, Train Spanish Pronunciation for 15m / Weekly: Create Youtube Video, Create Blog post with Infographic, make a Podcast / Monthly: Participate in a Hackathon
You envision how you as a person will change over time when abiding this self-made action plan and focus on the long-term.
Be mindful of what is happening around you. Question yourself regularly. Stop being an NPC and wake from your slumber.
This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club