Becoming A Primarch: 1 Year Later
Pimpcron details what has happened after a year of following his plan to improve himself using 40k.
Uh-oh! That damn sexy robot is back this week; hide your significant others! I am here this week to explain what happened when I went down the path that I described a year ago in the Article “Become A Primarch By Acting Like A Chimp”. Go ahead and read it, I’ll wait …
So if you saw the link above and literally said out loud, “TL;DR” and continued to scroll down this page, here is the short version. I tried to improve myself by making a game out of everyday chores and reward myself with guilt-free Warhammer money. Not that my wife guilts me, just that I feel a lot of guilt over spending so much on toys. I was trying to become a Primarch by rewarding myself like you would a chimp when it does well. So I printed out coins and made them worth $1, $5, and $10, respectively. I eventually had to print out a $100 coin as well. That way, when I did something I didn’t want to do, I rewarded myself with a couple dollars for Wargaming. So what did I learn after a year?
Inflation Happens Everywhere (Even In a Dumb Game)
Just as I suspected from the start, it takes a lot of self-control not to buy hobby stuff without having the “points” to spend for them. Occasionally I would buy something without the correct amount of points, but so far I have usually held off on buying anything else in order to pay for the thing I bought. It’s not a habit I try to do often. So far, so good in that aspect.
Pay yourself in plastic toys for doing things you have to do anyway.
But another thing I ran into is the inflation of what I wanted to pay myself to do things. In general, I have stayed the same in price for the things that I do, with a few exceptions. But I am constantly tempted to say “I deserve another point for doing that, because I really didn’t want to do it today”. That doesn’t cut it, because soon you’ll be buying a Warlord Titan every time you take out the trash if you let that get out of hand. So I had to make mental thresholds for when a task deserved an extra point. Going to a work-related 8 hour training class that is once a year and I dread it? Sure, have an extra point. Don’t want to sweep the floor? Suck it up pansy. By definition, if the task you are doing deserves a point to begin with, that means I generally don’t want to do it. So be careful.
I’m Way Less of a Little Bitch
I hate to admit this, but I used to complain over stuff a lot. I would still do it of course, but I’d bitch about it. But it only took a little reward to feel like it is worth doing and changed my mood. I may not like going to an appointment because it takes too long or it is a hassle, but you give me just $1 towards Warhammer, and suddenly I’m like, “Let’s go!” Now, in the past year I have realized that happiness is a choice (unless you have depression or something) and I choose to be happy every day, aside from this game. So not all of my progress and loss of whining can be attributed to this system; but it definitely helped. In general, my overall attitude towards anything that gets thrown my way is positive rather than the negativity that I used to spout. I believe that this dumb little game has helped me become more positive in a big way.
Habits Are Habit-Forming
Wow! The power of forming good habits is really awesome! So let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Let’s open up Pimpcron’s personal life and see what’s inside (just step over all of the necron-porn, that’s for a whole ‘nother article). My goals for this experiment were to improve myself, lose weight and get in shape.
Don’t look down and just step over it. You never know what’s in that folder.
Well for starters I wanted to start flossing every single night when I brush my teeth (something <1% of the population does). At the end of the week, I get a point if I did it every single night of the week. If I miss even one night, I don’t get the point on Sunday. Guess what? I have literally missed 2 nights of flossing in the last year. I do the same thing for exercising before bed, mouth-washing before bed, and taking 5 different vitamins every day. Every Sunday, I get $9 just for doing those stupid things that take like 5 minutes to do.
Funny Thing Is, I Don’t Even Do It For The Points Anymore
Several times I was super tired and wanted to go to bed without doing one of those things and I did it anyway. Not because of the point, but because I laid in bed and couldn’t go to sleep because it was bothering me so much that I didn’t do my routine. So I got up and did it. Re-wiring my brain to be bothered when I didn’t do my routine is success!
And for teh lulz.
As far as weight loss goes, I’m about the same weight as last year. So maybe I lost a little and gained a little muscle? It’s hard to tell, but I feel better if that counts for something; but that is probably due to the vitamins. But if I’m being honest I kind of gave up on the diet-and-points part and just gave points for doing tasks. So that part I didn’t follow through with.
Did I End Up Spending Less?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: probably not. Sure the game curbed my spending at first, but I became so productive by playing the game that I learned how to earn tons of points. I can *easily* earn $10 a day by working all day, coming home and sweeping the floors, completely taking care of the kids’ baths and what-not instead of my wife, getting some significant painting done on models, folding and putting away laundry, doing the dishes, and writing an article. If I am roughly this productive every day of the week, plus the Sunday bonuses from vitamins etcetera, I can earn $79 every week of guilt-free money! Sure I am still spending money, but I am getting a ton of stuff done too and never give it a second thought. My actual average is about $40 or so per week usually, but you get the point.
As a bonus, I have painted soooooooo many models that I wouldn’t otherwise have painted.
Fun Fact: I once busted my hump to earn a whopping $20 in one day to buy something on ebay that I really wanted that was about to end. My little paper-coin bank was just $20 shy of what I wanted to buy. Boy was the house clean!
Ain’t she a beauty? Well worth working so hard.
I am sure some of you might take all of this as bragging, and that isn’t my intention. I’m still not a perfect person, and my exceptionally good looks are still a real problem for me and those around me. Oh, and being humble. Being humble isn’t my strong point either. I just wanted to share that my experiment actually worked in most aspects. I will continue to do it for as long as I can.
Myself and probably most of you probably thought that it would be hard to stick with and it really wasn’t. Give it a try!
PS: Yes, I probably shouldn’t reward myself like a chimp every time I do something good, and I should just man up and do it. In the past I always did what I had to do, but it was a drag. So if a little guilt-free Warhammer makes me happier, then so be it.
Did any of you actually try this last year and what did you think?
HEY GUESS WHAT? What Gossip Columnists, sentient gases, and your mom refers to as “The Pimpcron” has created a Warhammer 40k/Wargaming Convention in December 2016. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic area of the U.S. you might want to come have fun with this crazy and adorable robot . . . Like us on Facebook for Updates HERE.
Want to witness my slow descent into madness, first-hand? Check out my blog at www.diceforthedicegod.com
