The key is to do it frequently, but not for a long period of time. You will become exhausted if you play the same game for 6 hours every day.

I spend about two hours playing the same game every day or two. However, They constantly add new content. (TFT, WoW)

Or, when we are on a voice call, my friends may play a game (such as Tetris, Shapez, or Diablo) that is different from mine so that they don’t have to try too hard to maintain focus.

I really want to know as well, I’m getting closer to cracking the code, but a LOT of it has to do with how you manage stress in your daily life.

I’ve been putting in lots of hours and lines of code, artwork, and writing in one of my recent projects, and the main reason I’ve been able to do that at all is that I not only do it when I’m the most relaxed, I also change up what I’m doing to keep things fresh.

Writing hitting a wall? Try drawing!
Can’t draw worth shit because you lost your creative drive? Program something!
Can’t program because you are giving yourself a migraine by calculating all that nonsense? Dunno, play Minecraft or Watch youtube!

Bored of the games? Try writing!

I’ve been basically rotating everything I do and that helps a whole lot with keeping stuff moving. It’s better to just not focus on something for too long, only little bits at a time. And those bits all add up to the 1000’s of hours.

I used to be very different.

As a kid, when Space Engineers came out, I played that shit so hard that I clocked 15,000 hours in no time. I would play during the day, after school, at night, during the summer, holidays, all the fucking time.

But the result? I burnt out on it so hard that even to this day I cannot fathom touching it again, and it’s a game I love!

So take your time, be patient, and stay committed.

• it’s not continuous, it’s half a dozen different things intertwined – play for an hour in a game, add a paragraph to a book, get out into the garden for half an hour – cumulatively each individual item adds up (“a journey of a thousand miles”) but it’s an accumulation of a million steps …
• when it’s a form of escapism, your mind will come up with all sorts of justifications – “I just listened to that client for a couple hours, I deserve a few minutes of game play”

Take breaks.

A hobby is supposed to be fun, or relaxing. Step back for a bit when it stops. (This is why good hobbies frequently make bad jobs.)

ETA: it’s also not important that hobbies be perfect or even useful, take the stress of perfection out of it. enjoy the imperfection.

Have more than one interest/hobby! I can’t imagine doing the same for months on end with no alternative. I naturally gravitate to a monthly rotation (not consciously, just kinda happens) of high interest in something, and then there’s a few things I do whenever (read a book when I have a few minutes here or there, do some cross stitching while watching my husband play a game, etc).