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Day 73 - Friday Summary: PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 88: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 39: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 97: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Had one drink at parents' place. Mostly had NA drinks. Plan: Determine ahead of time how much you will drink before events. When there are weeks without events, try to keep drinks to 2-3 a week or less (zero is of course totally fine). Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed! Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: No data Description: Not applicable as I left my computer at home. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Relaxed with parents and wife. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: Completed 8 pomodoros. Description: ★★★★★ Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1; 2: 2; 2.5: 3; 3: 4; 3.5: 5; 4: 6; 4.5: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: No data. Description: Vacation so things are a bit different. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up and cleaned sink. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

What kind of phone do you have, Vee? Freedom on Apple has a weak point which is that you can just uninstall the app, even if in locked mode. I've found that on Apple, the screen time feature is more effective when someone else holds the pass code so you can't deactivate it. You can also use Freedom and have that person toggle a setting in screen time where you cannot uninstall apps without the pass code. However, depending on your situation, this could be incredibly inconvenient. I wish Freedom would fix this, but I think it has to do with Apple's strict security policies. Android, I'm not sure about.

This is great and very encouraging! Keep it up! I love the habit tracker, too. I may switch to this one after my 90 days are up.

For me this was YouTube, not video games, but I think the same principle applies. I found the preoccupation to be strongest within the first two weeks of quitting. However, as I sought ways to fill the gap, I thought about it less and less. Now, I barely think about it at all. I think those first two weeks are crucial in finding other things to do. Building momentum early helps sustain you later.

No, they are actually quite different. With wordless music like jazz, it can exist in the background and be enjoyed but not keep me from thinking my own thoughts or addressing feelings/issues I may be avoiding. On the other hand, a podcast has absolutely served that purpose way too many times for me. I've found my entire worldview shifted somewhat when I stopped listening to podcasts. I was no longer just consuming information at a fast pace without much chance to process or challenge. There was more of a feeling of being told what to think, but I didn't realize it. With a book, you can stop, think, process, and challenge much easier. My attention has significantly improved as well. Processing music is much different than processing a conversation. When listening to a podcast, your brain is working hard to concentrate, process the words, extract information... and if you are multitasking, it will fatigue you. I couldn't figure out why my brain felt tired all the time until I cut them out. This does not happen to me with jazz, classical, etc. I listen to other music too but often dedicated listening sessions or when exercising. Maybe the only other way I can describe it is, think of listening to jazz for four hours versus your friend talking to you for the same amount of time with no breaks or places for you to interject. That would be exhausting, right? Yet somehow we subject ourselves to that (plus ad reads...) quite easily with podcasts. Could be either one. It's only purpose would have been to fill the silence with a voice, to imitate someone being in the house. I think it mostly came from missing my wife when she was out and wanted to feel like she's home (usually this would happen when she worked nights). However, as I've outlined in my journal, it also stemmed from using someone else's voice to fill in the silence so that I didn't need to confront uncomfortable thoughts. With music, I can still confront those things while also not having dead silence all the time in the house (though I'm trying to work in silence as well, just to be comfortable with that). I've found now that most podcasts, even "educational" ones are relatively superficial and do not provide me with the same amount of information I would get from reading something on the same topic. I don't think I can tell you off the top of my head a single instance where I learned something in a podcast and still remember to action that item today. Reading, on the other hand, I have numerous examples; books have completely restructured parts of my life. I just find nowadays that podcasts have diminishing returns for the time invested. The barrier to entry is low, the market saturation high. I'm not telling other people to stop listening to podcasts, and there are some genuinely entertaining ones. I'm just expressing what I've found to be true for me, especially during the course of my journey. Due to the current temporary circumstances of our life, I live at least an hour from the closest friends. I have a good neighbor, but the way we hang out is more when we work on cars or do repairs together. I can call family and friends, and sometimes I do, but I think the principle I was going for with this endeavor to stop listening to podcasts is learning to be comfortable by myself. I have people and friends that are willing to hang and talk, but not everything is immediate or convenient. The healthiest thing for me to do is learn how to thrive both when I am with people and when I find myself alone. The latter is inevitable and it's important to learn to be self-reliant and not expect others to always entertain me when I feel by myself, though there is certainly a place for that too.

Day 72 - Thursday (yesterday) Summary: Yesterday, I went to an an event for alumni from my school who live in the area. It was a small gathering but certainly fun and worth attending. I was very responsible and had only one beer and then switched to water. The evening alarm is working for me. Although I'm a bit dazed sometimes when I wake up, it is getting me over to my desk to journal and then head up to bed. The only thing is the alarm can sometimes be unreliable, crashing now and then. I've contacted the support team to investigate the issue. My weekend will be a bit different as my wife and I are taking a little trip, but I'll try to keep my habits as best as possible while away, even if in modified form. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 87: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 38: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 96: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Had one beer when I went out for a social event and then switched to water. Plan: Determine ahead of time how much you will drink before events. When there are weeks without events, try to keep drinks to 2-3 a week or less (zero is of course totally fine). Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed! Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Reading: read novel. Exercise: Lower Body A Socializing: Went out to a happy hour alumni event hosted by my alma mater. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: Completed 5 pomodoros. Description: ★★★✫☆ Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1; 2: 2; 2.5: 3; 3: 4; 3.5: 5; 4: 6; 4.5: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★★✫ Description: Went up to bed at my alarm, did part of my nightly routine, and was in bed. My alarm had a malfunction this morning though so I got up a bit later. I contacted the app support team to investigate. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★☆ Description: Still riding out one more day of cleaning, although I didn't tidy up anything yesterday. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Hooray! Congrats. A long road but a well-deserved victory.

I'm feeling the same way lately. Sitting down with a good book has been my go-to activity in the evening.

Day 71 - Wednesday (yesterday) Summary: The biggest update here is that my tested method for getting me off the couch worked!! My alarm went off and I woke up, went over to the desk, took the picture, and sat down to complete my journal. I then made it up to bed and completed my routine. I'm going to keep doing this, I'm optimistic it will continue to work. It was also a success this morning. The alarm went off and I immediately got up to take a picture of the coffee pot downstairs, as that's the only way to shut off the alarm. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 86: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 37: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 95: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink any alcohol. Plan: Determine ahead of time how much you will drink before events. When there are weeks without events, try to keep drinks to 2-3 a week or less (zero is of course totally fine). Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed! Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Reading: read novel. Exercise: Upper Body A Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: Completed 7 pomodoros. Description: ★★★★✫ Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1; 1.5: 2; 2: 3; 2.5: 4; 3: 5; 3.5: 5; 4: 6; 4.5: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Went up to bed at my alarm, did my nightly routine, and was in bed. I was even up at my alarm this morning! Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: My wife told me to take a pass on this one today since I cleaned so much the past few days. 😆 Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Day 70 - Tuesday Summary: Not much summary to give. Had a decently productive day at work but at the end of the night I wasn't feeling too great. I think it's my allergies. It seems like I slept it off, though. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 85: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 36: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 94: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink any alcohol. Plan: Determine ahead of time how much you will drink before events. When there are weeks without events, try to keep drinks to 2-3 a week or less (zero is of course totally fine). Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Did not complete. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Filling it out late. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Reading: read novel. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: Completed 8 pomodoros. Description: ★★★★★ Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★✫☆☆ Description: Did eventually make it up to bed. Wasn't feeling to great so I fell asleep very early. I think my allergies have been really bothering me. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up more and cleaned the upstairs hallway. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Good luck on the driving test! Let us know how it goes.

Day 69 - Monday (yesterday) Summary: Had a nice time with my friends yesterday at an event. It was cold out, but it was still fun. A little tired today, but I'll manage. Happy with how much I was able to clean yesterday. The house is sparkling. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 84: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 35: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 93: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Had 2.5 drinks which was about what I was thinking I would have going into the even this evening. Spread across the evening and not all at once. Plan: Determine ahead of time how much you will drink before events. When there are weeks without events, try to keep drinks to 2-3 a week or less (zero is of course totally fine). Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: No data Description: Due to the unique circumstances of yesterday, giving a pass on this. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Socializing: Had a great time socializing with friends at the event. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: Completed 6 pomodoros. Description: ★★★☆☆ Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★★☆ Description: Yesterday's event prevented me from being at home to go to bed earlier, but when home I went to bed after chatting with some of the friends who were staying overnight. Completed part of my nightly routine. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Again, did a ton of cleaning yesterday. Tidied up; dusted pretty much everything; cleaned the bathroom; vacuumed living room couch; vacuumed most rooms. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Day 68 - Sunday (yesterday) Summary: Really busy day yesterday! We have a gathering this evening (Monday) and I wanted to ensure certain parts of the house were spotless. I spent most of the day cleaning. In the evening, my wife and I shared some wine (a glass each) to celebrate the end of the 90 days and then I made myself one cocktail. I don't want to speak too soon, but I think my attitude has completely shifted because of this journey. After I had the cocktail, I had this feeling of, "Yeah that's enough." Then, I switched to some non-alcoholic beverages and enjoyed the remainder of my night. I'm not sure if my 2-3 drinks will always be realistic depending on the week (I picked a bad week to start with a couple gatherings and some time away with my wife to a special place), but I think it's good to shoot for in general. I think what may be more realistic in terms of weeks with lots of socializing is determining ahead of time how much I will drink. I will try this tonight with the gathering. I anticipate it going well. I'm switching things again for my sleep. I know, I'm constantly doing this... but I'm trying to find what will work. The weak point for me now is falling asleep on the couch reading. So, I've decided to set an alarm for 11:30pm to get me off the couch and sitting at the desk to journal. The alarm forces me to take a picture of something of my choosing. I chose a page in the journal that will not change, so I must physically get up and photograph the open journal. I am optimistic this will help. It may not work out tonight because I don't know how long people will be awake, but even if I can't do it tonight, I can start tomorrow. Gratitude: For everything that I cleaned up! The house looks (and smells) nice. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 83: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 34: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 92: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Had a few non-alcoholic beers. Plan: As a general rule, no more than 2-3 drinks per week. Begin here and see how it goes. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Did not complete. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Reading: Continued reading in the evening. Spent part of the afternoon with my wife, but a lot of it spent cleaning in preparation for tonight. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: No data Description: Not applicable today. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★✫☆☆ Description: Managed to make it up to bed earlier in the morning, but didn't complete my nightly routine. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up both in the evening and in the morning using the picture setting. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did a ton of cleaning yesterday. Tidied up; vacuumed the couch; steamed/sprayed the couch; dusted the living room; washed couch pillows. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Welcome back! There are quite a few of us here who read almost every journal update, so please keep coming back to write. We want to see how you're doing and be here to support!

Day 67 - Saturday (yesterday) Summary: Decent day overall. Some of my habits slipped but I did feel productive because I completed much of my year-end tasks for work. Year-end is due Tuesday and I knew I wouldn't have too much time over the next day or so. Although I love my reading, I feel I'm falling into a bit of a monotonous routine. Maybe I need to look at my hobbies list again and switch things up. It could be that I'm just a bit tired and need to rest. That's always a valid option. I need to do some cleaning around the house today, but I'll try to just take it easy in general. Gratitude: The sun is shining and it's a beautiful Autumn morning. The leaves are resplendent in their amber and vermilion display. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 82: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 33: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 91: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Had a few non-alcoholic beers. Plan: As a general rule, no more than 2-3 drinks per week. Begin here and see how it goes. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Did not complete. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Reading: I've been reading How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler. It's been enjoyable so far but has definitely shown me gaps in my reading skills. Spent a good portion of the afternoon/evening doing my year-end stuff for work. Typically I don't like to work on the weekends, but I knew I wouldn't have much time by Tuesday, which is when it is due. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: No data Description: Not applicable today. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★✫☆☆ Description: Fell asleep on the couch and did not get up to bed. However, based on the time I fell asleep, it seems my body is starting to wake me up closer to the time I'd like to be awake. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up because that worked in the past. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★☆☆☆ Description: Did not do much cleaning or tidying yesterday other than a few things in the morning. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Hmm... you might be right, it could be saturation. However, do you think maybe you have grown to view these networking sessions as a chore, something where it isn't successful if you don't get anything out of it? If so, it might be helpful to re-frame these as just time to meet new people and have good conversation. I've been to my fair share of networking sessions and the best were ones where I placed no pressure on achieving some kind of outcome other than striving to have a good time speaking with people. That's when the real networking begins anyways. Maybe this could alleviate some of the weight you feel and rejuvenate your experience?

I've been meaning to ask this question, too. I noticed @Yan you mention lost time for things like completing your GQ entries and putting on clothes. Does this mean you lost time during those activities by dillydallying/getting distracted, or that you consider the act itself to have been lost time?

You are correct in your clarification. I agree, I think that would be the normal thing to do. He could have asked me to listen to it first and see what I thought instead of releasing it to the public, putting the disclaimer, telling me cryptically to listen to the beginning as it might "pique my interest", and then commenting on it only after I reached out. That's a good idea, listing out the pros and cons. I think we could still maintain the friendship, but anything is possible. I suppose it's worth considering, if our friendship is destroyed by ending this casual joint project, how strong of a friendship was it really despite the years? I imagine he'll be upset, but I can't go around my whole life trying to make everyone else happy at my own expense. I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Honestly, I'm not really sure what to do anymore. I agree, these kinds of things happen in podcasts and people will say, "Ah we should cut that out" but they leave it anyways. However, no one puts a disclaimer at the beginning mentioning that a co-host "made a mistake they find funny and hopes the audience does too." They just leave it alone. The audience will either laugh along or ignore it. It seems like a very subtle way of digging at me but with plausible deniability intact. I did gently confront him on it, asking why he chose to include that. He simply said that it made him smile when he heard it and decided to include it, that I can let him know what I think once I listen. It seems to be a very innocent response which is why I can't determine the intention or what to do about it. He did follow it up with, "You can include what you like when you edit, too" which didn't really make me feel any better about it. He certainly has a history of saying things to me that skirt the edge of being a dig and an innocent comment, so I'm trying to tell myself I'm not going crazy here but also to not act irrationally or impulsively. I talked it over with a mutual friend of ours to get his advice. He tried to look on the positive side of things, which I appreciated, but he also did not discount that my fears could be true. I think speaking with him at least kept me from acting hastily. I've had a day to think it over and, unfortunately, I'm still on the fence. He's continuing to move on like nothing happened which, why wouldn't he? I think I need to mull it over a while longer and really see how I feel about it. Whether or not the podcast is interesting, I'm starting to wonder if it's at all good for our relationship.

I feel you here... I'm really trying but man is this a struggle sometimes.... Very cool! I've never heard of anything like that. I imagine you could learn a lot about different places and even your hometown just by jogging various routes. While your mood has been low, it really seems like you've made an improvement. The things you've been able to push yourself to do are evidence of that. It's really exciting and encouraging to see this change in you!

Day 66 - Friday (yesterday) Summary: I've completed my 90 days without alcohol. The time went by much faster than I'd anticipated. While I plan to drink again, my relationship to alcohol has significantly changed because of this experience. At parties and gatherings, I can be confident that I can have one or two drinks and then switch to something non-alcoholic for the rest of the evening while still having a good time. I now have so many options of things to drink as substitutes at home that I can truly keep alcohol to a minimum and for times when I can really enjoy it without excess. Mocktails have opened a whole new world to me that allows me to be creative with flavor, aroma, and appearance while still protecting my health. I'm very thankful for this experience. My plan now will be to try not to exceed 2-3 drinks per week (could be beer, a cocktail, wine, anything...). I know this may have exceptions sometimes but in general this will be my metric. This also does not mean that because I have the limit I have to consume 2-3 drinks a week. I can have none. It's simply the upper limit. The biggest thing in helping me stick to this is determining before a gathering how much I plan to drink. Going in with a plan will help me to adhere to the limit, and now I have the confidence to back it up. The best part is, if I restart this and feel like it's not working - I can always quit! I've done it now for 90 days and would be perfectly fine going without again. I will continue to track Excessive Drinking on here, but now adherence will switch to my metric. Part 1 of my 90-day detox is complete. Next up is YouTube in 8 more days (not including today). YouTube is also forever changed, and I don't think I'll go back to having free reign over it or even time limits. I think my wife holding the passcode is great because I've realized how little I actually need to watch on YouTube to learn things. But more to come on that in another week. Gratitude: For the experience of 90 days with no alcohol. I feel transformed and ready for a new beginning. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 81: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 32: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 90: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Had a few non-alcoholic beers and a mocktail. Plan: Continue current behavior. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed! Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Finished another novel! Started reading another book while I wait for the second installment of that novel series to arrive. Spent much of the afternoon with my wife antique shopping. Mocktails: Made another mocktail. Starting to experiment a little more with my own twists. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: No data Description: Not applicable today. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★★✫ Description: Made it up to bed and completed part of my nightly routine. I took melatonin to try to help me reset. Started using .5 stars (don't know why I didn't do this before?) Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up because that worked in the past. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Tidied up only. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Day 65 - Thursday (yesterday) Summary: In the evening, my wife and I watched a movie in the basement. We don't do that too often and it was actually a very fun way to spend time together. I think we'll do that more often now. I was misreading my journal - today (Friday) is my 90th day without alcohol! My wife and I aren't going to celebrate until Sunday though, as that is her next day off with me. More developments on the podcast I mentioned some entries back. After telling my friend how I felt, he's been acting very petty. He's been sending me texts now and then that leave a slight reasonable doubt as to whether it is meant to poke at me. He released the latest episode and texted me that the very beginning might pique my interest. I listened and he had included a disclaimer at the start saying that I had made a mistake he had considered removing but thought it was funny and left it in; he hoped the audience would feel the same. It could be considered something someone would do to add levity to a podcast (since hosts do make mistakes on air), but it seems more like a deliberate move to mock me as I'm sure he removed his own errors. So, with that all being said, I'm done with it entirely. I don't need to be mocked about something I'm only helping with. I'm thinking of just sending a text simply saying he should consider it my last episode. I haven't taken any action yet as I wanted to think over, to determine if my frustrations are truly founded. However, I think with the way things have been over the past week or so, it seems like a very effortful inclusion to elevate himself and debase me. It has been difficult to parse because it feels like true gaslighting. I'm sure he'll say he has no idea what I'm upset about, but I expect that response. Gratitude: For a fun night with my wife watching a movie together PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 80: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 31: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 89: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Had a few non-alcoholic beers. Plan: Continue current behavior. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed! Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Continued reading my novel. Watched a movie with my wife. Exercise: Lower Body B. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed 8 pomodoros. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Made it up to bed. Maybe not quite at the right time, but I was up and completed my nightly routine. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up because that worked in the past. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up; vacuumed the basement couch and floor. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Day 64 - Wednesday (yesterday) Summary: Had a nice time yesterday evening with friends. My wife and I attended an early Thanksgiving celebration. We had a very pleasant time and, once again, I proved to myself that I could have fun at the party without consuming any alcohol. My 90 days for alcohol are up on Sunday (Day 91). My wife has taken this journey with me, so we will each have a drink that day to celebrate. One thing I need to do is determine how much I will allow myself to drink each week. Now that I have all these strategies and non-alcoholic drink options, I think I'd like to keep it to a minimum just for my own health. I'll be glad to have the flexibility and comfort of making the right choices both at home and out. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 79: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 30: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 88: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Made myself a few mocktails. Plan: Continue current behavior. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: ☆☆☆☆☆ Description: Did not complete. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Filling it out now. Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Continued reading my novel. Socializing: When to a friend's place for an early Thanksgiving celebration. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Completed 6 pomodoros. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Made it up to bed. Had a lot of trouble sleeping though. I was awake for a long time. I might need to start taking melatonin again to reset my circadian rhythm. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up because that worked in the past. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Tidied up only. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Day 63 - Tuesday Summary: Went easy on my journaling and bedtime habits because I think I was feeling slightly under the weather in the evening. Fell asleep not long after sitting on the couch and slept for a very long time. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 78: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list. Excessive Streaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not watch. Plan: Continue current behavior. Find new ways to spend time when you need passive entertainment. Add a tag to your task list to filter for those. No Podcast Listening - Day 29: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not listen. Plan: For the rest of the 90 days, I will not listen to any podcasts. I may even try to make this its own one-off 90-day journey, even after the main one is complete. If I need background, I can put on light jazz or Brain.FM while working. Be aware of the physical and emotional sensation and name it when you feel stressed. Excessive Gaming: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not game. Plan: Continue current behavior. Set a time limit if you do play by yourself (1-2 hours). If with friends, keep it only to a Friday or Saturday and do your best to log off at a reasonable hour. Excessive Drinking - Day 87: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Made myself a few mocktails. Plan: Continue current behavior. Habits to Start: I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans. Journal (physical journal): Adherence: No data Description: Choosing not to record data here as I think I wasn't feeling too well and fell asleep very early. Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. Set your timer to remind you. Game Quitters Journal: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Filling out late... Plan: Continue filling out journal each day. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the same day or the next, as long as each day is entered. Healthy Ways to Fill the Void: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Continued reading my novel. Exercise: Upper Body A. Mocktails: Made a couple mocktails to relax. Plan: Continue routine and choose activities. Reading is good, but also being comfortable doing nothing while listening to music (or just sitting) is fine too. Plan activities for when you have low energy. Pomodoros: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Completed 8 pomodoros. Plan: I will start by setting a goal of 8. I adjusted the scoring to encompass a range of completion. A perfect score is 8 pomodoros or more. The stars correspond as follows (star: pomodoros complete): 1: 1-2; 2: 3-4; 3: 5-6; 4: 7; 5: 8+. Each pomodoro will be 25 minutes. Some days are more meeting-heavy than others, so I will count meetings as well where the intent is to focus only on the meeting and taking notes. No multi-tasking. Consistent Bedtime: Adherence: No data Description: Going a bit easier on myself here because I think I wasn't feeling too good. I fell asleep very early and slept through the entire night. Not scoring good or bad for this one. Plan: Focus on the time you wake up. If your workout takes an hour, try to be up at 5:50am so that you have a few minutes to get ready. May need to start at 6:30 depending on how your body feels. Begin slow and walk back the time. Use Alarmy to get you up because that worked in the past. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Tidied up only. Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-4 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 5 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. List of Hobbies I can choose from: Listening to and/or caring for records Reading Writing (notes from reading, etc.) Working on my cars Socializing Foreign language study Cooking Walking the dog Mocktails Writing on my blog (need to restart) Investing in relationships Exercise

Hey, thanks for the interest! I've just been making these graphs in Open Office (similar to Microsoft Excel). Each day I put my ratings in, update the graphs, and post screenshots of my progress. Here's a screenshot of a portion of the raw data: It might look like a lot, but once the template was set up, it now only takes me a couple of minutes to update the charts. I may switch to a standard habit tracker after my 90 days are up, but this will at least help me to do a retrospective at the end of this part of the journey. I say this part because it's not all over once 90 days is up.