I love playing video games. (Yep, totally nerd talking here, haha.) The thought of running home after work to get online and start playing got me excited in so many ways. I got so excited about the creativity behind customizing my own online persona. I loved the camaraderie between teammates and how we could strategize about what our next move would be. How to defeat someone with a particular move or combination of moves… How soon I could “rank up” my character… There were so many addictive elements to the games I was playing, I soon didn’t realize that I was spending 20+ hours per week staring at the TV with my wireless controller in my hands.

Millions of people log on to play online games every week. I couldn’t help but wonder ‘what if all of these people gave up even 1 day of playing towards something actually productive, what could we all do?’

After realizing just how much time I was wasting playing video games, I started to reevaluate my schedule as a whole. I put more time towards working on my own business and the results were astonishing. My income in one month more than DOUBLED. Yes, DOUBLED. I realized that for every moment I was playing video games, I was really PAYING to play them because of the income I wasn’t producing. Because of the asset (my business) I wasn’t creating.

If you’re playing, you’re paying.

And something else happened. I realized all of the excitement I felt playing video games was only temporary. If I beat one game, that was that, and if I wanted to get the same feeling again I was either playing it all over or buying another game. When I ‘ranked up’ my online character, was I really creating anything? No. The games were giving me a false sense of accomplishment.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some people making money by playing video games. Some young adults have made five-figures in a day winning a tournament with a popular first-person-shooter style game (no, I’m not going to plug the game in my blog). But is this really a skill I needed?

I realized all of the joy I had gotten playing video games was dwarfed by the joy of creating a successful business. Because that was real. I could see my clients. I could see my bank account growing. I got a real sense of accomplishment because other people were also benefiting from my efforts.

Now, I didn’t totally cut out playing video games all together. I still try and play in moderation because it is still something I enjoy. However, if you are a business owner (or you want to be one) you’re going to have to realize that you’re going to need to put a few things on the back burner. Build your business now, delay gratification, and you’ll get a lot more in return.