[hinkley]

We do a lot of activities we think give us energy but either don't, don't anymore, or only do in some idealized situation that isn't really happening. Or maybe something else that happens along with an activity is what we really enjoy (I thought I enjoyed driving, when actually I just like listening to music uninterrupted).

In the case of games or a show they can stop being fun and be more like work pretty easily. They're like junk food. They fill you up for a little while but they're not fulfilling.

[01001010]

How does one effectively identify different activities' impact on one's energy levels? Relying on feelings and memory, I found, is hard and inefficient. Life logging/quantified self?

How did you realize you actually enjoyed listening to music uninterrupted rather than driving?

[hinkley]

To be perfectly honest, I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life answering question #1.

What I think I know is that the answer changes over time, so you should get comfortable with the idea of always asking yourself the question anyway.

If I have a system that only works because of my tendency to problem solve. Imagine that a friend confided in you that they're having trouble and asked for help figuring it out. What would you ask them? What are your answers to those questions? How would you respond if your friend gave your answers? It's not a panacea, but if you avoid doing this experiment with subjects like employment and romance (we think everyone else should break up and quit their jobs immediately) it kind of works.

[Fnoord]

Just sharing some thoughts on your questions, not claiming I got conclusive answers:

Leisure time like listening to music or playing a video game can make you happier. Such happy events can re-energize not on that specific day necessarily, but e.g. the workweek (or beginning of workweek) afterwards. Neutral and unpleasant activity will not have such effect.

Anecdotal: overcoming a great challenge in gaming in a team had made me euphoric for a few days. I woke up and was literally right away excited. Gaming doesn't always have such effect though. One problem games (and TV etc) have is that it can feel like a choir. A mandatory riedel you gotta sing every X time together with person Y on time Z. Even when at times you really don't wanna. Then you can end up in a negative spiral, especially if the other factors are being difficult as well (e.g. your kid, work, etc). Because it isn't always static. Sometimes you want to skip. If you game in a team, play a team sport, or are a high performing athlete you might be hard on yourself. If you got on-demand TV, you can skip easier, but I suppose the monthly pay makes you wanna eat your cake as part of the all you can eat sub.

Sports can affect your brain by increasing your cognitive performance.

I suppose it can be proven with EEG/MRI scans. Probably rather costly, but if its done for academic purposes and reproduced by a TV show you got two birds (tho not with one stone): the scientific part background, and that being applied for the general population explained with simplicity.

> How did you realize you actually enjoyed listening to music uninterrupted rather than driving?

By testing the effect of driving without music, or listening to music without driving.

[noir_lord]

For me it's Chess - It's a flow state with a simply defined (incredibly complex to solve problem) and a few wins makes me feel energised (of course my W/L% is almost exactly 50/50), I don't draw much).

If I couldn't play Chess online I don't know what else I'd do to relax that wasn't vegging in front of the TV.

This year I'm going to my local club as well and play OTB for the social aspects.

[swsieber]

I'm going to go out on a limb - learn to meditate. I suspect that for most people, once well learned, meditation will be a recharging activity. And it seems like an activity that will be a good baseline for helping figuring out the energy impact of other activities.

[terminalcommand]

I cannot always find the discipline to meditate, but I've found that listening to lounge/chillout music without doing anything else and letting my thoughts wander help a great deal.