Speedrunning life
And why do it
Phones buzzing, ads everywhere, instant dopamine… It’s the age of distractions. Distracted is the new standard for the mind. Most can’t imagine living without it at all.
This brings up THE question:
How would your life look in a year, have you locked in on one goal at the time?
What even is Speedrunning?
It’s usually used in terms of gaming - for someone locking in on accomplishing one task only in the most efficient way. Highly focused effort. One way - one destination. And it's playful, it has that hint of nitch humor, only few understand. Others usually think of you being a weirdo, not seeing the objective you’ve put in front of you.
The whole world turns into a set of obstacles and tools that move you closer or away from your goal. Suddenly you don’t mind working more, because you see the progress. You can bear what others find unpleasant. You are willing to learn, improve, adapt, overcome. Moreover it gets fun suddenly. That's how the flow state feels. You know it's necessary. You know it matters. And you will get there no matter what.
But Why?
→ Get moving
Goals can turn into tyrants over time. Especially when you haven’t achieved them yet. Over time, the frustration melts into self-doubt as you feel stuck… But! When you reframe the goal to speedrunning - you immediately get the hit. Anyway, what would be the point of speedrunning, when you are not moving? Since you are speedrunning, get effective or use another way. Speedrunners do not wallow in mud.
→ Replace work with fun
How does this make you feel:
I am busy doing necessary cleaning works around the house.
Now what about this:
I am busy speedrunning necessary cleaning works around the house.
It is easy, see? Just attach speedrunning to anything to make it fun.
→ Get radical
Most people are shallow wimps. Why? Safety, comfort, predictability. Get over it. You’ve had enough of playing it safe - 50 more years of this and you are safely dead. Seeing days slide into months, living in the promise of “after” can get pretty disenchanting. Here's an alternative: What would you do, if you had only one go at anything?
I take the risk of being called pathetic. Better to be pathetic for a month doing some challenge, than staying normal for the rest of my life.
50 more years of playing it safe and you are safely dead.
Speedrun ideas to try
Speedrunning getting hired to Microsoft
Self esteem speedrun
Speedrunning consistent sleeping schedule
Speedrunning healthy diet
Speedrunning rejection therapy
Making 50 friends speedrun
Speedrunning tinder
Handstand speedrun
Inner peace speedrun
What is this about
Life change. Self upgrade. I have constructed a set of speedrunner’s rules for self improvement. I am absolutely sure they do work - after I'll have tested them. So follow along baby, here we go.
THE RULES:
1. The “Pick one” rule
Write down your TOP10 goals for this year. Then rank order their priority. Get scissors and cut off the first one. That's your focus. Forget about the rest of the goals - actually flush them into a toilet. Don't kid yourself about multitasking. After you have completed the first one, you can move on and unflush the second goal.
2. Do what is needed, not what is shiny
Always focus on the thing that is the strongest need. You can use Maslow's pyramid of needs to rank your fulfillment of each of them. (See how i did it in the very end of this article.)
3. Take the easy way
Once you’ve committed to the next quest to speedrun, always take the easiest way. Remember, you are speedrunning, not trying to be fancy. Life is already demanding enough by itself. The hard part was admitting to yourself, what needs to be your sole and primary focus.
4. Be diligent
If you act stupidly, make sure you notice.
If you do anything diligently for long enough, you will eventually learn. No matter how stupidly you’ve done it in the beginning. Diligence means leaving pointless ideas and activities after you have sufficiently tested them. Take as much time to test ideas, as is sufficient, no more, no less. Change, evolve, but don't stay the same.
HINT: We live in a simulation anyway
“If you are not progressing, your life is just a badly designed video game.”
-Chris Williamson
So design it better. Think about it. Life is not like architectural design - you cannot plan everything to get the specified outcome. And than just build it. The result is always different than you’ve planned. Life is not like writing a story either - there are so many random events, that you can’t predict. Best way to think about it is in terms of Game development - There are always at least two people participating: the Developer and the Player. You are both. At which of the roles you suck more?
What’s the plan
Looking at my unfulfilled needs, I came up with a series of quests. Note that I split the need fulfilment into smaller believable steps, rather than just speedrunning the financial independence at once. The quests:
✅Get 1,400 EUR stable monthly income speedrun. Any means.Knee joint stability speedrun - develop a sustainable rehab system.
——————— LEVEL 1 ———————Competence speedrun - get one area of expertise to get confident in.
Increase your income by another 800 EUR. Must be from a self-employment source.
Self respect speedrun. (Optimal habits, sleep, workout, diet, orderliness…)
——————— LEVEL 2 ———————Invest in real estate speedrun.
Tinder speedrun. (Get a girlfriend)
Move into a not-shared room speedrun. (Obvious reasons)
Move your business to another level. (Or get one)
——————— LEVEL 3 ———————Peak physique. (80 kg, calisthenic strength, flexibility, stability, marathon, breath optimal, diet)
4,000 EUR monthly income speedrun. Don’t compromise the previous points.
Longevity speedrun.
——————— LEVEL 4 ———————Financial independence speedrun. (All sources of passive income)
Building a tiny house speedrun. (To move into)
Technical rules
You can change the order and the content of the quest only 2 quests before. Example:
3. Competence speedrun. - Currently speedrunning4. Increase your income by another 800 EUR.- cannot change
5. Self respect speedrun. - can changeYou must take breaks in between quests. Minimum one day. Especially levels. It is desirable to set up rewards for completion. Be nice to yourself.
Side quests allowed only for fun things and experimentation. Nothing serious that takes up your focus. If it’s short term, it should be in between the quests. Side quest Example.: Learn playing Skyrim main theme on the piano.
Estimate the minimum and the maximum time for completion of each quest. If you get stuck and the challenge expires - you must take one week off before resuming. This allows you to rethink the strategy.
Definition of completion - must be stated clearly in advance (rule 1 applies). For Example:
1. Quest: Is complete when 1400 EUR is made within the last 30 days. The work must be easily duplicable every month in a year. Doesn’t have to be deposited to a bank account yet, but is promised.
2. Quest: Is complete when you are able to run for 3 km, without feeling any pain and instability. And you’ve stuck to a rehab routine for 7 days every day. And the rehab routine is based on at least 2 books and 2 internet sources.
About me
I am probably the most excited and motivated person about pizza delivery that ever existed. Because I know what follows. But honestly, my life has been a mess up to this point.
I’ve been teaching yoga more or less professionally, however I made more money doing manual part-time jobs, like collecting samples for market research. I did some tree chopping, architectural projection, mentoring and sales as well. I even tried a few businesses, like organizing self development events, leading cold-exposure expeditions, and network marketing. On the side I invested in some crypto, tried programming, algorithms, lost some money on that. I tried hiring a coach and had a business mentor for two years. All of that with some level of success and development.
Pretty soon I realized it's all just too much. I saw my problem is trying to live up to the expectations of others and to my own as well. Unable to say no. And there were simply too many expectations. So my focus got shattered. This is a mission to simplify my life. Build it from the bottom up. I hope, by the time you are reading this, I am already at quest 10 or so…
Here’s how I ranked my needs:
Its 4.th of April 2025. I think the first quest will take something within 13 days up to 30 days. Let's go.