Antoni

Entry 19: December 6, 2023 On Relapsing "YouTube" & "Learn Pomodoro" streaks After 32 days was longest streak in completing "No YouTube", my initial target was just 30 days. I planned to use YouTube again for learning, and for uploading my creative work to attract more clients and create a strong social media presence. Unfortunately, yesterday I relapsed hard. I was watching countless of videos of the channels I wanted to watch, mostly are for entertainment. Maybe I was too emotional at that time because of stress, pressure, and anxiety that I've been dealing for both personal and work life, which affected my decision in relapsing and wasting so much time to cope with my emotions. I should've thought about these and had a plan instead on how I can get back to YouTube again without watching useless videos and wasting so much time. In effect of these, I also missed my learning session to improve my career due to my relapse. This is a learning moment for me, and this should not happen again. I'll be changing my habit as well from "No YouTube" to "No Useless Videos" or maybe "No Excessive YouTube". Working on yourself really is an everyday process, it can't be just a 30-day thing or 90-day thing and then you stopped doing it. It's about a constant learning process on how you can improve yourself and showing up to your good habits everyday for a long time, and then will be compounded into amazing results. Imagine if I learn something for 2 hours everyday for 10 years. It would be around 7,000 hours, at this level I could be close to mastering a skill or a career.

Congrats on 100 days of no YouTube and excessive gaming!

Thanks for your insight @BooksandTrees, I appreciate it. 😊

Entry 19: Monthly Update for November 2023 November Wins: -Finally figured out how can I be productive (by just waking up early and reducing social media consumption + habits) -Best streaks on all my habits. -Starting a new tracker for eating sweets/junk food. -Consistent Exercise routine (except for vacation days). -Consistent Learning routine (normal days). -Trying to improve my career. -Read 4 books this month. -Improved mindset on suffering and doing things that are hard. November Losses: -Started the month very slow, and unproductive -Lose some of my streaks because of vacation near the end of the month -Hard to get back on track after my short vacation. -Sometimes I quickly gave up doing hard things because of prior commitments. December Goals: -Give more effort to building and maintaining relationships. -Find ways to generate more income. -Improve more on staying focus while suffering in exercise and doing hard things. -Prioritize sleep and consistent exercise routine. -Start on improving speaking English and communicating to other people even on the native tongue.

Entry 18: November 26, 2023 - Weekly Update Weekly Wins: -Ran my first 10k after slacking off for a few months. -Completed all work projects. -Doing my routines and habits even sometimes I'm not motivated to do it. -Pushing through failure in my workouts. -Longest streaks on all of my habits. -Completed my 10th book of the year - The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy Weekly Losses: -Skipped work because of completion of projects: Should've do more tasks that can improve work or find clients. -Waking up at the middle of the night due to eating dinner late or drinking too much water: Must set a timer to when to stop eating and drinking water. -Skipped 1 bedtime due to travel and hanging out with my girl: I allow skips on my habits if it is impossible to do it, thus continuing my streaks. -Anxiety attacks in some days even though I workout and mediate: Stop overthinking and practice breathing techniques if occurs. Aha Moments: -You will not be motivated everyday, be disciplined instead and push through pain in completing tasks. Take action even if you don't want to do it, you will thank yourself later. Next Week Goals: -Continue my streaks even if I'm travelling, skip some if it's impossible to do. -Start setting up routines for work like messaging clients if all projects are done. -Read less self-help book and study more instead: Review the books read, and write how can I apply it to my life, then take action. -Take action on goals!

I'm on my 6th month journey of gaming detox, but last month, I almost relapsed because I was interested on this new city simulation game, which I really liked the concept. I'm in the architecture industry and I liked urban planning a lot, so I almost decided to buy it. I spent days thinking about it, if I should do it or not but, in the end, I decided to not do it since I know I can't moderate it. I have this addictive personality which I can easily spend mindless hours to anything instant gratifying, from watching movies/shows, eating junk foods or social media, etc. After several days thinking about it, I decided to keep my detox streak and to spend my time instead in learning a new Computer-Aided Design software which could help me upskill on my industry. What helped me to decide is asking myself what other options do I have? I know there are more activities that I can practice my creativity such as sketching, learning new software, and maybe reading books? I also don't want to break my 6th month streak for a thing that I'm not sure about if I'll enjoy. I also considered what would I feel if I relapse? maybe guilt? regret? I just wanted to share my thoughts as I experienced a kind of similar situation. I'm not against moderation either, to be honest, I envy those productive people who can balance both productive activities and play. I'm also happy that you're able to recognize it and stopped yourself from getting in to the trap. Good luck!

Thank you @FDRx7, I appreciate it. I've been using different habit/task trackers over the past few years like notion, habitica, todoist, and habit app, I think this app is the best out there, because of the streaks, you can see your past failures or successes easily, also it is available both for mobile and PC.

Entry 17: Yesterday marks my 6th month of video games detox. I've been away because updating here daily seems too much work for me. But, I'd like to share my progress in video detoxing and what happened over the past few months. 6 Months of No gaming 1st month - Feeling really good. 2nd month - Starting to get bored / was addicted to YouTube. 3rd month - Trying to get rid of YouTube but failed due to stress and overtime at work. 4th month - Trying to improve my sleep, and workout but still not consistent. 5th to 6th month - Best month so far Got rid of YouTube entirely - replaced it with books, podcasts, and articles. Streaks on habits - consistent sleep schedule, workout schedule, and learning schedule. Scheduling my time on everything - managed my workload at work to avoid overtime. Read more books & consistent meditation practice. Really productive and satisfying days. Something just clicked and everything just falling in at the right place this month. I think the past few months of efforts, trying to build new habits, failing, getting back up and doing it again, and failing to be consistent but I never stop trying, the learnings in my attempts to have better habits seem compounded. I focused on multiple habits such as time blocking, meditating, reading, exercising, and sleeping and waking up at the same time, these habits I would say are the pillars of my well-being. If I did these habits, the day seemed to be more satisfying than not doing them. Here is my month so far: I don't know how long the streak would last but even if I fell off the wagon once again, I'll still continue to try to be better and improve whatever is the new standard of mine. I also would try to post at least weekly here to update my streaks and what happened with my life. I'm grateful for this community since everyone seems very supportive to one another. I also wouldn't attempt to quit games and improve my life if I didn't join the community.

Entry 16: Detox: 2 days: No useless videos (best streak: 40 days) Things I did right: Did my morning routine well. Progress to projects. Meditate, yoga, and read. Things I could improve: I should improve on adding again a learning session to upskill my career. Daily Summary: How well did I stick to today’s plan? How do I feel and why do I feel that way? I followed all of my time blocks, did around 8 50-mins Pomodoro sessions for work. I’m very satisfied today. Although the cravings to procrastinate are very strong today, maybe because I have a lot of deadlines approaching and my brain needed the comfort to slow down and to not do the work. I didn’t give in to the temptation though, that’s the good thing. I also did a 20-min yoga session, after a really long time. I was sweating a lot but felt dizzy afterwards. Hopefully I can get back to running again, I miss it so much, but my sleep schedule is totally fucked up these past few weeks as I want to run really early in the morning. In our area, it is really bad to run in the afternoon because of the traffic and pollution. I hate living here. Hopefully I can transfer anywhere else soon where there is less pollution, and I can do anything I want.

I also struggle with this. I can be productive and do all my habits for several weeks but once I step out and have a short vacation, all of my habits can fall off easily. Especially when I'm back from vacation, it's very hard to get back on track. Based on my experience, it's because the momentum to do the habits stopped, and our brain just choose to relax than do them. These insights form James Clear is really great : How to Get Back on Track: 7 Ways to Bounce Back After Slipping Up (jamesclear.com) Having a checklist or a habit app is helpful as well, I've been using "everyday" app which is really designed well not to break a habit. You also have an option to skip a habit, but never skip 2 days in a row. Personally, I just do half of what my habit goal is. Example, if my daily habit of meditation is 10 mins, I will only do 5 mins when I'm away, or even 2 minutes if it's near impossible to do it just not to break the habit. Other habits that are impossible to do on vacation like running, I usually just stopped stressing out on how to do them because it might ruin my vacation. I just look forward to them once I get back to my usual routine. "These small hiccups don’t make you a failure, they make you human. The most successful people in the world slip up on their habits too. What separates them isn't their willpower or motivation, it's their ability to get back on track quickly." - James Clear Let me know what works for you.

Entry 15: Detox: 1 day: No useless videos (best streak: 40 days) Things I did right: - Followed all the things I've added in my time block - Did meditation, exercise, and reading - Did my daily highlight Things I could improve: - I started too late to work on my daily goals. I should move and start my day as soon as I wake up. Daily Summary: How well did I stick to today’s plan? How do I feel and why do I feel that way? I did all the things I’ve added in my time block. I was very productive and didn’t waste much time procrastinating. Hopefully, I can have this type of drive and motivation every day. I feel satisfied and happy, because I did what I was supposed to do this day. I have no urge to procrastinate or to watch useless videos. Changing my name I changed my name from Grogu to Antoni, to match my name from the game quitter's discord server.

Entry 14: Detox: 0 day: No useless videos I've been slacking off for the past few days and I can't get past my useless videos/YouTube addiction. I cannot get past the 2-week mark. I'll be back journaling almost every day here now, as I find it more helpful and motivating than journaling on my own. I try do both if possible. I've been procrastinating a lot lately and I think I'm on a rut. I cannot get things done, and deadlines are approaching, and I have a little to no progress. Hopefully journaling back here can help me, have the accountability to do what I should have done. After consuming a lot of self-help videos and books, I think I have the knowledge to do the right things, I just have to work on execution and showing up everyday. I have to improve on not relying on my emotions. Almost every day, I feel like I don't want to work or to exercise, but I have to show up and do them regardless of how I feel. Also, I think I should just start doing what I'm supposed to do, rather than waiting motivation to show up. I'm fucking old and I'm struggling with discipline. I have to work myself now or be a loser in the future. I have to get shit done!!!!!!!!!

Entry 13: Hi everyone, I've been away here for a while. After my vacation in September, I decided to journal on my own to express my thoughts without limits. I use a life changing system called "Second Brain", which helped me to decide what I really wanted in my life. It is a complete system that includes daily tasks, journals, goals, projects, and more. I specifically used Thomas Frank's "The Ultimate Second Brain". Anyways, things are good but everyday is a work in progress. I'm still dealing with anxieties and procrastination, but I think I found a better way of coping it. I used "Urge Surfing" now to try and combat the strong force in my mind which is called "resistance" by Steven Pressfield's book "The War of Art". I use it to avoid procrastination and to keep surfing from the urges of changing tasks, if the task on hand is difficult. To keep surfing as well from the urges to relapse in video games addiction, and to mindless scrolling or watching useless videos. My whole September was fun and mostly spent my time with my SO and friends. I realized that I haven't been hanging out with friends for a very long time, and hanging out with them again just filled my heart with so much joy and love. I'll try to schedule a time with friends atleast once a month, to hang out and to catch up. I mean, there is no better feeling than laughing and talking with the people you care about. After my vacation ended in the last week of September, I struggle to be back on my usual habits, so some of my daily rituals and habits were not implemented, also the anxieties and procrastination were back. So, I have to adjust everyday and keep on improving my well-being since the start of October. As of the moment, things are better but there are still more things to improve on. For the future, I'll be back posting here from time to time, maybe it will be a weekly ritual. I also would like to apologize to @TheNewMe2.0 and @Amphibian220 for the very late replies. @TheNewMe2.0 Hi, I think I heard of it but I haven't tried it yet. May I ask which CBT workbook works for you? I think I have this addictive personality; I can get easily addicted to everything that can numb life. Anything from social media, youtube, and even unhealthy snacks, If I have them on my computer or phone, I cannot stop myself to use them to procrastinate, and to avoid work. I tried using "Unhook" which blocks most of the addictive features of youtube and just use it for learning and self improvement. But, I still easily get stuck in the rabbit hole, especially when I'm in emotional crisis or days which I have anxieties. Right now, I've blocked youtube to my phone and computer, I still plan to use them in the future but I'll be really intentional on what I'll watch. On TV's, I still watch shows and movies that I love, especially starwars and marvel shows. But I try to schedule them on my calendar when I don't have deadlines and I'm free to relax. Yes, an episode a day wouldn't hurt. 😄 @Amphibian220 Hi, with regards to being interesting, I didn't have much progress yet but I think it all boils down on what habits you're interested in. I think reading non-fiction, engaging in habits, and learning different topics that I've been interested in, sometimes help in engaging conversation with people. I also try to avoid thinking about what to say and what I shouldn't say. I learned that I have more anxiety in a conversation if I think about not being awkward and watching all my moves all the time. I instead just talk my heart out, but ofcourse, I also feel the conversation and being empathetic of the person I'm engaging with. I still need more practice, I'm a massive introvert and also I'm just working from my home so engaging conversation is very difficult to me. One solution I've been thinking is joining English-practice discord channels, as most of the people there just want to practice speaking, so engaging with them wouldn't be so difficult I believe, and there is also less friction when leaving a call, so practicing there would be helpful. Also, being confident is trusting yourself that you're gonna achieve what you want, not just the things you want, but also the skills you want to improve in the future. Thank you @TheNewMe2.0, and @Amphibian220 for these conversations, I appreciate you both!

Entry 12: Detox: 107 days: Video games detox (Streak) 1 day: No useless videos Things I did right: - Weight Lifting for 15 mins - Completed and submitted all projects Things I could improve: - I could've manage my emotions better today, I was irritable all day due to short and low sleep quality. Reflection: Ill be away for a few days for a short vacation!

Entry 11: Detox: 106 days: Video games detox (Streak) 0 days: No useless videos Things I did right: - Weight Lifting for 20 mins - Completed 7 Pomodoro's (25 mins) - Completed my daily highlight Things I could improve: - I didn't plan for the second half of my day. Once my tasks finished around 2pm, I was confused what task to tackle next and was reading books instead. I also didn't plan what should I learn today, instead I watched podcast clips on YouTube. Which some of them are useless, that's why I reset my streak to learn the lesson.

Entry 10: Detox: 105 days: Video games detox (Streak) 2 days: No useless videos Things I did right: - Ran 5k early morning - Completed 10 Pomodoro's (25 mins) - Submitted a project Things I could improve: - Finding ways to restore energy after work Reflection: Daily Summary (09-05-23: Tuesday). Today was just great, ran 5km in the morning, and I followed almost all the time block I've set to accomplish today. I think I found my momentum and I was in a state of flow most of the time. The two ideas that worked for me and made me productive this week is first, the idea of doing the things you've set to do regardless of how you feel, second is scheduling the things you wanted to do in time blocks, third is being realistic about the length of each task, and fourth is just starting the work and just do one thing and focus on that. I hope I can continue this momentum in the next few days.

Entry 9: Detox: 104 days: Video games detox (Streak) 1 day: No useless videos Things I did right: - Washed my laundry - Time blocked and followed it. - Revised a project Things I could improve: - Being clear on what to accomplish in the morning Reflection: Using YouTube again after 40 days, and another 10 days of detox. I decided it to use YouTube again but only for self-development videos, and for learning. All useless videos will be considered as a relapse, and I can only use YouTube at within 4pm to 8pm time range as these are my learning hours. I'll only allow videos that are for self-development, learning new skills, and for podcasts. I'll also use extensions such as "unhook" to remove the home page, notifications, recommendations, trending, and other addicting aspects of YouTube. Also "shortsblocker" to block all shorts videos in youtube. I've realized that I don't have a strong craving for useless videos anymore, I can avoid the useless ones and watch self-development videos instead. Today I've restructured my goals into long, medium, and short term, and I also incorporated a yearly planning, and a daily highlight which I learned all from Ali Abdaal's youtube videos. I'll also plan to do a notion second brain system in maybe a few days. 09-03-23 (Sunday) to 09-04-23 (Monday) Summary: Sunday was okay, I did some home stuffs that occupied me for a day. I could've planned my sunday better to relax and restore my energy for the next week. Today, I slept for 8 hours and woke up feeling good and energized. I was doing some chores in the morning and I worked on projects in the afternoon. I'm starting to feel that I can focus better now than a week ago. I managed to work some projects, but the number of working hours is still not the standard I wanted but it's still better than a week ago. One adjustment I made was to focus on how I can start the work, and just start working in 1 - pomodoro (25 mins) and rest for 5 mins. I was struggling to just start the work and I usually had a 50 min pomodoro, which I think it's too difficult for me to accomplish right now at post burn out, 25 min pomodoro works for me at the moment. Another adjustment I plan to make is to do the most difficult tasks first thing in the morning. I usually do the easiest one, and avoid the most scary tasks but I think it's keeping me procrastinate on the things that are important to me and the things that I value which are usually the most difficult, like learning new skill.

Entry 8: Detox: 102 days: Video games detox (Streak) 0 day: Social media & YouTube detox (Relapse) Things I did right: - Woke up early and ran 7.8km - Work for 4 Pomodoros (50 mins each) Things I could improve: - Youtube Relapse because I was scheduling to unblock youtube every saturday. I'll set a new goal tomorrow. - Still so much wasted time, but It's better than yesterday. Reflection: Daily Summary (09-02-23: Friday). I feel good after my morning run, but I was tired throughout the day. I'm still figuring out how to solve my tiredness. Maybe It's because my body and mind were adapting to the change, I made for the last 10 days. There are still ups and downs, but I figured it is part of the process of changing one's identity. It's not really quick and easy to just change overnight, this would be an everyday process to keep having better decisions. As for the youtube relapse, I wasn't feeling bad about it since I scheduled my app blockers to unblock it every Saturday. I wanted to explore youtube again but minus the unhealthy and mindless scrolling behavior. I'll be looking for an app to remove the search bar and the home page, and I can just watch from the selected youtube channels that will help me in my journey of self-development. Maybe I will change the youtube detox to no mindless scrolling and useless videos.

Entry 7: Detox: 101 days: Video games detox (Streak) 9 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Target: 30 days) Things I did right: - Forced myself to do a 15 min weights workout - Did all my habits that I was building. Things I could improve: - Should push through and do the work even if unmotivated - I had plenty of time but didn't utilize it. Reflection: Daily Summary (09-01-23: Friday). Slept 8 hours + but I feel tired and unmotivated all day. I consider this one a bad day, I can't seem to make myself to do my projects. I should push myself through even though I'm not motivated to do the tasks. I should have done short 25 min pomodoro's to get started and show up on my scheduled time. I wasn't man enough to push through stress, I should prioritize this habit, the habit of pushing myself through tiredness and unmotivated. I think this is the result of being burnt out and stressed over the past few weeks. Another possible cause of this low energy is sleep debt. I was only sleeping 6 hours and 40 mins on average for the past 4 months. I usually can function fully if I have 8-9 hours of full sleep. I'm currently making adjustments and I'm sleeping earlier and having 7-9 hours of sleep per day for over a week now. Hopefully I can stick to this habit. Monthly Summary (August). August was a roller coaster ride. I started the month not tracking anything. I was procrastinating all the time and doing projects at the last minute of deadline. I was burnt out, and not really feeling good. I realized this too late and was making changes in the last week of August. I'm currently continuing having progress of the changes I made. I'm tracking my habits and money now, I also journal regularly and recorded my working, learning, and workout hours. Hopefully I can continue doing these habits and I can make it part of my system. Here is the current progress of my habits, I also made a change in 1 habit, I started tracking the habit of being in bed before 8pm, instead of waking up early. This would be a lot easier for me to wake up earlier.

Entry 6: Detox: 100 days: Video games detox (Streak) 8 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Target: 30 days) Things I did right: - Woke up 30 mins late than my target time, but still marked check the habit since I was able to force myself to run 5km in a hot, and traffic environment since I started running around 6am already. - Recorded and analyzed my monthly expenses. - Was able to get back on track working on projects. Things I could improve: - Should start running around 5am, past 6am the sun is already too hot, and the city is already really crowded and traffic. Reflection: Daily Summary (08-31-23: Thursday). I feel satisfied, but anxious of the future. I'm still writing my goals, and the ways on how I can achieve it. I feel definitely better than a week ago. I also managed to increase my sleep time by 2 hours and was waking up 3 hours earlier compared to last week. I still have a lot to improve especially on managing my time. I was able to time block and schedule my time but sometimes I tend to spend too much time on something or too little in my planned schedule. I'm grateful for the money I saved for the past few years, it's not a lot but I was able to save for the rainy days and for the future goals I want to achieve. I sometimes say that I wasn't lucky to have a freelancing career since I'm missing out on corporate experience. But I was saving much more here in freelancing than doing a corporate office job. I may be able to do my dream of looking for better opportunities abroad in the future.

Entry 5: Detox: 99 days: Video games detox (Streak) 7 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Last streak: 40 days) Things I did right: - Forced myself to do a 15-min workout - Woke up at 5am, meditated immediately. Things I could improve: - Prioritizing most important tasks first Reflection: Daily Summary (08-30-23: Wednesday). Slept for 8 hours but was still sleepy. Ended up forcing myself to get out of the bed to start my day. Things went well, but I haven't been working with my projects over the past 2 days due to my girlfriend arriving from another city. I'll definitely will start again tomorrow. I wasn't working overtime. I had a realization after recording my focus hours from an app called "forest". I figured out that I wasn't working overtime last month when I was burnt out and things went rough, I was procrastinating all week then put all hours I can give to complete a project, 1-3 days before the deadline. This caused for me to overwork for a few days. I'm currently working to improve my schedule and time management, hopefully this would not happen again.

Entry 4: Detox: 98 days: Video games detox (Streak) 6 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Last streak: 40 days) Things I did right: - Ran for 5km even when it's raining. - Assisting my SO to her errands. Things I could improve: - Always schedule time, including errands. Reflection: Daily Summary (08-29-23: Tuesday). I slept only for 6 hours, maybe because I had a sip of redbull yesterday. I feel okay today, and was tired assisting my SO to her errands. But, it was worth it since we had lots of talks and laughs. I'm grateful to have her in my life because I'm a different person when I'm with her. I feel better, I smile and laugh a lot, jokes a lot, and I like myself with I'm with her. On changing careers. Thank you for the advice @wheatbiscuit, I appreciate you sharing your story here. I have multiple career paths in mind and I have not decided yet but I lean towards a career that I can get a higher chance of migrating with, as I want to improve my quality of life and find better opportunities abroad. Over the past few years, I wasn't spending any time learning new skills or upskilled with my current career it's because of procrastination and addiction to video games, and youtube. Now that I'm detoxing my bad habits and also journaling regularly, I hope things will get better and I'll be trying to learn new skills again in the future. Probably around 2 months from now because I'm still prioritizing my sleep, exercise, meditation, and other habits that can reduce my stress and anxiety for the next 30 days. I'll update here from time to time, I'll let you know 😄.

Congrats on 12 days! I'm on 90+ days but sometimes I can still feel the cravings especially when I'm stressed or bored. But the pain to game again and break my streak is far more painful than just not gaming at all. You'll get much stronger as the days go by.

Entry 4: Detox: 97 days: Video games detox (Streak) 5 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Last streak: 40 days) Things I did right: - Meditated for 10 mins - Forced myself to conquer a 30 mins HIIT cycling workout. Things I could improve: - Learn to focus more, eliminate distractions. Reflection: Daily Summary. Woke up feeling groggy, maybe because of the melatonin pill I took last night but did a workout in the morning and I feel better after. I still completed most of the habits today. Hopefully I can build a high streak that It will become a pain to skip the habits than to just do it, that's my goal. On changing career. Tried it months ago but I failed miserably. I don't know if I'm very much attached to my current identity that I cannot make a change, or if I just didn't try that hard and just wanted the glory of being successful in that field and doesn't want to experience the pain in learning in the process. I still don't have a path that I'm very passionate about, I'm still confused but I decided to just stick to my current field and to just upskill to improve my current state. Another goal in the future is to be good in what I do that I can't be ignored by any employer.

Entry 3: Detox: 96 days: Video games detox (Streak) 4 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Last streak: 40 days) Things I did right: - Forced myself to workout for 15 mins. - Wrote my goals for the next 5 years - Read a book Things I could improve: - Workout longer, record weights and reps Reflection: "It's worth remembering that for any change to happen in your life, you must be wrong about something." - Subtle art of not giving a fck This quote resonates with me, it says in the book that if you're sitting there and miserable all day, it means that you're already wrong about something major in your life, and until you're able to question to find it, nothing will change. We need to always doubt ourselves on our decisions, careers, relationships, or anything we have go on with our daily lives. We can only improve ourselves if we find that we are wrong about something, that is now time to make a change. Aug 21-27, 2023 Summary Used a new habit recorder called "everyday", also restarted and regrouped the habits that I stopped doing. I made these habits to be very easy to do, I'll improve them along the way once I'm comfortable of doing them harder.