Jon

Ouch! Glad to hear that perhaps that was the only issue. A full helmet is definitely a good idea. I'm impressed by your resilience to continue with your streaks as well as the really busy schedule after that accident.

Day 1 out of 21 (no reddit or games) I definitely broke the streak. Not on the 3rd day, but on the fourth. I've been really busy (stressed) with work and sick, but I think at the end of the day it's because I don't have conviction about where my life should go. Growing just to grow unfortunately doesn't seem to drive me very well. My "Why" is very weak when i think about it. Why get in shape? Why eat healthier? When I do the "Why" exercise, where you keep asking Why until you get to a very powerful desire, always ends in a "meh" feeling. I appreciate you Yan for continuing to check up on me. I probably would have stopped posting at all if it wasn't for you.

Day 2 out of 21 (no reddit or games) Feeling a bit better. I was able to wake up a bit earlier and get started on things (like journaling). I need to stop looking at any mail (personal or work) before sitting down and planning my day out. Sometimes I'll look at a notification within like 2 minutes of waking up while I'm still in bed and my whole morning mood can be soured depending on what it is. I always feel permanently behind when I let my notifications start my morning.

Day 1 out of 21 (no reddit or games) I've caught some sort of illness so the energy/willpower levels are quite lower. I'm just going to focus on getting my work done, getting one to two chores done, and then taking it easy. I'd like to use some of this momentum though to take on some other beneficial activities like waking up at a consistent time and having better meal plans. I'm not going to stress about them, but I think I'll gravitate towards them since I do have a bit more free time.

That's an awesome mindset. Hope it goes well and at minimum you find it interesting, if not a bit fun even. I have a lot of respect for you sticking to your food schedule. That's something I need to tackle as well, but I'm already struggling enough as it is with journaling consistently so I'll table that for a little bit.

Thanks for checking in Yan even if I'm not doing a great job at journaling. I can do 21 days. That's Nov 14/15. From now on I will journal first thing in the morning since I keep waiting until the afternoon and then just forgetting about it. I'll uninstall reddit as well since that's one of the worst time sinks, maybe even more so than gaming. I work as a software developer.

Thanks @Yan for checking in on me. I can't believe I missed 8 days. I relapsed for about an hour after this busy past weekend, and skipping my journal probably contributed to that. Day 1: My typical day is to wake up around 7-8. Make breakfast, feed the cats, and then start working. Most days I work from home, but even though the commute isn't fun I should probably go into the office to better motivate me. I typically work pretty well for the first 3-4 hours and then the afternoon is me trying to do as little work as possible. I spend time on my phone and do other less desirable activities. It's not really the slacking off at my job that bothers me, but more the activities I replace my time with. I have some side projects I'd like to continue working on, clean up my computer room, exercise, and other various activities, but they do not stimulate me like my phone or games can unfortunately.

Day 4: I do pretty well in the mornings when it comes to focusing and getting things done. As the early afternoon arrives though things don't quite go my way. Still haven't played any games, but I definitely need to make improvements on how I spend my time. Hopefully I've made my todo list short enough today that I can get through all of the items. Cheers!

Thanks Paul! Day 3: Had a busy day yesterday with lots of driving so didn’t end up journaling. I’m hoping my focus working this week is better since I’m not playing PC games. I will continue to play games with my wife on the switch a couple times a week since that has been a complete non-issue. I’ll make sure to stay aware of if it leads me back to PC gaming, but I think YouTube is much more likely to do that.

Hi Yan, great job with the consistent updates! Don't feel shame for not working as much as you'd like. Even sitting down and working for an hour is a huge win.

Hello everyone, old-new member here. Day 1 again. I couldn't tell you how many day 1's I've had. Day 1: Watched Cam's latest YouTube video. I've probably watched most of them, if not all of them, over the years. He mentioned journaling on the forum again and I thought maybe I'd try it finally. Turns out, I had tried it years ago. It was really interesting to look back at what I had written, but at the same time quite demoralizing. Over 5 years later - my journey started even before then - and I'm still struggling with the same exact issues. I'm not even sure if I would call gaming THE problem anymore. In comparison to the past I rarely game, but I still fill my time with dopamine projects. I recently watched 5 year old GameQuitters video and Cam mentions that he would consider it a failure of himself or his program if someone were to quit video games and replace it with another dopamine trap Netflix/YouTube/social media. That's what I did, but I never followed Cam's programs or implemented his advice long term so there is no blame laid on him. It just made me think of yeah, gaming is "under control", but did it accomplish anything? Gaming still takes priority over other tasks I want to accomplish. I've tried to tackle my discipline by cutting out things until I get to something I want to do. Some people may say my wants are actually "shoulds", but I do truly want to be a new person. If I say no games, then I may watch more porn. If I say no porn and games then I may eat more sugar and watch YouTube. If I say no more sugar or YouTube I may scroll reddit. I don't think this method works for me because all I'm telling my mind is to get rid of everything that it enjoys and replace it with the next activity on the list. I probably need to tackle my activities from the other direction of making things I want to do that are more difficult more palatable. As I approach 30 I don't want the next 20 years to be like the last 20 years. I'm not even sure what I want them to look like, but something different is in order. I'd appreciate comments with advice or support because reading my old forum post and seeing the replies really helped even all these years later Thank you for reading, - Jonathan Old Post

Day 15, Thank you for your input Simms =) I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had planned. I'm catching an illness though, so I would point to that as a main factor. I've been trying to quit gaming for years, but every weekend I'm still surprised at how hard it is to avoid temptation. I end up surfing the internet most of the day either on reddit or news sites which are just cause a state of sadness in me. Afterwards I went on reddit and read some stories of people who attempted suicide. Occasionally I read stories about depressed people or people in poor situations to give myself a little perspective. It's so easy to be caught up in my own head where I'm constantly upset that I don't do enough or am too lazy or have nothing that pulls me out of bed in the morning. Those stories remind me that I have a lot going for me. Here's to a new week. I'm glad I have work tomorrow because weekends leave too much time where temptation creeps in. Cheers.

Day 13, My father was in town and we went out for dinner for 2 hours. We talked about a bunch of stuff from finances to family but then we got to fun. He asked me what I was doing this weekend. I know that if I had turned around and asked him that he would not have anymore of a response than I, but it doesn't make me feel any better. There's reading, cleaning, and programming, but I don't do anything else. A friend and I will try to start playing some racquet ball. I think I need to hike more on the weekends. I'm not sure about all of it. I need to get involved in something. I'm grateful for my father, though sometimes we want to strangle each other, thankfully we never have. He always believes I can do what I set out to do.

Day 10, I've downloaded his first 3 episodes. I'll check them out. Thanks Cam! I'm grateful for my roommate who's also my best friend.No change from yesterday. I'm reading Essentialism by Greg Mckeown and I've been able to focus more on the pertinent tasks at work. Usually I get distracted easily by my coworkers or we'll start talking about problems other than the ones we're trying to solve. I also might be the proud owner of a triplex soon. Peace.

Day 9. I'm grateful for my job which allows me flexible hours and the ability to live a comfortable life.I'm grateful that I like my job. It may not be love, but many people can't claim to even like their job.I'm grateful that I was able to drive up and see my parents this weekend.I'm grateful for my cat. Though he's a little s***, he's always there waiting for me when I get home. Even if it just because he wants me to feed him.I'm grateful for my friends who are flawed, but are also driven. Together they show me examples of what it's like to succeed in different areas of life.I've still been unable to conquer waking up earlier. If I do wake up earlier than usual I tend to just lay in bed until once again I'm running a bit late. Usually I blame depression or day with an event I'm dreading. This isn't the case most of the time. It's just a normal day with a little bit of new stuff, but nothing I can't manage. Tomorrow morning I'll try again.

Day 5 plus a month. I appreciate everyone's positive words. The past four years have been a struggle and I continue to struggle with my gaming addiction. I'm always pulled back to the game quitters mission though, so I know it's the right place to be. Actually, I'm on day 5 since last playing so this is a perfect time to start Day 5 of the game quitters challenge. Another coincidence is earlier today I decided I was going to make my approach even simpler. For the next 21 days my only obligation is to wake up at 6:30 and meditate. That's it. It's getting late so I'll need to craft my vision board tomorrow. Here's to always trying again. Cheers!

Thank you for the kind words everyone. I honestly have no excuse for missing the last 4 days. My mood cycles (like most) and I happened to be in a valley, so I just didn't continue. Day 4: Ugh, if I could wake up to my alarm and just hop out of bed it'd be amazing. I'm going to move exercising to when I get home because I dislike it enough that it keeps me from getting out of bed. I think I'll keep it simple and follow Cam's advice. Get out of bed at 6.Headspace for 10 minutes.Shower.Get dressed.Make breakfast and read.Go to work. Cheers. @WorkInProgress I've recently found purpose comes from action. I guess I'm confused what leads a person to action then.

Day 3: A little short on time today. It took me longer to read the first 32 pages to expect. I've actually read The Slight Edge before, but I see no reason not to read it again. I've read plenty of books that didn't resonate with me the first time, but later did. By far the most impact-full line I've read in the first chapter was... "The reason diets and other how-to’s don’t work for most people is the same reason most how-to books and courses don’t work for most people. It isn’t that the actions are wrong. It’s that people don’t keep doing them." I let out a sigh. Read it again. I let out a laugh. Read it again. It's embarrassingly simple, but it's my one failure. It reaffirms my decision to make "Self-control" my word of the year. Day 4 here I come.

Thanks! Day 2: Not as good as day 1 if measured by level of productivity. I didn't realize how much waking up at 6:30 and going through a morning routine would benefit the rest of my day. My focus was on point in comparison today where I woke up late due to staying up to late. Onto the mission today. Answer the following: Three goals I want to accomplish right now are:Wealth: Developing my project management skills.Health: Maintain an exercise routine.I've never had an exercise routine that I followed for more than a couple days. Once I develop a habit of exercise then I can focus on optimizing it.Creative: Practice creating cross platform mobile apps.I didn't want to put programming under the wealth and creative columns. It is possible my life is missing a creative outlet that is not related to work (i.e. music, drawing, video, editing) but I'm not sure at this point. Maybe learning a new language. Now take each goal and brainstorm ideas for a project:Simulate a team project setting for goal #3 (cross platform mobile apps), Also, read.This is a weak project, but I need to do more research to figure out how best to practice project management.Over the next two months use the CARROT FIT app and follow its workout each day.The benefit to this app is that it's slightly entertaining and the exercises are all things I can do in my house. I have no intention of ever making a trip to the gym a daily habit. The app just tells me what to do and I follow which means I don't have to make any decisions.Develop 1 minimal viable product a month. Each one should target different, common use cases for applications.I plan to commit to all to goals 2 and 3. One is physical and the other mental, so I don't see why I couldn't do both. Goal 1 is something I'll work towards, but it's not quite clear enough yet. Scheduling:Goal 2 will be done at 6:15 in the morning for 15 minutes.Goal 3 will be done at 7:00-8:00 in the morning. I may need to allocate more time for this after work.I've noticed that though I don't like to wake up early I am more productive during the morning hours. Cheers. -Jon

Day 1: Feeling a bit down today, but I'm going to try and start the Game Quitters Challenge. Honestly, I'm just starting it so I have some sort of purpose. Write a letter to yourself about how you're currently feeling and why it's important to you to move on from games. Why do you want to make this change in your life?Moving on from games has nothing to do with games. I just want to try having a different life. At the moment I'm overweight, my apartment is a borderline disaster, I have a small number of friends who feel more distant from me, and there's 0 purpose. I know this is the new year, but it feels like any other day of trying to find some sort of drive. I don't even know how to find an inner drive. Suicide has been on my mind, but not because I'm tired of life and think it's too hard. I just haven't found a reason to try.Write one or two sentences describing how you believe other people currently perceive you.Taking ideas from what's stated above, I think people who are mostly focused on money see a pretty 'successful' guy. I graduated college and make a good chunk of money. Those who have the opportunity to look past the money see a soulless fella. I'm slightly obese. Enough to feel disgusting. My aparment is messy. Enough for me to feel lazy. My job is what I have going for me and though it's a very nice job. I don't feel like I'm really helping anyone.Write one or two sentences describing how you'd like to be perceived by others.I don't have to be in shape, but I would like to not be overweight or seen as overweight/obese. I want people to look at me and see someone who is driven even if it's about something they think is ridiculous. Someone who can create their own purpose.List three of your behaviors or characteristics you would like to change.Weight/Body shape.Drive.Self-control.Determine how many more days you have left to live.19,844 days. At my current rate of behavior I doubt this number. Happy New Year. -Jon