FDRx7

Day 62 - Monday Summary: Filling this entry out late, will try to get the one from yesterday done soon. Not much to write for this one. Pretty standard day both at work and home. Just got busy and didn't get a chance to complete this entry yesterday. Gratitude: For how much better I'm starting to feel now that I'm eating more. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 77: 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 28: 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 86: 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: Completed! 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: Lower 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 7 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: Was able to go to bed. It was late and I had trouble falling asleep, but I was in my bed and able to complete part of my nighttime 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 and cleaned upstairs closet 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

I don’t have an exact affirmation like that, but I’ve been trying to get in the habit of “naming” an impulse or emotion using a modified version of the ABC method of CBT. A recent example from my abstinence from listening to podcasts: Activating event: “I am alone at home and it is incredibly quiet.” Belief: “I feel like I cannot stand the silence or to be alone with my thoughts. I feel a physical uncomfortableness in my stomach.” (Projected) Consequence: “I will want to listen to a podcast to hear a voice in the background and drown out this feeling of loneliness.” Instead, I will… put on some jazz after spending a few minutes in the silence, to acclimate to it. In this case I’m using the C step to project what I would normally want to do and then in that moment choose something else. I think it helps a lot. It stops you long enough to change your beliefs/actions in the moment.

What a cool spot! The lake is a sheet of glass. It's always nice to fish in conditions like that.

Day 61 - Sunday (yesterday) Summary: No big summary for this one. I did start food prepping the night before and it made a huge difference for me today, especially at lunch which is the meal I skip the most. I actually hit my calorie goals and felt like I had so much more energy. Hoping I can continue this pattern. I prepped again tonight, but only the things that must be prepared every day. I cooked the majority of my lunches already. Gratitude: For meal prep and all the hassle it saved me For all my progress to date. I often focus on what needs to be improved, but I've come a long way from where I was 60 days ago PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 75: 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 26: 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 84: 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. Walked the dog. Did a bunch of food prep for the next day. 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, though I did focus for a long time on my weekly review and sorting through my emails. 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: Same as yesterday, pretty much... 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

Wow, that's some serious reading! I don't mind complexity either, but I know that I can read and absorb it faster if I build the muscle back up. And you're right, some books just take much longer to read and digest than others. I believe it was Francis Bacon who said, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." I agree, I think I can certainly recover. It's funny what you mentioned in your second paragraph here... I have had a running theory about this podcast that as soon as he scores a job, the project will fizzle out. I don't believe the podcast has truly been about the both of us, so in my mind its best to slowly step back. I'm sure the relationship can survive such a small bump. If it can't, there was something bigger going on outside my awareness (but I don't anticipate that).

I did the same thing but with Monopoly and Risk. Risk was easier to do alone than Monopoly although it still worked because I was the ultimate person to choose to play each character with their own self-interest in mind.

Thanks for your reply. I've known this guy for... wow, 17 years. He is indeed a good friend of mine, though we don't see each other in person very often anymore because he lives quite far from me. We have other things in common and he calls frequently to talk on the phone. I started this with him a year ago more to be a friend than anything else. Even back then, I wasn't super crazy about the idea, but I said yes anyway. I think I've done the best thing by slowly trying to step back from it. If I continue doing something because I feel obligated only to him, it will stress the relationship; I feel it has already done that, to some extent. It's very interesting because his stated (or sometimes implied) intention of the podcast was to show expertise, but I've only been in this field for about 3 years. He hasn't even entered it officially yet, only having done a co-op for a few months. What expertise are we demonstrating? I understand perhaps showcasing critical thinking, but I can do that in so many other ways that require less of my time (i.e., my work itself). At this point, it seems to be something meant to serve him even though I'm probably the one purportedly poised to benefit most from it due to my experience.

Day 60 - Saturday (yesterday) Summary: EDIT: DAY 60! I'm 2/3 of the way there. Another decent day, although I woke up very late because I went to bed so late Friday evening. I came to a realization this morning about something which is probably very obvious, but nevertheless has escaped me for some time: I have been writing, both online and in my physical journal, in the same manner as I text - almost word-by-word. I had been feeling this frustration with texting for a while, sometimes writing stream of consciousness and then just sending. It's such a strange phenomenon. I'm not sure when it started, but suddenly this morning it came front and center to my attention. I tend to read over my Game Quitters entries more often but when writing in my physical journal, once it's down, it's down. This morning while writing, I stopped to think about each sentence before I put pen to paper. I found that my vocabulary returned with ease, and my thoughts were more coherent. Additionally, they fit better into the broader context of what I was trying to say. Like reading, I'm rediscovering that cogent writing is a skill that needs to be practiced. I'm going to try and be more mindful about how I write my text messages as well. My reading confidence has increased tremendously. After finishing my first novel (430ish pages), I am no longer intimidated by books that are four- or five-hundred pages long. These books used to fill me with a sense of defeat just by looking at them. This was the first large book I've finished in a long time. I needed that confidence boost to begin tackling larger books again. Now, a book that is 200 pages feels quite manageable. I think it helped that the text wasn't too demanding; the warm-up made it easier to jump back into reading, just like exercise. However, I think I'll need to be smart about how I approach books for a little while. Just like progressive overload in weightlifting, working a little outside your comfort zone is the best way to build muscle. Working way above it is a recipe for failure and pain. So, with books I will need to gradually step the difficulty until I'm back to where I was about 8 years ago, reading truly taxing works but with vigor, interest, and sustained concentration. Of course, I will never disband the pleasure of a light novel. It's more about expanding my ability to read difficult books. Bedtime is still a struggle. My wife's erratic schedule isn't helping (not her fault at all), but I believe the root of it is a legacy of my YouTube habits. I would stay up so late into the wee hours of the morning watching mindless garbage. While I'm thankful that my late nights are now spent reading, I really need to get a grip on my sleep. I have a desire to wake up early and make the most of my day, but I can't be doing that if I'm consistently going to bed at 1 or 2am. Once upon a time, I would wake up early and go to the gym at 5am. Now, the gym is in my home, but I don't have enough energy to work out until 4pm because of my sleep. I'm glad I have been working out, but switching to the morning would help with consistency since the morning is predictable, whereas the afternoon can bring unexpected obstacles. Maybe what I need to do is focus less on when I go to bed and more on when I wake up. That's what I've read about changing your sleep schedule. You may not always be able to control when you go to bed, but you can control when you wake up. Gratitude: For the increased confidence I'm experiencing with reading For the realization I had about my writing and the actionable steps I can take PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 74: 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 25: 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: Played a game for a bit by myself. My first time in a long time. I play for a couple hours and then got off to go read. I think I went a half hour more than I was planning but was also searching for a good stopping point. Happy that I was able to simply stop, save, and log off. 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 83: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. Made myself a few mocktails. Really enjoying certain recipes. 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, but this morning instead of last night. It was a solid entry though, so 4 stars. 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: Read my new novel that came in the mail. Cleaned out my personal email, which was once again long overdue. Started my weekly review for my task system. 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, though I did focus for a long time on my weekly review and sorting through my emails. 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: Not gonna let myself give too much leeway here. Although it was the weekend, I stayed up quite late reading and then fell asleep on the living room couch. I should have gotten up, but I made the conscious choice to stay on the couch, oddly enough. This habit is one I really need to improve on. I know my wife is on nights right now, which doesn't help, but I need to be self-sufficient in my adherence. 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 and cleaned the kitchen sink again; it gets dirty relatively fast. I thought perhaps I should consider cleaning something different, but right now it really doesn't matter. To me, it's more about seeing something is dirty and choosing to clean it, establishing that habit. 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

I meant to respond to you earlier. Thanks for the article. I actually read Atomic Habits a couple years ago, but it's been a while. Perhaps I should revisit it. I also used to use a habit tracker as well, but right now I don't have one besides what I do on here. Maybe I should start again. I've tried a couple in the past, including Productive, Habit Share, and Habitica. I used Habitica for a very long time. I might go back to that, not sure why I stopped... I liked the tip about continuing a habit routine, even if you can only do part of it. I think that has made a difference for me in recent days. Thanks again for your detailed answer, it was very helpful.

Day 59 - Friday (yesterday) Summary: Very busy day at work, but that's good. I recorded another small episode of a podcast that my friend and I have been doing, but it's really hard for me to be motivated about it. It isn't a passion of mine, and it reminds me of work too much. In my off time, I'm trying to do other things that bring me joy outside of work. Additionally, I stopped listening to podcasts, so the irony is thick. He isn't in the field I'm in, but he's trying to break in (I say field in general, not my specific line of work) and I think he believes this is his ticket in because he can point to it with potential employers. I think the value of that is overinflated. Yesterday, I told him relatively how I feel, that I can stay to help with mini-episodes, but it requires too much time for me to be doing my own large episodes. I probably should have been more direct, as my comments were a bit circuitous. Still, he didn't seem to take kindly to that, and told me that I can point to it to showcase my skills. I said that I don't need it to do that, because my resume speaks for itself after the years I've had in this work. Thus, this wouldn't be my motivation; it would only be to continue because I find it enjoyable. He then told me that there's something to be said for seeing it through. But we've been doing this for almost a year now and I am just not interested. "Seeing It Through" and "Sunk Cost Fallacy" are sometimes two sides of the same coin. I have so many things I want to do in my life, and this ranks low on the list. I only have so much time. He's still my friend and I want to preserve that relationship, so I was trying to reach a middle ground. Not sure what the future holds for it though. I feel as though the only reason we are doing it is for him, and that his appeals to me have been not for my own success but because he thinks it is his ticket in. It feels a little manipulative. Perhaps I'm overreading, but I also don't want to remain unguarded against being used. It's been on my mind for a long, long time. So, I'm glad I at least said something, but it looks as though he's not going to let me out so easily. Gratitude: For a very good week at work, I feel I was really able to contribute PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 73: 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 24: 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: I did play a game with a friend of mine for a few hours, but when I was ready to sign off, I just told him I was tired and was getting off. Went totally fine. I think that's the first time I've played in at least a month. 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 82: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Walked the dog Recorded a small podcast episode with my friend 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 10 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: Went to bed but fairly late and didn't complete my nighttime routine. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up and cleaned the bathroom 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

This is great, thank you for finding that out for me!

Whoa! I would LOVE to know what some of those are. I really enjoy board games but often don’t have enough people around to play. Single-player variants would be great

Day 58 - Thursday (yesterday) Summary: I had a very good day at work. I put forth significant effort and received verbal praise from the client twice on some things I did that were very helpful to her. That's when I really feel I've done my best work; I love hearing someone say, "Thanks, you really helped me today," or "This is incredibly helpful, nice work." I don't always care for every aspect of my job, but days where I feel fueled and motivated are ones like this, where I perceive I've truly made a difference for someone. Gratitude: For the difference I made at work today and the praise from the client PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 72: 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 23: 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 81: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Reading: Read for a long time. Relationships: Enjoyed a nice dinner my wife cooked. Mocktails: Made two mocktails and one for my 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: ★★★★★ Description: Completed 9 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: Went to bed and completed a full nighttime routine. Just went to bed a little too late. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up a lot and cleaned another large section of the counter by removing things like the microwave, etc. 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 57 - Wednesday (yesterday) Summary: Wife and I went to see Spirited Away for a special showing in theaters as part of the Studio Ghibli celebration. So glad I went. We had a wonderful time together. I found myself ready to cry quite a few times. I've always felt deeply, but it seems to me that as part of this journey, my empathy has further increased. It might be that I'm starting to refocus on what is truly important to me, and when I see my values reflected in the world, it affects me deeply in a positive way. Gratitude: For the fun night out with my wife - watching Spirited Away and grabbing a burger and milkshakes afterwards PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 71: 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 22: 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 80: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Reading: Read a bit of a short story. Relationships: Saw Spirited away with my 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: ★★★★★ 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: Went to bed and completed a partial nighttime routine. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★☆☆☆ Description: Tidied up just a little bit. 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

Being sick can really throw you for a loop. Have some grace with yourself and slowly try to get back to your habits. I'm sure they'll start to come back. 45 days is a long time! I think you're doing great, despite what you might think.

Day 56 - Tuesday (yesterday) Summary: Not a bad way to bounce back from the day before! Almost a perfect score. I was able to take my cousins Trick-or-Treating last night which was a lot of fun. I enjoy watching them run from house to house while I stroll and chat with my brother and uncle. The day was a bit hectic before that, so I didn't get as many pomodoros done as I normally do. The drive is about an hour and ten minutes. I listened to some vaporwave and mallsoft both ways. My car is a '95 Mitsubishi sports car, so it was definitely a vibe. Very relaxing drive. Gratitude: For the time spent with family and taking my cousins Trick-or-Treating For a relaxing drive in my car. PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 70: 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 21: 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 79: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Reading: Listened to an audio story. Relationships: Went to my younger cousins' place to take them Trick-or-Treating. Mocktails: Had some non-alcoholic beverages from my mom at the gathering. 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 around 5 pomodoros as there was one I don't think I set the timer for. 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: Although I got home late, I completed my nightly routine and went to be in bed. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up and cleaned the kitchen 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

Day 55 - Monday Summary: Not a ton to update here. One of my lower-scoring days. That's alright, I can always improve. I at least had a really nice conversation with a friend of mine and got a fair amount of pomodoros done. Gratitude: For the conversation I had with my friend over the phone PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 69: 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 20: 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 78: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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 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: Listened to an audio story. Relationships: Called my friend and spoke for almost 2 hours. Mocktails: Made 2 new mocktails. 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 9 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: Fell asleep listening to the audio story on the couch. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★☆☆ Description: Tidied up and cleaned part of the counter. 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 54 - Sunday (yesterday) Summary: I started my day going to a record show, which was a fun but overwhelming experience. I don't always know what I'm looking for so my browsing is a little more haphazard. Some people go with lists looking for specific items. I could try that, but I also think some of the things on that list would have a very low chance of being found, since my taste in music sometimes differs from those who set up booths at the shows. Day was pretty good overall. I just think I really need to be better about getting up to journal and then go to bed. I've been getting so absorbed in my reading that the time blows by, and I end up falling asleep. I keep letting it happen too often though, probably a refusal to give up on the day. Gratitude: For the nice day spent with my wife and all the little joys she brings to my life For an exciting first time at a record show PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube - Day 68: 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 19: 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 77: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Reading: Finished the novel I've been reading! Relationships: Had another outing with my wife. Spent a nice day together. Records: Went to my first record show and brought home a few albums. Fun experience to explore and grab unexpected finds. 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: Eventually made it up to bed but once again fell asleep on the couch. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★☆ Description: Tidied up and cleaned part of the counter. 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

You reminded me of a book I want to read called "You Are What You Watch". It's about how television and movies are much more influential on culture, politics, grant funding, etc. than we think. Very data-focused book. You're right about Netflix. My parents and I loved it when it first came out because we could get the movies we wanted via DVD and then streaming. There were some cool movies on there back in the day. Then, they pushed hard into this "original content" territory. Now, if we ever sit down to watch anything together, it feels like we spend 30 minutes just looking for something decent to watch. It's kind of tiring and by the time you find something, you're not sure if you really even want to watch it anymore. We long for the days of Blockbuster, when you could choose from a limited selection and take home something you really wanted. They are considering cancelling their subscription. I don't even have it because we had a family plan and now Netflix is trying to separate account sharing. I don't need it, so I never renewed (good way to lose customers, in my opinion).

Thank you... it's a bit frustrating sometimes because I think I've got it, it works for a little bit, and then it stops working. I'll keep experimenting and pushing forward.

Day 53 - Saturday (yesterday) Summary: Nice day. My wife and I went out together and got brunch. We had a pleasant conversation. Then we went browsing a few places before returning home. My father drove my car out to me and then he, my mother, brother, my wife, and I went out for his birthday (a belated dinner). Everyone had a great time. I wished I could have shared some wine with my dad, but I have 14 days left of my 90-day abstinence. He understood and still enjoyed. My wife and I closed the evening by reading together by the fire. I'm removing my eating schedule from entries for now until I figure out what I really want to do with that. I've been enjoying the silence of no podcasts, although I sometimes feel the urge to "reach" for one when I'm lonely. However, I've been replacing that with listening to an audio story (dedicated listening, not background). I'm still getting used to that feeling. At times, I feel as though I have deprived myself of the few pleasures I had when I am really stressed or tired, but that's the old addiction talking. Despite my successes on this journey so far, I think my brain is still figuring out how to be still, how to sustain concentration on one thing. I don't want to turn back from it; I must recognize the voice of the Other within me that wishes to pull me back. Gratitude: For my father driving my car out to me For a wonderful day spent with my wife and my family PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube (Day 67) : 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 18) : 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 76) : Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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! I did the entry this morning, but it wasn't a rushed entry, so I'll give 4 stars to myself. However, this is best done at night as the keystone habit to getting ready for bed. 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 more M.R. James stories. Relationships: Did a little bit of shopping with my wife (more just looking around). Went out to dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. Working on my cars: Finally got my one car out to the house! My dad drove it out to me. 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: Wife and I fell asleep together on the couch while reading (I keep telling myself I gotta sit up when I read haha...). Did eventually make it up to bed but didn't complete my nightly routine. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up and cleaned the counter behind the 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

I found myself nodding along as I read your entry. I'm struggling with this and even wrote a note to myself in my "fill the void" plan to be okay with just chilling. Sometimes I feel this pressure to be "productive" with my hobbies and that doesn't necessarily make them restorative. It can be better to go with the flow and listen to what your body needs for recovery.

Of course! I'm always keeping my eye out for inspiration on the forum.

So glad you’re back and that things are starting to improve. The blockers are life savers. Freedom is great for the phone. If you find the PC to be a problem, I strongly recommend Cold Turkey. It can’t be uninstalled once you’ve initiated a block. Freedom won’t work right if your phone is on low battery or if you have the VPN off. Nice work on turning things around!

Day 52 - Friday (yesterday) Summary: Fairly good day yesterday in terms of habits. It was a very hard day though because I found out a former teacher of mine most likely died in an accidental death... they are still looking to recover his body. It was really tough to process after hoping for many days he would be okay. I feel so much pain for him and his family. On one hand, I wondered if I had a right to grieve since I am not as close to him as his family, friends, or colleagues; it's possible that with all the people he taught, he might not have remembered my name. However, I remembered him and the impact he had on me. He will be sorely missed by me and many others, and I think he would be warmed to know how much he was loved by so many people. I guess that goes to show you that you don't always know the imprint you've made on someone's life. Gratitude: For my teacher and the impact he had on my life and many others For the community of people who showed an outpouring of love and support for the family PROGRESS UPDATES: Note: Bold purple text indicates a new change to a plan. Habits to Kick: YouTube (Day 66) : 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 17) : 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 75) : Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Did not drink alcohol. 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: Walked the dog Reading: read a novel (for a long time!) Relationships: Called my parents and tried calling my friend (he was busy at a wedding). Mocktails: Made 2 mocktails (both quite good). 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 10 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: I read very late, but despite being tired, I cleaned up the kitchen, did my journaling, completed part of my nightly routine, and went to sleep in my bed. Plan: Begin getting ready for bed before you sit down to read. Be in bed by 11. This should include your time for journaling. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing. Weekends can have a bit more leeway. Begin to wean off of reading so that you get your body used to just getting in bed and going to sleep. May need to set a time limit on reading. Cleaning Up: Adherence: ★★★★★ Description: Tidied up and polished almost all of the remaining appliances in the kitchen (just the front of the stove to do). 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. Eating Schedule: Adherence: No scoring Description: Good breakfast, a protein shake during the day, and a larger dinner at night. Plan: Will begin scoring once I establish an adequate scale for assessment. If I can remember to do it, I should try to write out what I plan to eat the next day so that it is predictable. Adjust meals as necessary (type, amount, timing, etc.). If you know you'll be out a while, prepare some things to take with you. 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