WorkInProgress

Day 6 Today i keep it short because i have go to university soon. Well i want to go too becasue its a oppourtunity to learn the stuff i could need fter University. Let's say im in the progress of convincing me that it is that way . Things i liked about yesterday - programm presentation went only ok but it motivated me to do better - was very busy the whole day without beeing annoyed or tired - came up wiht the idea of gamequitters.com as an social hobby for ym freetime Things i want to do better today - Rebuild more contact to friends and family by calling a few of them - Stick ebtter to my plan wich i have to do now - Start studying more even nif it isnt as motivating as programming work. Things i learned My boosted attidude isn't permanent(shocking isn't it?), but my achievements are. Todays Motivation Status average

Hey, good to have you here. Maybe Cam's video about gamerfriend's can help you with your situation(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoQJ1RfPQko). I think quit gaming is something you have to want for your self or you won't suceed. But if you really want it and follow through with the advice wich is available on this side, im sure you can make it. Good luck always nice to see other people do this step too.

Hi karpet, good luck to you i hope you get where you want to get. Do you have some goals you wanna achieve, or if you no fan of goals, who do you wanna be?Creative and free of boundarys(guess thats a kind of goal 2 though)? I'm sure i just think in a total different way, but that hasn't mean that your way of thinking is worse or better. I like to fokus on things and goals and realtionships or i get lost in life. I must admit, its hard for me to understand everything you write because you have a very different,boxed, writing style wich is kind of hard to read. Especially if english isn't your first language how it is the case with me. I still wihs you the best! Maybe things get clearer for us two with your next entrys

Hi Paul, it can take some time to find a hobby you like and wich motivates you. Don't feel to bad about it. Just start trying some stuff. Most important thing is just to beginn smth. and keep doing it for some time. The hobbys wich help me personally to avoid gaming right now, are darts and juggling, because i am allready pretty decent at them and its motivating to see myself improve.And i like how i can switch my head off for some time if i fokus. But i have to search better stuff too because thisisn't social at all. You could start to learn drawing i bet there are some forums out there wiht tutorials and platforms to share your work. Mbe you find Cam's hobby ideas on http://gamequitters.com/ helpfull they are a free download so check them out. I would advice you to think for some goals. For example to practice playing guitar isn't rly fun at the start. YOu have to learn chords and theory and you feel pretty stupid at the beginning. So you have to motivate you to get over this first treshold. Mbe you pick a cool song you like and start playing it. That's jsut an example i guess you don't have guitar. If you like the drawing idea it could be a goal to draw a fun(or tragic) comicshortstory. Programming is a pretty cool skill to accomplish too. Just google how to learn programming and im sure you find a ton of good tutorials. If this isn't helping you i would try to make a game out of improving your life. I mean in computergames you have to find out how to get better and then train the abilites you need. If I played a LoL for example and sucked at a hero you would check the internet about this hero how you play him and wht good people do wiht him. Same principle applies to real life. You feel down all the time and can't do constructive work? Learn about increasing your energy-lvl and willpower and practice to get better. In my opinion lazyness isn't something you were born with. It is just a symptom of low motivation( because you don't now how to motivate yourself) or low energy wich occurs if you feeling down or if you just don't eat and sleep right. You should really watch Cam's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA2joOdhL3g. It gave me some insights about it. His youtube channel is pretty awesome anyway. So if you browse mindlessly next time put some mind in it and check it out . Good to hear from you. Een if it mbe doesn't feel like it at the moment you did another important step on you journy. So keep going you are doing great.

Hi Theo. Good to see you here. The main thing is to be honest about your self and, really wanting to change your lfie to the better. It is a good basis to have a job you like. I kind of envy you on that but well after strying i will hopefully find one too. I will follow your weekly reports wiht great interest. Thank you for sharing your experiences with the community. Its not only helps yourself it helps many people(like me) to continue their progress. greetings Mario

Day 5 I always said to myself that im lazy because i couldnt bring my self to training,studying or comitting to any stuff besides gaming. But i realized that there were atleast one other factor influencing me. I always feared not to fullfill my goals, that is why i set them low. People always said to me, Mario you are so talented if you would actually work for stuff you could achieve anything! I know that sounds pretty well but i feared if i try i woudln't be the best or even as good as people(mainly my family) think. Thats one main reason i never practiced enough for my piano lesson's. If i failed, i couldl say well i didn't try hard so that is no surprise. If i was still rocking i knew im sooo talented. But that's bullshit. If you try to get better in something you have to train for it. It doesn't matter where you end but you become better then before. That' was counts. The main goal isn't to become a famous pianist who plays like a god. The main goal is to be better at palying at the start of next week. If you can achieve this your freakin awesome and you will ge tbetter adn ebtter and mbe even become a piano god;) The point is you try to get better every day you allready reach the most important goal in my opinion. I got to this thoughts while i watched Cam's video about willpower. And yeah willpower detoration is a thing, not only at gaming if you never actually tried hard to reach goals it shouldn' be surprising to you, that you not always reach them.Thats why i will now be determined to lvl up my willpower. First step was a pretty accurate timeplan i made for today. Sadly my planning is kind of lacking thats why im allready behind of it 6:30 in the morning. But well then i have to cut my morning walk in tee freezing cold for some minutes. As long as i still get my stuff done today or at least try to do it i will be happy. Long day today. First i go out for a (short) walk. 2ond i clean the kitchen a nd make myself breakfast then i do one hour of studying. After this i go buy some groceries clean the floor of my appartment and go to university(it should be around 9:30 now). I attend a work meeting with my boss show him my awesome programm and try to do some catch up at the university computer room. Have to work my self into a programm all by myself because i didn' was at my courses the last 3 times. At 13:30 i go visit my mum and get a free lunch. Then i go work at my sister's praxis as an recepionist till 8 am. One hour way home spent half an hour with my wife eat a little and fall into bed. Productivity arises and im excited. If i think back one week i woudl playedgames until 10, eat smth in 5min, rush to my meeting, woudln't be prepared. Then i would feel that bad about beeing behind that i would have gone directly to my mum's house surf the internet while pretending to study and gone to work without beeing productive. Great feeling to be better allready. By the way I am sorry if i praise my self to much lately, but it helps myself to feel better and be more motivated. Thats why i stopped to beat myself up and be more positive. I 'm sure it will be more in the balance soon. Things i liked about yesterday: - worked for 2 hours and amde a nice grafic for my presentation today. - studyed more as i had planned - did a walk through the snow wiht my wife and talked to her instead of couch surfing Things i want to do better today: - be more productive and make a more realistic plan( damn i can forget my walk today xD) Things i learned: Beeing lazy isn't something you are. It is something I trained myself to be. Now i train myself to be kickass. and btw. wasn't even tempted to plan gaming today . Thinking wins over impulsivity. Atleast if you do it the day before you have to do stuff.

family time seems like a good substitute . Nice Plan! What is KhanAcadamy?

HI guys 4 days no gaming and I allrdy get creative again and feel new motivation to do stuff. My mood is awesome and I really think my life this will work out to the best for the first time in a few months. Guess that state of mind won't be stable, but it's a w e s o m e so i really celebrate it with this post .

Day 4 Yesterday was pretty good. My goals admittely weren't that high. But i reached them! I worked for 2hours and got so much done i was in areally good mood. Will continue programming today. Tomorrow i will have a meeting withmy boss about the current state of the programm and i feel confident about my work state, wich haven't happened in the last 3 months. I also haven't done any youtube browing or gaming. So even if i'm behind in studying, im in a constructive mood today and start to see first results. It is impressive how much progress, i see even if i only started this journey. Man I always feel kind of embarassed if talk in such metaphers as journeys to my better future . It is such an clichee. But it really feels like the start of a journey today. Well today it is sunday and day 4 of my journey (suck it embarassed ego!). My goals for today - work for another two hours even if I dont have too. - study for atleast one hour - clean our place to have an ok looking appartment for the upcoming week Things i liked about yesterday - felt good about my progress - spent some really nice time wiht my wife on the couch! Things i want do do better today - get more ambitous goals done Things im thankfull for - my wife - this community( got rly motivated by reading a journal this morning) - my awesome mood today PS: corrected some errors. I really have to formulate my journal entrys better. I even accidentally wrote a german word instead of an english one. Excuse me, i never write stuff in english so its hard for me to keep my writing correct. But i try to improve the quality of my writing in the future. Fell free to correct my bad english if you want. This would help me a lot at this specific goal.

HI Paul, I hope you haven't quit on your journal. Would be awesome if we both stay strong wiht the posting. But what ever you do right now, good luck too you.

Hi Alex started reading your journal and jsut wanna say it motivatges me to challenge myself more and get more done. I haven't startetd the 30-day challenge and just started quittng games 3days before. I just wanna say ty for uploading your journal it is really inspiring for me. Keep going it is impressing!

Hi Zakaex, yeah i would try to find smth. new to live, but i won't necessarly cut them out your life. You can hang out with them but if you're in an appartement and can't go anywhere without watching people play games, this will lead to problems. Sometmes you have to look after the things that are best for you. I would explain them what you want to do(stop gaming) and why you want to do it and go from there. If you don't find a new place or decide not to move out, there are other possibilitys to avoid gaming. You can go out for reading or studing. You can go outside to learn new things or work on your social skills. And if your not at home, you aren't in danger of falling back to your addiction. Cam wrote it helped him a lot not to stay at home. He would basically work and then go out of the house to meet new people or read at a starbucks. If you decide to find a new appartment, this fact does not mean you have to cut the people you like out of the life. You just won't live with them anymore. If the only thing the like si gaming though it will be hard to find time to do stuff together. But im sure even gamers enjoy going out with friends or play some cards adn drink some booze in the evening hope my Input helps a bit.

thx for the support Zakaex. Means a lot.

Hi Daniel. Nice to see you joining us. I started quitting games two days before and it is really helpfull too see other people make the same changes. If you like, start a journal at this side. I found it helpfull to fokus on my goal and to order my thoughts about gamequitting. Either way good luck to you! I hope you make it too through the 90 days.

Day 3 Ok i failed my plans yesterday. I didn't studied a bit and watched nonsense on youtube all day, juggled, played some darts and listened to music. I even looked on some Wc3 footage and was really close to reinstalling the game . At least i realized the urge and stayed strong, even if it was pretty hard. At 5 am i programmed for work for one hour and i talked with an old friend and made plans with him next weekend. I talked with him about my cold turkey too and even if he is a LoL-addict too, he was pretty understanding. It made me feel pretty good about this. So yeah at least i did something right. This day will be easier because my wife is here and so i won't get bored and have some supervision . Im really tired because my shitty cats woke me up at 4 a clock but im determined to study more and getmore done today. This forum is a distraction from learning too, so i will use it only if i need special motivation or as alternative to yotube. I reckon I will still hang out here often enough. Things i want to do better this day: - increase my productivity wiht less browsing - study and work more - if I start feeling guilty, start working instead of further postponing Things i got done last day: - made a fb-invitation to a party at our new appartment. - cleared some bill stuff up. Best experience yesterday: - talked to my best friend for the first time after two weeks. Was awesome @Cam thx for the reply, feedback really helps with the motivation.

Yeah a new start could help. But if its possible for you, i would recommend to try a special mindset dealing with such commentarys. I often was made fun of bullies. If they insulted my highwater jeans for example, i just refused to get insulted and angry was very friendly and agreed with them. I answered smth like this: thank you man that you pointed that out! Now i can buy new jeans wich fit better and look awesome. U are a real help! Or if they say smth like whats up with ur hair man. Your breasthair isn't growing yet but ur head alrdy gets empty. Thank u for recognizing it i love it too, how old and experienced i look! Just take the insults out of context and act like their were compliments, tips or sugestions and be rly rly friendly about it. It needs some roleplay and practive but I always found it funny to see their confusion about my uncharacteristic reactions.And the dumbest ones wouldn't even realize i was mocking them. So yeah if you dont get in danger to get beaten up for such shannanigans its a good tactic. And even if it wont stop this shit atleast you can make a game out of it wich is fun for you. Its rly disencouraging to bully someone who has fun reacting at it. If you have bad luck though they will push further still they get you annoyed again. In this case think to yourself fuck you you dumb asshole i will be so much better person after school that i almost feel sry for you. And start ignoring them. Another solution woudl be to start working out regulary and building some muscles. If your bigger and stronger then most of people respect/fear you and are scared to shittalk in front of you. But that needs some time and commitment. And well i hate muscle training so that wasnt a real option for me.

Well to get bullied always sucks, in school i had the luck only to get bullied from a few classmates. They made it appear at it was just fun and mbe it was for them but it was really hard for me because i got very angry and couldn't deal with it mentally. But because it were only a few people i could ignore them or evade them. Later on they dropped one by one out of school and my friends became the "cool" kids. And ofcourse i had always some friends in school what made it easier for me. How is your situation exactly? Are their only some mean kids wich are bullying you or is it a class sport? How do theybully you? verbally? physically? It depends on your situation what u can do. I found a websites who seems reasonable(http://us.reachout.com/facts/factsheet/what-to-do-if-you-are-being-bullied) but i don't know if u can use these tipps in your situation. I'm feeling with you atleas,t because i know that kids can be assholes wiht no empathic abilites at all.

Yeah we are watching you! keep it going.

I will be much better at self discipline and organisation. Then everyday will be without pressure of things i still have to do, because i will know at what time and date i do them!

Day 2 Hi guys (and girls), My Name is Mario, i am 25-year-old german and it is the first time I use a forum, but it is time to get serious about quitting games and show some commitment for my life. All in all my life is pretty awesome even besides gaming. Many of my old friends stayed nearby after school and i am happily married since 5.December. I like my family even if they are sometimes crazy people. Luckily i am clever enough to get through my engineering studys without too much effort and have the possibility to start my masterthesis soon. But: i skip courses and neglect my friends to play video games. I lied to my wife about gaming instead of studying while she is at work. In the past i tried to stop gaming a few times with some success. I havent played League of Legends for one year now after I played all day long whilst my girlfriend was at work. These days i started at 6 a clock in the Morning and would play till my Girlfreind was back home. Somehow i got to the place i am now, playing substitutes like Dota 2 and Warcraft 3. All my freinds now they cant rely on me because often i "forget" things i said i would do and well that feeling sucks. Now i have the chance to get atleast a above average master of engineering, if I somehow manage to get some learning done and write like seven exams starting at the end of February. And ofcourse if i mangae to write an excellent masterthesis so the pressure is on. Not only my studys suffered under my gaming addiction. I neglected my friends and family and was sometimes mean to my wife because i am not happy with my life and have lost all my self confidence over the last 5 years. But now I deleted every game on my computer and will write about my experiences in this journal. Yesterday was hard. I felt depressed and skipped courses even without gaming, because i am so far behind at studys it is embarassing to go to University. Atleast i started organizing my learning stuff and cleaned the bathroom. Still a pretty poor result for a whole day time. I watched some youtube and listened to some podcasts. Today i check the dates of my exames even if i fear i have too less time for studying. The fear of failing is one of the main reasons i play video games and in the end fail my goals. I am pretty good at repressing bad feelings until its too late. I wills tart structuring my days now and to improve what i can improve. I will start every day at 6 when my wife leaves to work. First thing is to write an entry in this Journal and keep track of my progress. Then I will make breakfast and start studying for at least 3 Hours with some breaks in between. Then i do lunch and start clearing postponed tasks of my list like planning doctor appointments and organize my financial stuff. After that i will play some darts listen to podcasts or read for one hour. Then i do some programming for my sidejob at University. I will use some study breaks for housework like laundry and cleaning because it will activate my body while my brain can rest. And starting next week i will go too every course and get most out of it! Ok damn a lot too change and a lot to do. Atleast it will keep my mind away from gaming. Wish me luck adn correct my bad english if u have the time and nerve for it. I try to improve my english writing skills. Well, time for breakfast(scrambled eggs )!

Hi Luke, sounds like a good start to me. I am german too and just started the the 90 day programm. I played some piano as i as a teenager but was too lazy to practice. Thats why I never got beyond the basics, but im pretty sure that playing an instrument give you a good flow experience and is a nice way to escape from the normal world for some time. And the girls love musicans so keep it going Be sure not to fall for free games like LOL they are so tempting and always accesable. They are my personal nemesis. Well they were my personal nemesis because i quit all games right now. FellsGoodMan!

Hi Guys, Thank you for your comments. Its really nice to see that people actually read my little story. Guess i try to formulate my thoughts in the journal. Writing your thoughts down is helping to order them and make you more aware of ur problems, wich seems to be a logical step towards improvement. It is a good english practice too . @Cam Thank for founding this site and all your effort. With the free-to-play modell of games getting stronger the barrier to gaming addiction is becoming pretty low and im sure it helps a lot of people. I hope you make some money off it soon, you deserve it.

Hi i'm Mario, I am 25 years old, live in germany and i played video games since i was a kid. I started with all the types of gameboygames, but always read a ton of books too and played alot outside. The addiction started as i started playing online at the age of 14. I played Warcraft 3 online with a friend. Sometimes we would play till 4a clock in the morning even if we had school at the next day. But i was good at school and my life was under control. I only played too much video games. I said to myself if i find the woman of my life i stop playing and use the time i save for my relationship. Because i was too lazy to play with hotkeys i was always just better then average at video games but never rly good. Warcraft 3 is a very micro intensive game and pretty hard to play well. Thats why i switched to the custom Warcraft 3 Game Dota. I finished school with an (about average) degree and started to study in my hometown. Because i was always good at science and had no special dream or lifegoal i started my studys to become an engineer, what seemed like an interesting and safe choice.Also I could stay at my parents home for it. At studying i realized that i couldn't play all day and still be sucessfull in my career. But i didn't stopped gaming. So i did pass my classes only barely, because i did not invest enough time into my studys. I played after Dota a lot of league of leagends wich has an very addictive sytem of achievements. I was stressed out, felt the pressure of University and should help with tidying up our apartment (my girlfriend and I lived in our own appartement). But i kept doing just what was absolutly needed. I often did not go to classes at university. That was the first time i said : No. I don't want to be addicted. It influences my life in a bad way. I found a girl i love and are mean to her, because i sit at home and play video games all day. I loose my confidence because i suck at University because i sit at home and play video games all day. So i stopped playing this game. I sometimes watched youtube videos about LOL, studyied a bit more and tried to cook more as an hobby. It worked out ok for half an year or so. then I started playing Dota 2. At the start it was just casual gaming with a friend from University. I was still good at it because its like Dota with new graphics. But i felt the urge to get better watched youtube videos about game mechanics and watched streamers and professional games.I told myself it wouldnt be a problem but i started playing over 7hours a day. This lead to a rly bad bachelorthesis of mine. I started my Master and told my Girlfriend that i stopped gaming again because she was rly suffering under it adn my resulting moods. I am now in my final year of my Master of Science and need to pass 7 exams with rly good marks to have a realistic chance on a good job. But recently i started to play Warcraft 3 again. It was meant to be nostalgic, but i started to skip classes again and started lying to my wife( I married her a month ago :)) about gaming because i dont want to hurt her. She works at a job she doesnt like and wants me to finish my studys( im at university for 5 years now) and start working too. Then she could safely try out other jobs without risking our lifestyle. I stopped gaming again today and wont watch gaming channels any more. Because i realized that i can't do it by myself, this is the first time i write something in a forum and hope it will help me to achieve my goals. To be sucessfull in my life. To get my stuff done and that i never have to lie to my wife again out of shame. Wish me luck! PS: Im sry if this isn't comfortable to read, because my english or my punctuation sucks.