AlexTheGrape

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 54 Thank you once again Cam! I really appreciate your encouragement, having you as a success example who keeps in contact with fellow game quitters has been a huge driving force for many of us. To be honest I don't see why I should be proud of myself at the moment since I'm making very little progress in terms of helpful habits and daily disciplines compared to what I did earlier, but I suppose I didn't have much else to do in the holidays so I'm being rather hard on myself. I'll still try my best to get in my daily exercise, it is the one thing I can improve on that will really help me in many areas of life. Today I was back to school for the week, I was very tired after getting back from a camp training as part of a school event but made good use of my time during school hours. I'm going to jump straight into critiquing my time usage today: I wrote a lot for an email to a penpal on the bus, but I really should have used that time to organise what work I needed to get done and in what order. I watched an episode of t.v. when I got home while eating my leftover lunch, but I definitely could have reduced the time I spend doing that. I spent some time learning some python programming skills as part of a school project, but I struggled with my other homework. Overall I didn't make very good use of my afternoon and I plan to make some changes tomorrow. I got up later so that I could get at least 7 hours of sleep (I got home very late last night) and so didn't have time to exercise in the morning. I exercised yesterday morning and a bit during the day though, it felt great to have those morning chills. Warm shower today, but I'll be back to exercise and cold showers tomorrow. I'm going to be on camp from Wednesday to Friday so if I don't post for a bit don't worry. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will sort out my afternoon plan on the bus home so that I have the most possible time at home to do this work, and without the need to plan it at home. I will have a short run upon arriving home so that I am energised to do work (I am an active learner so this is essential for me to retain focus) I will write a timed schedule for more pressure to stay within my set time constraints. 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for having clean water to drink wherever I go. I am grateful for having a year planner to write in anything and everything I want done. I am grateful for having people from across the globe that I can learn from whether they be accountability partners, penpals, or inspirational figures. Have a spectacular day!

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 52 I'm very busy now with exams, internals, and projects I need to complete, so I will likely be keeping my posts short for the short term in the foreseeable future. Today I had a crack at getting a lot of homework done, but didn't do this very effectively since I didn't exercise in the morning; I didn't start my morning routine properly. I need to reflect on what I've done every day so that I can improve on it. These past few days I've just been living normally from day to day without much guidance to improve, without reflection I can't see where I've gone wrong and therefore make the same errors in judgement daily. What I'll do differently tomorrow: I'll make sure to exercise in the morning, even if I need to be super quick about it. I won't have time to meditate since I'll be driving early in the morning, but the morning run should clear my mind well enough. I am grateful for the reflective powers of my journal. I am grateful for having the experience to write. I am grateful for having time to spend with family.

I just quoted my favourite part of Slight Edge wisdom in my journal, coincidentally. Check it out and tell me what you think! I'm glad you're liking the book, I consider it the holy grail of personal development.

Thanks a lot Ed! I certainly pushed myself past the limit in a physical sense. I always imagined myself to be a good public speaker, but when I get out in front of people I am shocked at my own incompetence. Practice makes perfect, so I just need to push past that with more experience. I didn't know that public speaking had such an impact career-wise, but I suppose it would improve general confidence and that helps with a lot of things. Cheers for the advice! Here is my post for yesterday: 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 46 Today was a day of studying for me, I learned many calculus formulas and got into my physics revision. It wasn't as productive as it could have been, but I think that being active is a key part of why I wasn't successful. Despite me using timed and schedules tasks, I just got distracted by thinking and my mind would often wander off. I'm not exactly sure why that was but I'll look into it if it happens again. Today I got a some of a morning workout done, but redid it in the afternoon. My cold shower was fine. I got my meditation and visualisation done. Today's post: 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 47 I can't believe I'm 47 days into my third attempt already! I'll be whizzing by my previous 'high score' in no time! I have practically zero chance of relapsing since I'm back into the school term, so I think I'll make it for sure this time around. Today I was back to school for the week. I set my alarm to be as late as possible because I had lots of trouble getting to sleep, so I didn't have time for exercise or meditation in the morning. I also had a warm shower, and as expected it took longer than 5 minutes (my cold showers are always a tad short of 5 minutes). I also tried out having a 15 minute rest after getting home from school, and I was able to get into my work pretty well! I will also try having breaks where I run, this has worked a couple of years ago really well, but I stopped because I couldn't be bothered. I feel my discipline is slipping though, so for my own benefit and whoever's reading I'll recite by typing out some of my favourite Slight Edge wisdom: "The alarm goes off. 6:00am. Without conscious thought your hand shots out and hits snooze. A ten-minute reprieve. You tentatively slip a foot out from under the covers. Brrr. You open one eye. Still dark out. Now you face a choice. You could sit up, switch on the light, and start grinding your brain into gear, prod your groggy gray matter to search out three things you're grateful for so you can jot them down. You could then fire up the machinery of tired legs, hips, and back to crane yourself out of bed and go do the twenty sit-ups you promised yourself you'd do every day. When you said that, did you mean even on Saturdays? Today is Saturday. You yawn. Or you could slip back down under the sheets and catch some more Z's. No, that's lazy. Compromise: flip on the news. Catch the follow-up on that unfolding joicy political scandal, see what's happening with the manhunt for the murderer of the week. You reach for the remote. And you just set the direction your life will take. "Oh, c'mon!" you protest. "Give us a break here! It's one Saturday morning- a few minutes out of one Saturday morning. That hardly has life-altering consequences!" But it does. Greatness is always in the moment of the decision, and so is fate. The wealthy man's gift to his sons, the wisdom to recognise the slight edge, shows up in the mundane little choices we make every day, not in some big dramatic moment with the orchestra swelling in crescendo behind us. And those private, unseen, everyday moments are what determine the path your life will take. Where you end up in life isn't about whether you are a good or a bad person, or whether or not you are deserving, or your karma, or your circumstances. It's dictated by te choices you make- especially the little ones. I know i doesn't seem like it. It seems like you're just choosing how to spend the next hour, not the next forty years. But you are choosing how you'll spend the next forty years." I just typed that straight out of my book, and has reminded me that it is in the everyday, small decisions from where we decide on our fate and how our lives are move forward. 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for the Slight Edge principles that have been paramount to me improving my quality of life. I am grateful for Ed's advice and support. Public speaking may prove to be a big challenge for me but I plan to ride over it with style. I am grateful for having such an amazing maths teacher that knows how to get things done. One amazing thing that happened today: I learned today that one of my closest penpals is only a day younger than me! It is pretty insane that our birthdays are only a day apart in the same year, but despite us living on different continents we found each other by coincidence. It certainly made my day. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will run in the morning and meditate on the bus. I'm only going to change those things or else I'll overwhelm myself with making changes. I'm going for a run right now, I haven't exercised today and I must set the ball in motion that I am running every single day (that I physically can, of course). I hope you [the reader] have a wonderful day and appreciate the Slight Edge Wisdom!

Thanks Cam, it is indeed part of the process; I'll keep in mind that I just need to be ready to change when I encounter these lessons. Haha it was fine talking to you, don't worry! Thank you for the advice, it might be just what I need. I certainly feel like a zombie at times. 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 45 I'll give a brief overview of the past two days. On Thursday it was athletics day at school, and boy did I push myself! I ran in the competitive 800m race, and pushed my body to the limit to run the fastest I possibly could with determination that would be amazing to replicate for daily activities. After finishing the race I almost fainted, and had coughing fits after I sat down to rest. I ended up needing medical help but after a rest I was fine. I still managed to compete in other competitive races later in the day, but made sure not to overexert myself. This was a significant event for me because I believe my discipline training allowed me to push myself past 'normal' limits I'd allow for myself. I was so determined to win the race that I set a pace that made sure I was constantly overtaking people until my body physically couldn't keep up with the demand I was straining and I slowed down for the last 200m. It was a good day in general I'd say, and a reminder that I can do anything I set my mind to. On Friday (yesterday) it was just another regular day at school, but I managed to fit in a morning meditation, visualisation, and workout. I performed a presentation of a business start-up idea in front of my Computer Science class which worked out well; but I was shocked at how nervous I was considering I was presenting to only 10 people. This reinforced my previous desire to improve my public speaking skills, so I've signed myself up for a public speaking 'model united nations assembly' club at school where I could practice this. I've decided to leave learning guitar for weekends and holidays, but I need to get a planner though so I can 'book' in times dedicated to programming sessions and organise myself better in general. So today I've had a day off where I've been spending some time with friends at my place, and I'll be digging into study material tomorrow! I completed my morning meditation, run, and visualisation. The cold shower was refreshing as usual and has been very helpful for reducing the time I spend in the shower. I'm going to continue writing my gratitude journal here otherwise I'll just forget! Gratitude journal: I'm grateful for the time I have to spend with my old friends to have fun playing board games together. I'm grateful for having all my material needs met without having to spend time fetching water or finding food. I'm grateful for having The Slight Edge to read again and implement its principles. It is a guide for my path to success. One amazing thing that happened today: With a couple of friends and my twin brother, we played the role-playing/board game of Dungeons and Dragons (not a video game, don't worry! you need to act out impersonations and think strategically. It was slow-paced and required many in-head calculations a lot of the time, and I enjoyed it even though it took a long time (I'm not accustomed to instant gratification anymore, but the others playing got a bit restless when having to perform more diplomatic or non-adventurous actions). What I'm going to do differently tomorrow: I will make sure to have my time more organised so that I can make the best use of it.

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 42 Despite my best intentions earlier to improve my schedule, my habit building has been deteriorating and being replaced with school related work and a small amount of time wastage. Luckily I talked with my new accountability partner Tomasz, so I'll make sure to improve! I'm gonna make this real quick as I should be asleep right now. I have finished around 30 days of cold showers and have had warm shower for yesterday and today. I'm going to make a change to that though, I've been notoriously lazy these past few days with little drive to improve (I'd normally have some motivation). I'll get up early tomorrow to do my meditation, have a run, and make tomorrow a huge success! I'm also thinking of trashing bad habits I've let fester like eating snacks upon arriving home from school, as I feel tired and need rest afterwards (likely due to the fats and sugars(?)). On the brighter side, I have finally convinced my brother to read the slight edge! I also had a 15 minute emotional session where I could 'mourn' my fun times playing video games and recognise wholeheartedly that they meant a lot to me in the past; and that I have grown up and is time to move on. It got a lot of thoughts out of my system but may need to have another thinking session. I haven't had any intentions of going back to playing those games though, I know that would end terribly. I'm also going to move my gratitude journal to a hardcover book and include writing my dreams in there. Have a great day!

Hi Theo, I'm glad you found my journal helpful, and good luck for you second attempt!

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 39 Today I have been crunching down on work I needed to get done and responding to a swarm of emails. I am over-investing in penpals again, I just find it really hard to say 'no' to people that wan't to know me better! I'll be cutting down on time spend responding to two hours max tomorrow. The timed, scheduled plan for the day worked out somewhat well, I took quite a bit of adjusting but I will do much better at it tomorrow. I'm picking up the challenge again, I just simply forget about it amongst the flurry of activity I do during the day. I had a look at day 19 and 20, and I'm a little confused as how I should approach them. I already have a range of friends that aren't gamers, but the trouble is that I'm not that close with them because we don't have all that much in common. I am also already committed to various after-school activities like robotics, programming, fencing, and now running. I am sure I'll get to know like-minded people in the running club that is starting up, and I'm not old enough to make a meetups account so this'll just have to do. I like the idea of hosting a dinner though, I'll need to practice making dinner sometime during the week though, I'll schedule that for Thursday. I got my meditation, morning run, and workout done this morning! (Oh and not to mention the cold shower, but that's just habit now). I didn't make time for guitar practice, but I spend a good 20 minutes learning about different code words, their meanings, and applying the ones I didn't understand. I also read more of the Slight Edge again! What went well today: Meditating in the middle of the day reduced my stress levels substantially. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have changed up my workplace a little, I got bored very quickly and my work speed was not satisfactory. What I will do differently tomorrow: I'm going to make sure to leave replying to emails until the end of the day, and only spend a maximum of 2 hours on it. That way I will make the most of the day and stay focused.

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 38 Sorry for being so lazy with my posting, I have been writing to my penpals so much that I am tired of typing by the time I need to post! Anyways that is just a feeble excuse on my part, I have been lazy, full-stop. Today has been a relaxed day for me in general, I spent some great time with my little brother and his friend and have sent about 13 emails! I did my morning meditation and visualisation, but needed to wait for a skype call and so skipped my morning run. In the end the other person didn't come online so I just did my run during the middle of the day. I did some guitar practice, it was great for my attitude because I had been without my guitar for a week and haven't been very engaged. I watched a couple of Cam's videos and one he's featured in; I feel like he had me in mind in one of these videos, it might have been when he talked to Richard Kuo about habits. @Cam Adair used the example of wanting to learn programming, and I certainly fit into that situation. I want to improve my programming skills, but I don't have any particular goals for it right now and next to no competition. I've added setting programming goals to my list of things to do, I will really need to hit that list tomorrow as I've procrastinated a lot today. Thanks Cam for continuing to providing the community with useful resources! I think I've done well so far though, I did a lot more habit building than in the past week, and I still have some time today to do more of these activities. Without my daily reflections, I think I've been losing my ambitious grip. I'll start again with the full list, but perhaps not the habits checklist as I don't have as much time as I did in my holidays. What went well today: Spending time playing with nerf guns with my brother certainly made my day, it was simple fun that lasted a long time. Journalling here seems to be working well for me too! I felt a little stressed during the middle of the day, I sorted it out easily by having a second 10-minute meditation session and I felt much better afterwards. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have balanced out doing work activities with emailing penpals, but getting to start work related tasks earlier would have been the main thing to work on. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will make sure to write down a timed schedule of what I'm doing for the first half of the day to make sure I get the most done as efficiently as possible (this method has worked for me before). 3 Things I'm grateful for: I'm grateful for being a person that reflects on my activities and attitude. I am grateful for the great weather today and the opportunity to play with my brother outside. I am grateful for my caring family. One amazing thing that happened today: Having some childish fun for once to run around shooting toy guns and chasing each other around was a breath of fresh air for me. I have quickly become accustomed to the high pressure, demanding school environment and it was very enjoyable to take time out to spend with family. My favourite part of the day was hiding underneath a truck to avoid detection, it was hilarious when I was found and had trouble getting out.

Thanks! I have tried this before and it does help occasionally, it helps thoughts flow better. I tend to just forget to use it! 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 36 I have been thinking on how and why my attempts at adapting my habit building practices to school and have discussed it with my parents, and I've figured it out. The whole reason I built up a long list of things to do repeatedly was to build up new and build my existing skills during the holidays, where I had an abundance of time. I have been struggling with loads of difficulty to fit these practices in because I simply don't have that time to invest during the week, I only get a few hours of time at home because I am committed to about 4 co-curricular activities, and most of this time I need to spend on doing homework. No wonder I can't find the time! For now I'll leave my long habit building list for the weekends, but I'll make sure to continue exercise and/or meditate and take a cold shower in the morning. I have realised a main reason that I don't have the drive to have a relationship with someone of opposite sex is because I already have very close connections with my twin brother. I don't need a 'soulmate' or somebody else to know me inside out, because someone already does! If I am unsure about something, I can always talk to James, and vice versa. Have a wonderful day everyone!

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 34 Today has been a great one where I had some fun with my friends at lunch simply by talking and being engaged. I watched Cam's new video of 'you have time'. Funnily enough I have been 'running out' of time myself since I've started going back to school. I'm going to again reform the way I approach my daily tasks to make sure I actually get them done as I have been doing poorly in this area recently. I'm going to just make sure I do 10 minutes of programming, 10 minutes of guitar practice, and 10 minutes of running done every morning until I get used to my new schedule (my old morning schedule has been decimated due to needing to get up much earlier than when I was on holiday. I'll keep my journal shorter for now, it has been taking me round 45 minutes to write my journal entries recently, I need to reduce this to be more efficient with my time. Habit building I managed to do my 7 minute workout this morning, and I plan to do a morning run tomorrow. I would like to day "I ran out of time to do my other habits", but the reality is that I spent an hour watching television with my family and listened to music whilst I worked (makes it more fun but slows me down) so there is still time I can squeeze out of my afternoon. Reflection I have done well today in being organised throughout the day, I have a lot on my plate now to balance very difficult subjects (chemistry, biology, physics, top maths for calculus class, computer science) with numerous co-curricular activities I will be starting tomorrow and in the next couple of weeks. I could have done better by limiting my slouch time and working as effectively as I could.

Visualising a winning scenario I find to be the most instrumental in deriving inspiration. If you want to get better at a particular action, then yes you need to visualise what your body would do, such as throwing a ball. If you can visualise winning in the morning to be inspired throughout the day as well as visualise pitching when you are in bed, I think you can have the best of both, since your brain will mull over those thoughts while you sleep and help you perform those actions later on. I did this with learning to touch type, I thought of typing out sentences whilst in bed with my eyes closed, and I developed my typing skills much faster than I would have otherwise. If you try this out please let me know if it works for you!

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 32 Today I did my first day of paid work! I started at 11 and finished at 6, and was rather tired when I finished. Overall it was a splendid day, for once not because I completed most of all of my daily habit building (which I didn't make much time for today), but because I made some money! It'll go straight into my bank account, I'm the saver kind of person. Anyhow tomorrow I don't have anything planned, so I will make sure to chomp through as many habit building exercises as I can. I forgot to mention that the day before my first day at school, I phoned up an old friend of mine that is the same age as me but started his own business when he was 15! I got some great advice from him in terms of how businesses work from a CEO point of view, what I need to do in terms of preparations, I got to know about a lot of his experiences, and a whole lot more. One of the most surprising things he told me was that he fills his room with inspirational quotes. He seems to me like the most mature person I know, but I thought that inspirational quotes were for those that needed help. My views have now been turned on its head and I have come to realise that we all need inspiration in any form to be successful in the long term, not just in recovery from gaming or getting out of a similar bad situation. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk to him as he is a roll model for me for many areas of life. Some important advice I learned from him was to plan my business fully before launching it, everything from the company name to the product dimensions to the specific stores I would sell to (assuming I sell products). This way I can plan throughout this year and not have starting up and running a business bogging down my academic pursuits. Luckily I have learned from my 'couch potatoing' and I avoided slouching into any furniture, even though I was very tired at the end of the day. It would have resulted in me just watching Youtube or something similar whilst I rest. I instead got to work on cleaning my room and started my GQ posting! I have realised that video games haven't been on my mind for several days now, which is amazing! Despite my small duration relapses (a few days) I've had, it seems that cravings for video games are finally getting out of my system. That doesn't mean I shouldn't finish the detox though! I'm also going to stop grouping activities together that I haven't done, as I have realised that it is not only a way for me to save time, but problematically, a way for me to not feel as much guilt. I need to feel that emotion for more motivation the next day. Meditation Check! Visualistation Forgot about that today... Running Didn't make time for this as I went to be too late last night. Shame on me. 7 minute workout Nope. Cold shower Done Programming practice I didn't even think about it today but I wouldn't have had enough time anyways as I got home at 7 and had other things like posting on GQ forums that are more important! Thank you letter I am just about to write one in the form of an email to a penpal. New words I'll also do that immediately after posting, since I haven't done this in a while. Reading I'll start writing whether I've read in the last day or not, since I tend to write my post before reading during the day. Yesterday I didn't read, I watched a D&D rules video instead. Not helpful in terms of personal development, I will crack down on this behaviour. Sleeping on time I certainly did not sleep on time yesterday! I must have fallen asleep at 12pm or something. Seriously not good. Learning revision I wrote notable rules of D&D down... But I otherwise didn't learn any important information... After writing that, I just realised I have lessons in my intro to this post, I'll write that down right now! Right, that's written down in a book now. What went well today: I learnt very quickly how to serve different drinks and tend to different situations. Most significantly, I didn't beat myself up about anything I did wrong; in other words I was tolerant of my own mistakes in the mindset that I am learning and will make mistakes. What I could have done to make my day better: I will make sure to go to sleep on time as I would have been able to do more tasks and not feel so tired today. I have done pretty well overall as I worked the best I could at work, but the late time I got to bed hindered the progress I could make today a lot. What I am going to do differently tomorrow: I will get to bet earlier tonight. I will get my full morning schedule complete. Other stuff written down. I'll add the rest in the morning, it is getting late.

I've been very busy on my first proper day at school, and didn't make time to post. In short, I got a decent amount of habits done but I did better the next day. I can't remember that much so I'll just skip writing for day 29. Otherwise, my procrastinating has taken a sudden rise for reasons I haven't identified, so sorry for being an inactive member of the community for a few days! Here is my post for the day before: 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 30 Today I received an award in full school assembly for my academic achievements over the past year, but I have received the particular reward twice before (along with another 20 or so people out of my year level of 200+ students) and it felt strangely empty. I had good intentions when I got home but felt sad in isolation at home in the afternoon. I got mostly over it with some meditation and going out for a run, but I still felt a bit down. The thoughts stemmed from my own misconceptions about my ability to start and maintain a romantic relationship, as I have been unsuccessful in the past. I am ok now as I am focusing on the fact that I have been improving rapidly in my social skills recently, so I have no need to worry. I didn't make much progress in habit building as I just read, listened to podcasts and watched Youtube for most of the afternoon. I didn't bring my guitar with me to school (and therefore to my father's place) so I won't be practicing that for the next week. Here is my post for yesterday: 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 31 Today I had planned for two weeks in advance: I was to meet again with the monk that practices (and evidently wanted to spread the word of) Krishna consciousness. He was polite at first and was great to talk about meditation, but he soon took on the role of the inquisitor and shot down my beliefs about anything and everything including western culture, my thoughts towards there being no afterlife, and that our source of life is from our body. It was interesting to learn of his own ideals as they are certainly outlandish according to common western ideology. Although I can relate to philosophical curiosity to know why we desire certain things or what is our true purpose, I didn't agree with serving Indian historical figures and something called the 'Supreme Soul' an other forms of worship that rely on blind faith in something I've never seen or heard of. It was an interesting experience to say the least, but I felt he was trying to change my ideology to something more similar to his own; even though he promised me that he wasn't trying to convert me or anything. It might not be a bad thing that he is trying to do this, but I have little knowledge on philosophical and life-purpose matters and ideals so I won't make any judgements. It was also a fun day because I played the storytelling, role playing game called Dungeons & Dragons for my first time! It is the peak of nerdy games but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have observed my own curiosity in its rules and functionality; I have now read enough to try being the Dungeon Master in the game but I am slightly alarmed at my own interest in the game mechanics. I suppose this stems from a desire to win and succeed by learning game mechanics when I played video games, but I doubt playing or learning about this story telling and role playing game will be of any harm to me as it requires a lot of social interaction, imagination, improvising and calculation, not to mention about 4 or more people to play. Just as long as learning about the game doesn't get in the way of anything, I think it should be fine. Does anyone have an opinion on playing Dungeons & Dragons? It is quite a time consuming game so I would appreciate the input on others on this topic. I didn't do well in terms of daily habits, I have definitely gotten slack at that recently. It was overall an exciting and interesting day, but may have eroded my discipline a little by not engaging in many of my daily habit building practices.

Hi Paul! It's great you tried those new hobbies, they are foundations from where new and improved skills can grow. Primmula was right in that school is important at this stage and that is certainly true, but everyone needs leisure time; it is what you do with your leisure time that makes the difference. Perhaps find someone else to program with or somebody you can get help from in this area or with one of the other hobbies your might want to pursue. If school work isn't your thing, then make sure to broaden your search. I haven't heard you mention performing arts, do you reckon you may have an interest in that topic? Also if you want to read something helpful, I'd recommend The Slight Edge to the moon and back; it has been instrumental for me to change my attitude to pursue my goals.

I just read you big post Ryan. Whoa! I applaud your honesty, this is reflection on a whole new level. Identifying issues is the first step to addressing them, and you've identified numerous ones! You're doing yourself a great service by owning up to those faults. All the best for quitting your substances and moving your life forward in the way you desire!

Cool new profile pic! It is those moments of clarity and reflection that we can make the best decisions, such as yours to get back onto the success curve

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 28 Today I went back to school! It was a very relaxed atmosphere for my fellow year 13's and I, it is our last year at school and so we're the biggest fish in our pond. In terms of habits, I did moderately well in the morning to do what I could (which was everything but a shorter run and no workout) due to time restrictions, but I reckon I can manage my time better tomorrow. In the afternoon I became a couch potato and just watched youtube videos for a couple of hours, I currently need to look into why that was. Reflection on 'couch-potatoeing': I was tired from having to run home in the rain for 10 minutes, and I didn't have a planner booklet I'd usually use for school which may have led to my disorganisation. I think the main problem was that I haven't adapted my new attitude to school life yet. I need to apply my hardworking attitude, and accepting uncomfortable circumstances when I get home. I didn't think too much when I just picked up my computer and just loaded youtube videos, I remember thinking there was enough time to get other activities done. None of the youtube has helped me anyhow, so perhaps just blocking myself out of youtube except for music would be helpful. I believe that watching youtube could be something that provides instant gratification, which explains why I have seemed to pick up bad watching habits at an alarming rate (much slower than but similar to my last relapse experiment). I don't watch anything on it out of importance anyways, so I think I'll just make sure I read, program, or do something else engaging if I feel bored, tired, or feel I need a reward. If no other users have a problem with it, I'll put this into practice starting immediately. I am also going to kick into gear to continue with my challenge, I am psyching myself out of it because 'I don't have enough time' but in reality I have been on holiday! That's a pretty pathetic approach. Even though I'm getting back to school, I doubt there will be much work. Meditation I finished on the bus, so wasn't the first thing I did in the morning. I have actually become accustomed to meditation for 10 minutes every morning when I wake up; I found I was sitting down for around 10 minutes even though I wanted to do a run first thing in the morning. Visualisation I did this on the bus as well, not feeling involved whatsoever unfortunately. I think I'll move this to be immediately after I wake up instead of meditation. Running I had a quick run, but a run nonetheless. 7 minute workout Skipped Cold shower Done Guitar practice Didn't make time for it today. Programming practice Didn't make time for it today Thank you letter, new words I forgot about those Reading I have already read today, but I plan to read more when I go to bed. Sleeping on time I did alright last night. Learning revision Something that I need to start doing and getting into the habit of is revising what I've learnt during the day for maximum retention of the knowledge. I will start tomorrow, and will include what I've learnt from the book(s) I've read and experiences I've had during the day. Perhaps I could do it in the form of a written diary? Reflection I have already reflected on my youtube watching, but I realise that I have a long list of habits I am dropping out of doing. I need to improve on my participation in these areas. What went well today: Today I got along very well socially and made sure to introduce myself to other in my year level I didn't know already and to the school newcomers. I believe I am becoming much more comfortable socially. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have not wasted time watching youtube, I could have made sure to get my habit building done before relaxing. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will try and get my morning routine done faster than today. I will retain more of my learnt knowledge by writing it down at the end of the day. I will make sure to get all of my habit building done before relaxing in the afternoon. I will do a day of the challenge. One amazing thing that happened today: I was proud to tell my tutor teacher about my accomplishments these holidays and be able to say they were the best holidays I've ever had. It kicked off my day positively and I didn't feel sad at all during the day (which I have picked up on, I haven't been sad for a while). 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for the opportunity to see my classmates again. I am grateful for the privileges I now have as a year 13 student. I am grateful for my journal for reflecting on my day so I can act better in the next.

Hey man, welcome to the community! I absolutely agree with you that relapse is bad for all types of personal development. Nevertheless, my relapses have been essential for me to have clarity on the path I need to take in life, so perhaps you could learn from your relapse (assuming you had one). I was very angry when I started off quitting games, but when you find alternative activities to gaming, you have an outlet to pour your energy in guilt-free and in a way that will hopefully be more beneficial in the future! Perhaps if you had a peek at my journal to see what I do now and how I started out might give you some ideas and encouragement. All the best for your recovery!

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 27 Today has been another good day. I got all my morning habits done, and got up at 6 (compared to my holiday mode 8:30 start) so that I got in tune with the sleeping schedule I'll need for school. I am starting school for the year tomorrow, it came as a surprise as I need to orient the newcomers around school. So today I also got into town to scan the letters I wrote, check some things in the post office and have lunch. I went out of my way to get to know another stranger that was by himself, and funnily enough was in the same spot that I got to know a bunch of others a month ago. It was the fastest I got to talk to somebody on a deep, meaningful level in my life; it was only a couple of minutes before we started talking about our past and ideals. It was much easier for me to befriend this time around though, and I have noticed that people really appreciate it when you go out of your way to talk to them. I might count my next challenge day done as it was similar to the last, I am already starting conversations that lead on to more meaningful and interesting ones. I also had a talk to my dad over the phone and told him about my discouragement at achieving my goal. He apologised and supported me which was great, but I have an inkling that it might have been to make sure I wasn't upset. Anyhow I'm not going to let such a little lack of support stop me, I've got the Game Quitters community behind my back and many friends besides! One of my favorite sayings is, “If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's OK. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot.” (not the popular one shoot for the moon and if you miss you'll land among the stars) You can totally do it!! I'm not sure who you can have to motivate you but don't let your parents bring down your expectations. Mine have done that my whole life and it's had negative affects in my schooling. (I am the brightest child, logically at least, but the youngest and they undershot my academics because of my prior siblings troubles in math & sciences) If you think you're capable of it, so do I! Whoo! Thank you Laney for the advice! I certainly tried that tactic in the second half of 2015 when I took a selfie challenge to show to the world what grades I was determined to achieve from the end of year exams. This got me far; I didn't hit the stars by a long shot, but I certainly hit the moon In other words, I got pleasing grades but not the extremely high standard I was aiming for. I'll do it again, but this time with more motivation from visualisation and other sources. Thank you for the support again, I really appreciate it! snip Exactly. And ironically, when you go for bigger goals there's less competition, because most people are not shooting for the stars... they're shooting for the moon. Thank you Cam! It makes a lot of sense now. I'll make sure to aim higher than all my peers, I know I can do much better this year without gaming. Meditation Done Visualisation Didn't feel it at all today, but I gotta keep going at it. Running Done 7 minute work out Done Cold shower Done Guitar and programming practice Didn't make time for it today... This may happen more frequently in the future as I'll have less time (since I'm at school) but I haven't been managing my time the best I can these holidays so I'll do my best. Thank you letter, new words Not done. Reading I'm just about to get reading. Sleeping on time I got to bed about an hour earlier than the day before, but still not ideal. What went well today: I certainly did well with my social endeavors today, I met a new person and had great conversation with him. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have done better towards the end of the day to just get through my conveyor belt of things to do instead of milling around and reading news articles. What I will do differently tomorrow: Tomorrow will be completely different, but I will work on getting my programming and guitar practice done. One amazing thing that happened today: My conversation with the new person I met today was surprisingly smooth and I was very happy with the way it went. I might contact him tomorrow or something, he was a very interesting and successful person! 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for the opportunity to meet new people. I am grateful for the choice I have with which to spend my time. I am grateful for phones so that I can continue contacting people I have only met briefly.

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 26 Today I had great opportunity to get a bunch of things done, including writing a very long letter to one of my penpals (8 pages worth and using a quill and ink pot!) and hanging out with a couple of friends and a bunch of people I hadn't met before. I took it on myself to do one of the challenge days since I had the opportunity to meet up with those people, and it worked out fine. I needed to engage in more interesting conversation than just the regular meetup of both people saying they're fine. I realised why me asking a question rather than making a comment had been much more successful for me, and that was because the other person was put in a state where they needed to think, so they were much more likely to come up with an interesting reply rather than by just me making a comment. So I was encouraged by my parents and friends to spend some time with the friends and strangers this afternoon. I had some fun but was a good social opportunity. I did ask mostly the same question to everyone as a conversation starter, but it worked and that was fine. I didn't have time for my afternoon habits though, namely guitar practice, programming, new words and such. Meditation Done Visualisation Done. My vision of becoming the best student in my year academically hasn't had so much force recently since my father doesn't believe I can do it and that he thinks I shouldn't focus so much on my academics. I am considering getting others onboard for motivation. Running Done. 7 Minute workout Done Cold shower Done Guitar practice and programming Didn't have time for it today Thank you letter Finished! I thanked the person I am sending the letter to do. It has turned out to be a wad of paper rather than a letter... New words Didn't make time for it today. Midday teeth brushing I think I did this one today? I honestly can't remember! Reading I am going to read just before going to bed. Sleeping on time Last night I went to bed rather late! I also believe that was when I made the habit in this journal. What went well today: My morning routing took a while but started off my day really well. My conversation starters made sure that I got to know nearly everyone I met at the river today. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have gotten to bed earlier, and seems to be a repeating theme here... I think I did pretty well today though, I pushed myself to get to know others even though I just wanted to stay at home (my brother was invited but did exactly that, he stayed at home to play video games). What I will do differently tomorrow: I will make sure to get to bed early, and not go to any gatherings on short notice that end up in me getting home late I will get up and meditate first thing in the morning, not just be drowsy and use my phone. One amazing thing that happened today: I watched a beautiful sunset this evening and had a think about many things. Taking the time to admire the different colours of clouds and their shapes was a peaceful experience that I may not have enjoyed previously if I had still played games. Thumbs up to patience! 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for being able to drive by myself. I am grateful for my fancy writing utencils to make my sent letters special! I am grateful for the beautiful scenery that we have in New Zealand.

Hi Theo, I just read your introduction and it looks like you're doing great! As soon as you can find activities to fulfill the needs that gaming did, you will be able to combat the stress and boredom you may experience sitting around as well as activities to reward yourself with activities other than gaming (this was a real trip up for me). If you have the time, it may pay off to have a look at my first relapse during the 90 day detox that I have experienced. Keep it up and I look forward to seeing how you'll improve in the future!

That's unfortunate, but I also faced the same issues earlier on. My parents actively encouraged me to 'take a break' and 'reward myself' by playing games for having doing well academically, and everyone in my family didn't take me seriously for quitting games. The best thing to do is to firstly have an intentional conversation with them about why you're quitting games, how you'll become a better person for it, and ask for their support. Next is to just keep going with quitting and those around you will quickly get the notion that you're not playing any more video games and so they'll stop nagging you to help and such. I hope my experiences have given you a bit of insight, just message me if you want more help, I'll be happy to give it!

Here is my post for yesterday: 90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 25 Today I spent some time with my little brother for most of the day because he doesn't have much to do these holidays. We went to the polo club with our mother and did some eeling, it was a very mixed bag. To simplify it, I wasn't comfortable with hooking and injuring the eels, but we continued anyways because he insisted. We ended up causing intense pain to one that had a hook buried into its mouth deeply, it was constantly writhing in pain and it took me a total of about 5 minutes to get it out. From this nasty experience I have been reflecting on my attitude towards animals. In New Zealand we farm a lot of animals, but I'm not ok with the way some are treated. I need to think on this more before forming any new opinions, though. In any case it has been a rather relaxed day and I had to skip my morning disciplines to get out the house on time, but I made sure to do my meditation and visualisation once I got back home. Meditation Done Visualisation Done Running and workout Skipped today. Guitar practice Done Programming Ran out of time/didn't make time for it, it seems to always end up on the end of my to-do list. Thank you letter I have finished a draft of a letter to send to another one of my penpals, included in it is a thank you, so count that one done! New words Didn't make time for it today. Midday teeth brushing Done! Reading Done. I started reading 'Bhagavad-Ghita as it is' which is supposedly spiritually enlightening, but it is a religious text so I have been frustrated at the consistent insistence of worship of ancient leaders and the 'Supreme Soul'. It will take some serious convincing to get me to believe in that stuff, but it is great to read something from a different culture. Sleeping on time Just added today. What went well today: My 'conveyor belt' of activities to do on Trello helped me get a bunch of my habits done in a short amount of time. Meditation worked well as I was not stressed in any way during the day after the meditation. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have not watched youtube for 40 minutes, but it wasn't a big waste of time. What I certainly could have done better is going to sleep on time. I will make this into a habit to sleep on time for future accountability. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will make sure to do my morning exercise and morning habits in order. I'll go to bed early as I really need to get prepared for school. The next day I'll also make my wake-up timer to be the same as on a school day so that I will be adjusted by the time school time comes around. One amazing thing that happened today: Receiving a super long email from one of my penpals really made my day! The extra layer of reflection and accountability of having penpals will really work to my advantage over time. 3 Things I'm grateful for: I am grateful for being able to send messages to the other side of the world. I am grateful that I have the mentality to improve on all fronts because it is helping me shape my destiny the way I wish. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend quality time with my brother today

Thanks for keeping us posted on your relapse! Keeping on the GQ forums during my relapses really helped me to self assess what I was doing, where I went wrong, and how I could improve for my next attempt. Likewise you will find it hugely beneficial to keep posted even if something goes wrong or you're embarrassed. My other recommendation is that you make it clear to your family that you're not playing games any more if you haven't already; that way they'll understand if you don't help them with their mobile games and such. How are your new activities going? I'd love to hear about them!