Seneca123

April 20, 2022 Counters: No PMO: 15 days No gaming: 17 days Not waking up after 7.30 am: 0 days Study 5 hours (including seminars/ lectures: 0 days Today I woke up quite late at 10.30am. In the morning I was not really productive and mostly listened to music. I started studying a couple of minutes before my 2 o’clock seminar began. After the seminar I went to the canteen for lunch. When I got home, I had a chat with a fellow student living in the same dorm. Then I went to the library and studied for a couple of hours. In the evening I had a short phone call and then went to the hip hop dancing class. Until recently I went to a university running group once a week but got problems with my knee since it was too long and too exhaustive. So I quit running and started to do hip hop dancing once a week instead. All in all, I had a study time of a little more than 3 hours, which is not good. I plan to study more tomorrow. One amazing thing that happened today: In the entry of the library, they had a cupboard with thrown out books. One of them I could use really well and was relatively new. What went well today: I could participate a lot in the seminar. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will get up earlier and listen to music less.

April 16, 2022 Since yesterday eveneing I'm staying at my parent's home for Easter. Today I was not very efficient. I got up at 9.30am. First I watched some youtube videos on my smartphone, then I started studying. However, I went on youtube and other sites in between. So I didn't achieve much. At my parents' home it's harder for me to concentrate on studying because at the place where I'm living I can go to the library, restrict my access to the Internet and sometimes store my phone in my cupboard of the shared kitchen. In the afternoon I went for a hike with my mother. That was cool. During my studying I opened an online game twice but closed it immediately and didn't play. No gaming: 13 days No PMO: 11 days One amazing thing that happened today: hiking What I will do differently tomorrow: do tasks for university, for which I don't need my laptop, in our guest room without smartphone and laptop

Hi, sounds like a good plan. Maybe you can start with one or two things from the list and replace watching videos with these new things. Once they've become a routine, you can add more things. If you start too many new hobbies at once, it might become overwhelming and lead to frustration. In your introduction you mentioned praying as an additional goal. Do you have a church with people of your age nearby? That's also a good way to make friends and get away from playing or watching videos in the freetime. Regards

Yes. I agree. Work, studies and sport are good opportunities. I made friends at a Baptist church. If you are a Christian, going to church might also be a good chance to meet new people.

April 11th, 2022 Today I woke up at 9.15am. I had uni from 10 am to 1.30 pm. On my way back I bought some groceries and then went to the canteen. Since I went to bed late the night before, I had a nap after lunch. Afterwards I cleaned my room, studied a little bit and at 6 I had an appointment with my lecturer concerning my study project. In the evening I went to the gym. During my dinner I watched an interesting documentary about conspiracy theories. No gaming: 8 days No PMO: 6 days - studying at least 5 hours a day: no - getting up at 7:30 am: no - eating healthily: yes - to do sports: yes One amazing thing that happened today: The lecturer was very content with my project so far and was able to answer my questions in a clear way. I feel more secure and motivated now. What went well today: - talk with the lecturer What I could have done to make my day better: - put more time on my studying What I will do differently tomorrow: - restricted use of the Internet when being at home

Day 1: April 9th, 2022 the first day didn't start too well since I woke up quite late. When I wanted to ride with my bike from the canteen to the city library after lunsh to get a book, a bird pooped on my clothes. So I had to go home first to change my clothes and procrastinated with my smartphone. On my way to the city library, which is located nearby two electronics stores, I got the urge to buy a PC game. However, I was able not to do so. I studied far less today than I planned to. In the evening I went to the gym for a leg workout. I ate healthily throughout the whole day. What I could have done to make my day better: waking up earlier, studying more What I will do differently tomorrow: not use my phone in my bed, make a plan for the day No gaming: 5 days No pornography: 3 days

I’m a student doing a Master’s degree and decided to make some changes in my life. My aim is to stop playing computer games, stop watching porn and not to wake up after 8 am. I intend to keep a progress journal on this site to write down my struggles and developments and to not forget why I’m doing this. I have been playing games for as long as I can remember. For me PC games are very addictive and also some kind of escapism. I tend to procrastinate and escape into games. Until recently I was playing online games a lot. I stopped playing at the beginning of this week and want to push through. I usually get triggered in the evening when I’m using my laptop or when I’m in a bad mood. When I look back, I regret how much time I wasted playing PC games. From now on I want to spend more time on my studying and getting into shape. Since I mostly played games in my free time and was not really physically active, I have a bad posture. Because of some bad occurrences and wrong decisions in the past, I achieved less in life so far than many of my peers. Therefore, I want to study hard now to compensate some of the failures from the past. These are my aims for the next time: Habits to make - Studying at least 5 hours a day - getting up at 7:30 am - eating healthily - to do sports Habits to stop - gaming - pornography Short-term Goals 1 Month from now: submit study subject 5 Months from now: finish rest of my Master courses, pass a written and an oral exam, submit 3 term papers and portfolio tasks 8 Months from now (end of this year): submit my Master thesis

Hello, I read your post with great interest. You have ambitious goals. That's really cool. It's a reasonable decision to replace the time you spent on gaming with more productive activities or other fun activities. 26 is a good age to get rid of PC games. I'm sure you'll make it. Good luck!

Hi Nils, you made a very wise and powerful decision to quit gaming. I can relate to a lot of what you said, especially to number 4. For me PC games also served as a tool to escape from real life problems and worries. But I realized that it made them worse because it lead to procrastination. I wish you a lot of success on your journey. Kind regards

Hello everyone, as long as I can remember, I’ve been addicted to gaming. During my school time it was not such a big problem since I didn’t have my own laptop and the family PC was in a room used by all family members. So there was some social control. Moreover, I didn’t have a smartphone. It started to become a problem when I got my own laptop and smartphone after school. Currently, I play colonist.io and tower defence games a lot. I threw out my computer games but online games are a problem for me. In the past I played games like Stronghold (all versions), Rome Total War or Age of Empires 3 like crazy. I also watch Youtube quite often but not as much as gaming. I’m a student in my final year. Because of gaming I lost at least one semester altogether. I’m often unable to submit assignments in time and had to postpone them to the next semester. My aim is to stop gaming completely now. For me it’s all or nothing. I can’t restrict my daily gaming time to let’s say half an hour per day. When I look back, I see how much time I lost through gaming. Some time ago I already stopped watching porn. But quitting gaming is far more difficult for me. I think one of the reasons why I’m playing games more often since some time is that I’m a bit unhappy with my life. I’m studying to become a teacher for secondary schools. One of my subjects is Social Sciences (mixture of economics, politics and sociology). In school, History was my best subject and it has always been my passion. It was the only course, in which I was the best student of the whole course. Moreover, I had an advanced course in History and in Social Sciences not even a basic course during my last 3 school years. Back then according to a prognosis, there is not much demand for History teachers. When I started studying there was no general shortage of teachers in my country. Nowadays, there is. That’s why I decided to not take History as a subject. However, I often regret my decision. Generally, I like teaching. My last internships went quite well. I also did private tutoring for some time and worked at a school during the last semesters of my Bachelor. However, I like social sciences far less than history. Furthermore, I suffer from feelings of shame since I’ve achieved less in my life so far than many of my peers because of wrong decisions in the past (too complex to elaborate on at his point). I intend to replace gaming partially with more studying time and partially with more productive free time activities: going to the gym more often, go for a run once a week and reading. I will upload my daily journals on the forum. Kind regards