NEW VIDEO: I Quit MMOs and THIS Happened
FDRx7
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Posts posted by FDRx7
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I'm 29, about to be 30 soonish. I think eating enough helps. I do think sometimes I could drop a few accessory movements or an extra set here or there, but for the most part it's been working. I do need to be careful of overtraining though and will take time to deload or just a full week off now and then (somewhere after 6-12 weeks of consistent training).
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Day 30 - Thursday (yesterday)
Summary:
Tired today. Yesterday (Thursday) my wife and I drove to see some friends who had come from out of town. It was 2 hours roundtrip so including the time visiting with them, we arrived home quite late. That threw my routine off a bit as I didn't get to bed like I should have or journal. The rest of the day was good though and I've added a new habit for cleaning. I feel like this is something that took a backseat when I was invested in my YouTube habit. I neglected to clean things around the house despite having a plan. Yesterday it just hit me... I looked around and realized how untidy everything was (not terrible, but enough to stress me out). I tidied up then and there and cleaned a bit. My goal is to make this a sustainable, daily habit where I find something that is dirty and clean it. A little every day will keep the house very clean. My wife also helps, but she is so busy in residency that I need to pitch in a little more to ease her burden. I know it stresses her to see a mess too and I want to make sure she comes home to a clean house.
Also... it's Day 30!! I'm now officially 1/3 of the way through. Tomorrow will be day 45 without YouTube, so halfway there on that one. Very cool. Time is flying. I feel like I just started this journal yesterday. I think I will continue journaling past day 90 as this really helps me to stay accountable and on track. Still, it's very cool to celebrate this 1/3 milestone.
Gratitude:
- For starting to clean daily and the feeling of calm it brings
- For a home that makes me feel comfortable, relaxed, and happy
- For 30 days in on my journey, almost 45 on YouTube, and all the progress I've made so far
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
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YouTube (Day 44):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not watch.
- Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list.
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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.
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Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: While I was good about not listening to it at work, I feel like I listened a little more than I wanted to. I started to feel myself get uncomfortable and yet didn't quite stop. I wouldn't call it an excessive amount but it was also more than my body wanted.
- Plan: Set strict rule of no listening to podcasts in bed. Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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.
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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.
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Excessive Drinking (Day 53):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not drink alcohol. Went out with friends to a restaurant and didn't have any alcohol. Still had a great time!
- Plan: Continue current behavior.
Habits to Start:
I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans.
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Journal (physical journal):
- Adherence: ☆☆☆☆☆
- Description: Didn't get a chance to journal. I got home late and planned to do it but fell asleep. I definitely could have still done it though. I'm thinking of making up for it with a quick entry this morning. If I do, I'll come back and change this to 2-3 stars.
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed.
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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.
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Healthy Ways to Fill the Void:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
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Description:
- Exercise: Lower Body B
- Relationships: My wife and I drove over an hour one way to see two friends from out of town.
- 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.
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Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Worked with task system, scheduled things as necessary and did my best to stay focused. Even blocked Spotify at one point to using the Freedom app to keep me from being tempted to listen to too many podcasts. I think I'm going to start doing that even for non-work related activities.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
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Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★☆☆☆
- Description: Partial score because last night we drove 2 hours roundtrip to see two friends and, including time at dinner, we didn't get back until later than my bedtime, so can't really be faulted for that as this was important to us. The 3 empty stars are because I decided to sit on the couch when I got home and fell asleep. Thus, I wasn't in bed and I didn't complete my nighttime routine.
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
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Cleaning Up:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: New habit. I have a list of things to clean in the house and feel like it would seem less burdensome if I did a little every day. With a little inspiration from @Vee, this one I'm going to have a rough definition for scoring. 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-3 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 4 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. 5 stars is I cleaned two things AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter. Started off strong yesterday by tidying up a lot around the house and cleaning the kitchen counter. Note: Dishes do NOT count. They should be done regardless. These cleaning items are other tasks that are easier to forget about (dusting, cleaning the couch, etc.).
- Plan: 0 stars is nothing was done; 1-3 stars is I cleaned one thing OR tidied up, depending on effort. 4 stars is I cleaned one thing AND tidied up. 5 stars is I cleaned two things AND tidied up. The "thing" cleaned can be big or small, doesn't matter.
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Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Ate most meals, though missed my afternoon protein shake. Not sure when I'm ready to score this one yet. I've been doing okay but I'm afraid to add the pressure of the score to it, so I'm going to continue as I have for the time being.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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)
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3 hours ago, wheatbiscuit said:
I can play the protector role well, but I know that alone can spell trouble. It's also not what I want. Needs however, as they compete, I am often in the habit of postponing a little for my own good. It just 'seemed' like such a raw and natural moment, is all. My dad did tell me once about his 'getting stuck talking', but I'm different and also better at calling 'time', I think. I intend to watch out better. 😮
It seems like you very much care about other people, which is a great thing! And as you've noticed, it can also cause you to neglect your own self to a higher degree. It's good that you recognize that and seek to strike a balance. You only have so much of yourself to give each day. It's a great trait to have though. 🙂
I've been reading through your past entries and I can really relate to many of the emotions you experience, especially regarding feeling sympathy for others in situations where you feel unable to help... but it's good that you feel something, even if you cannot assist.
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On 10/3/2023 at 5:06 PM, Vee said:
Thanks! I felt like I needed to define the ratings, as my focus areas aren't clear cut. I also wanted to have 5/5 be aspirational rather than a goal I'm supposed to hit. It isn't plausible right now for me to get 5/5 on any of them daily, but it helps me remember it is possible, and to aim for that occasionally.
I had been thinking this over for a while trying to determine what a 5 means for me and, I think it means "on track." Essentially, was the behavior more or less what I want to see from myself long term. I do like your idea of aspirational as a stretch goal!
Also, nice job on volunteering and making such a big leap outside of your comfort zone!
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Day 29 - Wednesday
Summary:
Decent day on paper but in my mind, I felt very disorganized. I was working off my task list, doing all the right things, focusing with music... but I just felt at times that I couldn't get a grip on what I needed to do. I don't know if I've entered some strange adjustment period, but my wife was feeling the same, as she recently started a detox from the internet. She said she's felt a bit less on top of things. Is there some kind of change that takes place where you are temporarily less organized as your brain rewires? Is it because I'm used to constant stimulation? I really don't know... I'm just hoping it passes soon because it's been about a week or so of feeling that way. It's incredibly frustrating, especially because I remember how organized and productive I was before.
Gratitude:
- For an early night and my body beginning to feel tired at the right time
- For my phone interview on Monday with a recruiter from the job opportunity
- For my dog, who brings me much joy, laughs, and comfort when I'm stressed (even if I stress her out with all my hugs - she's a trooper)
- For another 5-star day, even if inside I felt frustrated; my behavior is still moving in the right direction
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
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YouTube (Day 43):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not watch.
- Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list.
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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.
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Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did a bit of a podcast cleanse today and unsubscribed from a bunch I don't care about. Not sure how many I will resubscribe to. But did well only listening to two podcasts that I like.
- Plan: Set strict rule of no listening to podcasts in bed. Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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.
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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.
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Excessive Drinking (Day 52):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not drink alcohol. Made pineapple syrup.
- Plan: Continue current behavior.
Habits to Start:
I will add to this as I determine new habits and their action plans.
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Journal (physical journal):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Completed!
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed.
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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.
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Healthy Ways to Fill the Void:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
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Description:
- Exercise: Stretching
- Dog walking
- Mocktails: Made pineapple syrup.
- Relationships: Ate dinner with my wife.
- Did end up with some time where I scrolled my phone a bit, but it was only a small portion of my time (maybe 30 min). Worked really burned me out today so I gave myself some grace there.
- 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.
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Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Worked within the task system as planned and stuck close to it, but felt very disorganized still. I think it had more to do with my focus today, as the disorganization felt like it was in my head. Something was just off.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
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Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Started journaling at around 9:15 which gave me time to do Game Quitters, too. I may just go to be earlier in the future and do GQ in the morning to give myself more time to rest (especially since I want to wake up early to exercise).
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
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Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Ate every meal as planned though the timing was a bit off.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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)
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Day 28 - Tuesday (yesterday)
Summary:
Pretty good day yesterday. Fairly busy and felt like the evening arrived quickly. I did a better job today on my walk trying to be in the moment, redirecting my thoughts to what I'm experiencing and not problems at work or other thoughts.
I did manage to workout yesterday morning and I want to continue that habit. I stretched this morning since it is my off day, hoping that the routine of stretching will help solidify the connection with waking up and going into the home gym. I woke up later than I wanted to but earlier than I ever did in the past, so that's a partial win. I want to start tracking this, but I'm hesitant to add too many new things right now because I want to ensure I have the foundational habits down. Still, this one could be considered foundational. I don't know, I'll see how I feel. I'm conscious that I've overloaded myself in the past by trying to change too many things at once, though this time around it seems to be working.
Gratitude:
- For getting up again and stretching
- For more sunny, warm weather
- For the gradual, positive shift in my mindset and outlook since the start of this journey
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
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YouTube (Day 42):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not watch.
- Plan: No changes needed but continue to fill the void, and with activities from hobbies list.
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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.
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Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did well and knew when to shut if off. Listened while exercising and a bit during the day. Tried to listen to one I really enjoy while doing something mindless for work, but it wasn't going well, so I shut it off.
- Plan: Set strict rule of no listening to podcasts in bed. Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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.
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Excessive Gaming:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not game yesterday.
- 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.
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Excessive Drinking (Day 51):
- 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.
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Journal (physical journal):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Completed!
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
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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.
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Healthy Ways to Fill the Void:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
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Description:
- Exercise: Upper Body A
- Dog walking
- Mocktails: Made fresh pineapple juice with the juicer. Planning to make pineapple syrup as well.
- Other: Need to fix something on the job app last night, but the recruiter is in contact with 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.
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Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Worked within my task system and got a lot done for the day.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
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Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: While I did go to be later than I wanted to, I was again working on something important. I needed to fix something in the job app I submitted and was only made aware of the issue late in the evening. I didn't get up right away at my alarm this morning, though. I don't want to let myself slide too much so giving 4 stars.
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
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Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Ate every meal as planned.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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)
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Glad to see you've come back! I've been getting back into reading as well and something I realized was how much of a skill it is. It was easy for me to think, "I'll just pick up anything and start because I used to read all the time." And I think this is good. However, there seems to be an element of muscle memory to it where the mind must warm up again.
Grabbing a low-stakes novel was a good way for me to start getting back into it - or reading something I have really, really wanted to read for a long time and just never did because of my addiction. That ease-in period has been very helpful in reintroducing reading and restoring my attention span.
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18 hours ago, Wildermyth said:
only communicating with a meme riddled chat feed.
I have no idea how they do this. It gives me so much anxiety just looking at it.
My additional piece of advice is if you really can't handle YouTube overall, try a block. It has been working great for me, but that's also because YouTube in general was a problem for me. However, as @GrainSiloEnthusiast said, it's important to know the root of what draws you. It could simply be one of the last vestiges of the addiction. Or it could be something else entirely.
If you can handle YouTube, then @Wildermyth is also right. A cleanse of the feed and algorithm will help a lot. You can also remove recommendations, autoplay, and there is even a plug-in (I forgot the name) where YouTube becomes basically a search engine. There are no videos, no recommendations... nothing. You just search for something and find results. I've tried it before. It does make the website less appealing and encourages you to get in and get out. I remember opening it one time and just staring at the blank screen thinking... okay what do I want to watch.... I have no idea. It made me realize how much of my choices on YouTube were determined for me.
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7 hours ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:
Of course that means getting up an extra 15 minutes earlier per day which is. Challenging. I need to be in bed by 915pm nightly to make that happen. Wish me luck on that lol, I haven't been able to get up earlier than 7am. It's just stayed there.
It is tough. A long time ago, I worked out in the early morning. I don't know why I stopped. It wasn't so bad this morning once I got warmed up.
7 hours ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:Your post makes me want to give dumbbell bench press a try. Maybe it'll be easier on the shoulders then a flat bench. What's the reason you prefer it to the barbell bench?
I was doing barbell when I was focusing on strength (5 rep range) but I also have a very hard time activating my chest in barbell. I can do it and know how, but my morphology makes it difficult. I have pectus excavatum (was moderate, now mild) so in order to really stimulate the chest, I require a greater cross over the body. The dumbbells allow me to bring my hands closer together to get this activation. I've made a lot of progress over the years correcting that condition. It still isn't perfect, but surprisingly bones do move. It is much less pronounced these days and most people don't even know I have it, even with my shirt off. I know because I know what I'm looking for, but I will always be like that because no one sees us like we do ourselves.
8 hours ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:What country are you in? I'm in the USA. I noticed you know how to do kilogram conversions.
Also in the USA. I just did the kg conversion for those who might read this outside the US. I cheated and used the computer to convert lol.
8 hours ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:What was your diet like when you were making your best progress? IE: lots of veggies or tuna?
To be honest, I relied a lot on nuts. They allowed me to fill in the gaps when I needed calories but they were still healthy. Even today I eat a lot of dried edamame and soaked almonds. Other than that, it was healthy foods but whatever I felt like to hit my goals. So fish, chicken, beans, rice, tofu, natto... all kinds of stuff. I like variety, though I have some staples like protein shakes and nuts to help me hit the daily goal if I can't quite get there with my other meals.
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23 hours ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:
Upper lower for the win lol! All three of us are into it 😄
Oh dang that’s fancy programming! Very cool you must be developing well sculpted muscles with attention to detail training like that. S2 also for a 1.5 hour workout how many exercises do you do? Are you doing good weight or rep numbers? I’d think so if you put in that kind of time but idk what your strategy is hehe
I used to have rep ranges from somewhere between 6-15 depending on the exercise (i.e., 6-8, 8-10, 10-12, or 12-15) but I've been feeling lately I need more hypertrophy, that the lower rep range isn't fitting my current goals. So right now, everything is somewhere between 10-15 reps.
This is:
Lower A
4x10-12 Front Squat
4x10-12 Hip Thrust
3x12-15 Lying Leg Curl
3x12-15 Leg Extension
4x12-15 Seated Barbell Calf Raise
2x12-15 Reverse Circle Step (Cable)
4x10-15 Cable Crunch
3x10-15 Cable Leg Raise
Upper A
4x10-12 Dumbbell Bench Press
4x10-12 Seated Cable Row
3x12-15 Singe-arm Cable Press-around
3x12-15 Close-grip Lat Pulldown
2x12-15 Lateral Raise (Cable)
3x10-12 Tricep Cable Kickback
2x12-15 Reverse Curl (Cable)
2x12-15 Reverse Fly (Cable
2xMax Deficit Pushup
Lower B
4x10-12 Romanian Deadlift
3x12-15 Bulgarian Split Squat
3x12-15 Seated Leg Curl
4x12-15 Cable Calf Raise
4x12-15 Dumbbell Pullover (actually using as a core exercise, believe it or not)
3xMax Ab Wheel Rollouts
2x12-15 Glute Kickbacks
Upper B
4x10-12 Lat Pulldowns (these were pullups but taking a bit of a break from those)
4x10-12 Standing Overhead Barbell Press
3x12-15 Bent Over One Arm Dumbbell Row
4x10-12 Incline Bench Press (Barbell)
3x12-15 Cable Crossover
3x10 Gundill's Shrug (superset, essentially)
4x10-12 Bicep Barbell Curl
3x12-15 Tricep Rope Pushdown
3x12-15 Barbell Shrug
I'm 5'11" (1.8m) 180lbs. (82ish kg) right now. Would like to maybe put on another 20lbs and see how that looks/feels but I don't want to go too crazy. If your muscles become too big, they become form over function and your body is less agile (in my opinion). To me, it's about balance. So, it's fine that it's slow-going. That's how muscle is built anyways. My lowest weight ever was when I was studying abroad in 2014. I weighed about 135lbs. (61 kg). I made the biggest progress when I was eating right, but I've been stuck at my current weight for a long time because I haven't been eating as much. That's something I'm addressing in my daily journal, as I'm beginning to rectify it. But you can see that long term it works. I put on 45lbs. (20ish kg) over the years and could have done more if I paid better attention to my diet since 2020. Not all of that is muscle, but most of it is.
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19 hours ago, Vee said:
I also finished reading a book over the weekend, the first book I've finished since April. In my early 20s I was reading 20-30 books a year, now it's closer to 5.
Ugh, I feel this so much... I really stopped reading so much when YouTube and video games (more of an issue when I was younger) came into my life. I'm ashamed of how few books I've read this year but I'm changing that now.
19 hours ago, Vee said:I BEAT MY PERSONAL BEST FOR 5K! I beat it by a whole minute. I am so damn proud of myself.
Nice job!!
19 hours ago, Vee said:I would also like to get back to short stories, maybe 2-4 a month. Alongside my novel, that might be less plausible.
Just want to mention some of the best stories I've ever read were short stories. Fully endorse those.
And I see you adopted the ratings scale, very cool! I really like you how delineated what each level means. I feel I should probably do that as mine is kind of subjective right now. While this works, it might better if I have a rough definition of the scale written down, rather than in my head. Nice work!
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Day 27 - Monday(yesterday)
Summary:
Woohoo! Another 5 star day. It's funny that the feeling and the reality can differ. It didn't feel like a 5-star day but looking at my habits and what I accomplished, it certainly was. I applied to that job I mentioned a few posts back, now that it went live. I'm very nervous because I am afraid of both getting and not getting it. If I get it, I hope that I will be able to perform well - and that I will like it overall. I will be sad to leave some of the coworkers who truly seem to care about me. On the other hand, if I don't get it, I may feel trapped in this current job. It isn't the worst, but I feel it could be much better. I suppose I could look at the positives, too. If I get it, I have a new opportunity to try something I have wanted to do for years. It's a chance to grow, foster new skills, and break away from my current working world. If I don't get it, I am at least doing very well where I am and have a good reputation. My colleagues like me and I like most of them. So, it will be what it will be.
On another note, I feel I'm running out of time in the afternoons and my workout sometimes interferes with work, life, etc. So, I'm determined to become a morning workout person. I began today, starting my workout at around 6:15. I think it's going to be a tough habit to start, but I'm determined to do this just like I did for everything else so far. I'll need to be patient with myself as I engrain this behavior until it becomes natural. It wasn't so bad this morning once I got warmed up. I'll need to keep moving my schedule back until I can hit 5am. That will let me finish by around 6:30 and still have time for a morning routine.
Gratitude:
- For getting up this morning to workout
- For this extended nice weather
- For being kind to myself when I catch my attention drifting to negative/irrelevant thoughts
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
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YouTube (Day 41)
- 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.
-
Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Would say I listened a moderate amount but nothing too crazy. Listened while exercising. Turned on light music to read to in bed.
- Plan: Set strict rule of no listening to podcasts in bed. Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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 yesterday.
- 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 50)
- 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. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
-
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:
- Exercise: Lower Body A
- Dog walking: Wife and I took the dog for a walk
- Other: Applied to the job opportunity!
- 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.
-
Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Tried to work closely with Next Actions, but got some important things done yesterday, especially applying to the job opportunity that has come my way. I was happy to have that done. Now I wait and see...
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
-
Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: I got into bed later than I normally would but I'm granting an exception here because I was finishing the job application. It was important I do that immediately. Besides, it wasn't too much later. Started journaling around 10:20 and finished close to 10:40. Was asleep a bit before midnight. Still completed my nighttime routine, too (with a modified stretching routine instead of the normal one).
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
-
Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Ate every meal as planned.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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 ( I will continue expanding this as I rediscover old hobbies and find new ones )
- 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)
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3
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YouTube (Day 41)
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Day 26 - Sunday (yesterday)
Summary:
I spent pretty much the whole day with my wife yesterday. Since her residency takes up much of her time, we like to spend her off days together as much as possible. We went to a park where there is a Japanese garden, a large pond that looks almost like a river from certain angles, and plenty of trees along the path. The trees are just starting to change color.
I've noticed I do a lot of thinking about the past. It doesn't take much to make me nostalgic. I'm working on snapping out of this because, while some nostalgia is good, too much makes me miss what is right in front of me. I also let too many unrelated neutral and negative things occupy my brain space. We only have so much attention and there are very few negative things you encounter during the day that are worth having an opinion on or thinking about. I want to wisely choose where my attention is directed. This also goes for listening to podcasts, viewing media, etc. Discretion in attention is a key skill I wish to develop.
The data is interesting. I don't know if it will stay this way, but the habits are settling into a frequency. I'm thinking of it like when a metal object is hit and produces all kinds of noise but then slowly settles out to its resonant frequency. I'm not a physicist but I hope you understand my analogy. It's almost like my life was punctuated by this major choice to shift all these behaviors and, 20 days in, it has started to settle into its "resonant frequency." 4 stars makes sense. Of course, I want everything to be 5 all the time, but let's face it - I'm human. There is no perfection for us, so tolerating some fluctuations is par for the course. This doesn't mean I will not continue striving, only that I seek to minimize the dips where possible while understanding they will occur.
Gratitude:
- For time spent with my wife yesterday
- For a nice cozy evening reading scary stories
- For the wonderful people who surround in me in my life - friends, family...
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
-
YouTube (Day 40)
- 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.
-
Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Listened a little bit too much close to bed and as I was sitting in bed. Fell asleep listening to something which I believe somewhat disturbed my sleep.
- Plan: Set strict rule of no listening to podcasts in bed. Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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 yesterday.
- 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 49)
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not drink alcohol. Made a raspberry syrup from scratch.
- 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. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
-
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:
- Mocktails: Created raspberry syrup from scratch
- Reading: Read two horror stories by Algernon Blackwood to welcome October
- Dog walking: Wife and I took the dog to a nearby park for a nice long walk together
- 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.
-
Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Giving five stars because the day was spent with my wife. It was her only day off this week so it was the most important "next action" I could be doing 🙂 .
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
-
Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Got ready for bed on time and completed my nighttime routine but listened to a podcast as I fell asleep. I think it disrupted my sleep to some extent, so I won't be doing that anymore.
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
-
Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Ate a little bit better than yesterday but not as consistent as I was during the week.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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 ( I will continue expanding this as I rediscover old hobbies and find new ones )
- 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)
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2
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YouTube (Day 40)
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Day 25 - Saturday (yesterday)
Summary:
I got a late start yesterday, but it's alright. I like to let myself sleep in a bit on the weekends as it seems sometimes, I need the recovery. My weight has been the exact same over the last three days which makes me think my body is starting to understand the changes taking place. I remember the last time I was serious about my diet, there was this strange period where my body settles at a certain weight for around a week before either increasing or decreasing. It's some sort of pause to reassess the change in caloric intake. Quite interesting.
I went to the record store for the final day of their sale before moving. I stocked up again on classical and a bunch of other random things for only $5. Pretty sweet deal. Now I have to clean and organize them all!
I did game a bit with friends yesterday and I logged off at a relatively reasonable hour. However, I logged off because another one of my friends said he was tired and going to get off. I then did the same. This is not gaming specific. I feel like I am never the first one to leave a gathering, party, gaming session, or anything like where people are gathered together - even if I feel like I should. I don't know if it's because I don't want to disappoint other people or because I'm having a good time and don't want the good times to stop (could be both). Something I need to be more introspective about because I need to be more independent in choosing to manage my own time. I'll start to keep track of it mentally and see when it comes about and what my true motivation is.
Gratitude:
- For my medication and how it has contributed to a better experience of life
- For my record hobby and the nice deals I was able to come across over the last few weeks
- For the ability to purchase enough food to sustain myself and my family
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
-
YouTube (Day 39)
- 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.
-
Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Pretty decent day yesterday of not listening excessively.
- Plan: Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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 game yesterday but only for a couple of hours with friends. I think that brings the total to like 3.5 hours for the week or something. Nothing huge.
- 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 48)
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Did not drink alcohol. Explored a new mocktail. Wasn't my favorite but at least I tried.
- 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! Despite it being late last night, I wrote a fairly long entry.
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
-
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: Had a late start to the day but that's alright. I like to take time to recuperate on the weekends. Went to the record store and got another box of records for $5 (since it was their last weekend of the sale before moving). Made a mocktail (twice, but both times I didn't like it - experimenting though). Made fresh ginger juice after figuring out how to use the juicer. Did a bit of gaming with a few friends.
- 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.
-
Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★☆☆
- Description: Giving three stars because it's the weekend and I did some things I wanted to. However, it's also a good time to get some personal "next actions" done and I didn't really do any of those. So, just a moderate score for today.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
-
Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★☆☆
- Description: Got my journal done but did not complete the rest of my nighttime routine since I was so tired. Still made it to bed and got a long sleep. My body feels less sore from the exercise, so it must be repairing itself well.
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. 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.
-
Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Didn't eat as much as I should have because I was out of my routine. I stayed out shopping for records for a while, so that threw things off. I think when I go out places, I'll need to prepare a few things to bring with me (that will not perish in the car).
- Plan: Continue current behavior. 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 ( I will continue expanding this as I rediscover old hobbies and find new ones )
- 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)
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1
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YouTube (Day 39)
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1 hour ago, TheNewMe2.0 said:
four days a week upper lower.
Monday Tuesday Friday Saturday.
This is my cadence too! Except I do Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Each takes about 1.5 hours to complete. Right now I have it set as Lower A, Upper A, Lower B, Upper B.
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5 hours ago, Ikar said:
If there was some app that would hard-immobilize the access to it, together with Chrome and YT for 3-6 hours at the push of a button (I watch porn basically only before sleeping), that'd be amazing, but I don't know if there's one. I'll look into Freedom and Screentime both though, thanks for the suggestion 🙂
So, I did some digging yesterday and at least on iPhone (not sure on Android), if you have someone else set the passcode for screen time, they can also control whether you can delete apps. That way, you can initiate a block on Freedom and be unable to delete the app while it's running. There is a setting on there where you can block the entire internet. I don't know if you have someone in your life you can trust to hold that passcode, but it has really been great for me (my wife holds the passcode for both Cold Turkey and iPhone screen time). I'm going to try that though on my iPhone, as currently I have it set for me to be able to delete apps.
My Cold Turkey blocker also has an entire internet blocker. I don't use that setting as often but I think I might start.
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1
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Day 24 - Friday (yesterday)
Summary:
I got a fair amount done for work yesterday. The day went by so quickly. It didn't feel incredibly busy, just one that made me think, "Where'd the time go?" I am feeling really good exercising, now that I continue to provide my body with the right fuel. While I am sore (it's always tough the week coming back after a small break), I feel now that my body can sufficiently repair itself.
I did manage to make it to bed, but I had a strange incident. I don't normally remember my dreams, but I experienced four of them at different times in the night. And they were all nightmares. The first one was a supernatural one that took place in the same room I was sleeping in. I didn't notice the transition from wake to sleep, so it felt incredibly real until I woke up, my heart beating out of my chest. I gave myself permission to put on a podcast simply so that I could hear a voice because I was so terrified. I don't know what I ate to have all that happen... but I did get enough sleep, so there's that!
I'm glad to see that the valleys in my charts have become much shallower. Soon I'll start scoring my diet adherence, but I still need to see how it plays out over a number of days/settings to ensure I understand what helps with consistency.
Gratitude:
- For my work, that I have a consistent income to support me
- For tea and coffee, providing me such a simple pleasure throughout the day
- For all the things that make Autumn such a wonderful time of year - cider, pumpkins, bright sunlight on the leaves against a steel sky backdrop...
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
-
YouTube (Day 38)
- 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.
-
Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Listened a bit more than I would have liked, although the nightmare incident in my summary does not contribute to the score. I think that's a bit of an exception...
- Plan: Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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 47)
- 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! It was a small entry just to stay in the habit, but I did it nonetheless.
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
-
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: Did Upper Body Workout B, walked the dog, cooked pizza (still learning, didn't quite come out like I had hoped but still good). Four stars because I sorta lazed about at the end of the evening. That could be okay and I was listening to a podcast, giving it my sole attention. Yet, I kind of wish I had spent the time differently.
- 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.
-
Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: I did my best to work off the next actions list. I would say that even though I worked on some other things outside of that, they were important. I feel I got a fair amount done yesterday.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
-
Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Got my journal done just under the wire and went to bed later. This is okay on the weekend except I was so tired I didn't finish my full nightly routine. Still, I made it to bed and got a good 8ish hours (despite the nightmares).
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing.
-
Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Again, ate every planned meal (breakfast, snack 1, lunch, snack 2, dinner).
- Plan: Continue current behavior. Adjust meals as necessary (type, amount, timing, etc.)
List of Hobbies I can choose from ( I will continue expanding this as I rediscover old hobbies and find new ones )
- 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
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YouTube (Day 38)
-
15 hours ago, Vee said:
I feel like I ought to get out of the house and just exist in a different environment. In the past month I've barely left the house except to jog. There's a nice cafe in town that I could sit in and do some writing, or RP worldbuilding.
I work remotely, which has many benefits. However, this is one thing I have to try and remind myself to do - leave the house! You don't realize sometimes how familiar the four walls have become until you step outside. Even just walking the dog can be a sufficient change of scenery. I also read something about how switching up your environment - even going so far as to change furniture around in your house - can spark more creativity. I imagine that it breaks you out of a mental rut by disturbing well-worn pathways/patterns. I would think the cafe might help boost your writing because of that! Nice job though on continuing to write. Must feel good each day to see that progress.
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18 hours ago, Ikar said:
Toying around with enhancing/re-calibrating the blocks, I managed to lock myself out of my phone for 24 hours. Luckily, I can still call 😆
Which blocker do you use for your phone? I have Freedom, but I feel it's a bit redundant now with screentime. Additionally, there's nothing to stop you from deleting the app, which is why my wife holds the screentime passcode. With Cold Turkey on my computer, once a block is initiated, you cannot remove the program. That's an awesome feature. It also has a setting where you can lock yourself out of your computer completely (that feature is called Frozen Turkey). I haven't used that feature yet as I'm a little scared of it 😅
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By the way, I happened to see the posted pictures in the sidebar, so I went exploring. Very cool! I see what you meant about having had a similar data tracker. The google sheets are particularly interesting (and aesthetically pleasing - I'm just doing mine in Open Office, so it looks a little meh haha).
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2 hours ago, Wildermyth said:
One of the top comments of the video really brought home the essence of this lunacy: "The main problem with this game was that the end game really made you feel like you were wasting your life playing it. Most games are pretty good at masking this, Diablo 4 featured it."
Wow, this is incredibly poignant. I've similarly had friends describe certain games to me as "a grind but you push through it, so overall it's good." All I can think is, why subject yourself to that? That sounds terrible, almost like work. I can understand on one hand if it's a story, but when you are just grinding away to level up?
It's probably because, as has been said numerous times on this site, it replaces a feeling of true progress. It's a "mask" as that person said.
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16 hours ago, Vee said:
I used Brain.fm a bit both days as well, having seen it mentioned in @FDRx7's journal. I'm not sure the music specifically helps me focus, but it helps set the intention of a focused session. I don't know if I'll use it long term.
I think you're right; the ritual of focus is definitely part of it. This particular music works for me due to something about the repetitive rhythmic nature of it (I end up syncing my fidgeting to it haha). The intention of focus is what matters most because even when I use this music, sometimes if I am really distracted and throw it on hoping for a magic pill, it doesn't work. It helps, but I still need to stop and make sure I'm intending to focus.
If you still are interested in it, try some of the different genres and low/medium/high effect ones. Not all songs work for me. I do better with the electronic, post rock, and lofi ones. Ambient and drone, while quieter, don't work as well for me.
Great work though on writing! I've been following and it seems like your energy and productivity are ramping up. Keep at it, I think it will only get better for you. 🙂
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Day 23 - Thursday (yesterday)
Summary:
Relatively good day yesterday, but I didn't feel as productive as I could have been. I worked from my next actions list but felt like I just wasn't getting anything to a "completed" state. I talked it over with my therapist and I think that I'm just used to being pulled in multiple directions at any time by people and tasks. I wasn't always like this, but it seems more common recently. I also used to leave my phone downstairs to act like a home phone (not sure who remembers, but I wanted my phone to be like the cordless ones back in the day with the dock). That way it had its home during the day, but I can still take it with me when needed. I started taking it up with me to my office again and I think it has been distracting me. I'll put it back in the dock today.
I also mentioned to her how I feel I have trouble focusing on conversations with people, even when I am intentionally speaking with them and interested in what they have to say. We came to the conclusion that it is possible I have trained myself to not listen to people due to remote work. I can sit in a meeting and do two other things, meaning I'm not giving 100% attention to the person in front of me. I think that makes sense. So, I've resolved now to go into meetings giving it my undivided attention, even if I believe the meeting is meaningless. I can't afford to not pay attention when it matters, so I need to use every instance to retrain my focus.
She also told me that while it's good I am focused on fixing things, I should take time to celebrate where I've been. That's a good idea. While I do write on here about progress, I should take a good look at those 5 stars and the data. I'm really happy with the way things are trending. The average is starting to flatten out, and the moving average has broken the 4 stars line (today's MA is 4.137). The bad habits are consistently waning, and the good ones are slowly taking their places. Bedtime has been a struggle since about March, and now I feel it's finally moving in the right direction. Even my eating habits have been poor but are now starting to correct themselves. I passed the 45-day mark for no alcohol and am nearing a similar one for YouTube. Overall, I have made so much progress in just 23 days. She's right, it's good to celebrate this. It energizes me and gets me excited about the possibilities awaiting me throughout the rest of this 90-day journey. And why stop at 90 days? Progress and improvement do not need to end there. Indeed, the goal is sustained, progressive change. I believe in that future and am excited to watch my transformation on the way there.
Gratitude:
- For all the progress I have made up to this point
- Starting this Friday morning with the sun streaming through the window
- My wife and my dog, for all the joy they bring to my life
PROGRESS UPDATES:
Habits to Kick:
-
YouTube (Day 37)
- 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.
-
Excessive Podcast Listening:
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Still five stars, though bordering on four. I think I was getting a little close to listening more than I wanted to yesterday, but I was able to notice when I was feeling this way and shut it off.
- Plan: Continue to listen only to podcasts I am truly interested in. I will try to keep from listening to podcasts I've used just for background. 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.
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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.
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Excessive Drinking (Day 46)
- 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.
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Journal (physical journal):
- Adherence: ★★★★★
- Description: Completed!
- Plan: I will continue to journal before getting ready for bed. I want to try and establish it as a pattern before bed.
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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.
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Healthy Ways to Fill the Void:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Did Lower Body Workout A, walked the dog, cooked a simple dinner. Four stars because I read some dumb stuff on my phone and got distracted which made me a little late for bed.
- 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.
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Next Actions List:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Worked off of my next actions list in the morning but felt I had a hard time concentrating during the day, so I think I could have done better with more focus.
- Plan: Focus on staying close to your next actions list. Consistently working from this is going to help you stay on track.
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Consistent Bedtime:
- Adherence: ★★★★☆
- Description: Started journaling around 10:10pm. I journaled for a long time! However, because of my distraction on my phone like I mentioned above, I didn't do a full nighttime routine. Just the necessities and got in bed around 11:40. So, 4 stars for still getting up there and going to bed, but need to be careful of my phone.
- Plan: Continue to start getting ready for bed at 10pm (or 9:45). This should include your time for journaling. Read your novel in bed. Push back the time as needed. Can always do an internet block on your phone around 10pm with Freedom to keep from browsing.
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Eating Schedule:
- Adherence: No scoring yet
- Description: Again, ate every planned meal (breakfast, snack 1, lunch, snack 2, dinner). My weight seems roughly the same but I believe it can take up to two weeks for the body to adjust to new levels of caloric intake. I'll monitor the average and adjust as needed.
- Plan: Continue current behavior. Adjust meals as necessary (type, amount, timing, etc.)
List of Hobbies I can choose from ( I will continue expanding this as I rediscover old hobbies and find new ones )
- 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
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YouTube (Day 37)
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1 hour ago, Amphibian220 said:
From my experience, there is an inherent weakness in this platform: there is nobody there to enforce your discipline except yourself. Nobody to punish you except yourself if you lie or cheat.
As a side note, I wonder if this is something to be proposed for the forum? Maybe a new section where members can sign up to have an accountability partner and for a certain duration of time? That would make it feel more acceptable to check in on someone and ensure they are following through (without seeming too intrusive). That, or receive a senior member as an accountability partner. I think this is done informally now, but for those who want a more formal accountability structure, it might be worth considering. Not a perfect system since it is online, but help.
No useless videos for 90 days.
in Daily Journals
Posted
I like that you plan for the next day. How do you feel that affects your motivation, mindset, and success? Are you finding it helps you follow through? Interested because I might want to try the same.