Rodrigo

Dale Carnegie's book is a very good one! I'd say he was one of the best to persuade people. I still have to read it again to make a brief summary of it in my Evernote. A tip: you should write the most important points of the book on something that you can easily access! That's what I am doing in my Evernote. If you don't write up the most important points in a book you may forget most of them, as I did Gorilla Mindset seems like a very interesting read! As Cam said, keep up with reading! For some, the moment when they started to read books was their turning point in life. I can imagine that being true. 2 more days to go!!

---------------------------------(Yesterday)-------------------------------- Hmm I'm in my 4th day of not gaming. I only get cravings when I see something related to MGSV! The MGS series was the game that made the transition from gameboys to console for me and I played them all! And this is like the masterpiece of Kojima! I can get along if I keep away from places that show that kind of content, but a firend of mine in the appartment is also a big fan of it and he kinda bought it for his PC \o/ It will be hard, I will have to "use extra caution" But I think I will be alright, I've been focused oh what I've been doing. I was in a free webinar of Michael Hyatt. For you who don't know him, you should check him out. Mainly if you are an entrepreneur/CEO/community leader. He's very good. It was about creating a product for an online business. He said a lot of interesting things and noticed why some prices end with a 7 . It ended with him recommending a course of a firend of his, costing over 2000$. I was expecting he would do something like that, because it was free. But he made it really well. Of course I didn't go for it, I don't even have the money for Cam's products But I would still recommend him. He gives a lot of good content for free, and I like listening to him. Day 3 of Meditation and Day 2 of the Funnyness exercise: While doing the funyness exercise I got distracted sometimes (drifted a bit), but noticed it and kept going. It's hard, I'll tell you that. But I guess it is what makes it interesting. I wasn't much funny in that day, there is a presentation that I have to do and it is keeping me away from funnyness Did 30 minutes of meditation, and I'm sure my mind drifted way off in the last 10 minutes, because I didn't remember the last minutes before the timer going off. Will try to be more conscious and use less visualization (it kicks like a horse, almost start to dream after ) Forgot again to notice my speech rhytm, damn! Have to notice even more. Gratefulness (4th day) I'm grateful for: 16. Being so easy to watch workshops online (webinars) 17. The helpful tips that an older friend gave me to use in my next presentation; 18. Having a professor that is so rigid and serious that will evaluate the presentation; 19. Being able to meditate without conflicts; 20. The insights I've been getting in the last days.

?Nope, never did one! But I would love to do something like that! Or maybe just go camping solo for 10 days or so. Those kind of things are great to give us a direction to go in life, disconnected from anything... You do well! Do many people want to go do such things? Maybe you could tell us some of your insights after doing it

Day 2 of Meditation and Day 1 of the Funnyness exercise: The funnyness exercise is interesting... The 10 minutes of random sentences felt very strange! It feels very weird just talking to yourself for 10 whole minutes! The visualizations and affirmations went quite well. Funny to do them During the day I tried to be more funny and I got quite some laughs, not big ones, but some normal ones! That's something I didn't do for a long time... wow... Did 30 minutes of meditation, some pain started to show up around the 25 minute mark, but was okay. Only remembered to visualize my mind room (can explain this if you want) in the end, but it kicked me even further down. Will do this in the beginning, next time. Didn't drift asleep which was very nice! I felt lightheaded throughout the day, might be because of the meditation, who knows. Forgot again to notice my speech rhytm, damn! Have to notice even more. Gratefulness (3rd day) I'm grateful for: 11. Having such a Project Management Group; 12. Having a professor that shares some interests with me; 13. Being possible to sell used stuff that I don't need anymore; 14. Making a good deal with a nice guy; 15. Being able to order stuff from other countries which arefar cheaper than in my country (books).

Zane is right! Cholesterol by itself doesn't mean anything, you have to check your LDL and HDL. And congrats for doing the blood test! Not many people go to do it, because they don't want to face reality. We have to know the good news and also the bad news, so that we can take action. We already have a short life, why not try to extend it while we can? The steps seem alright! Maybe just do a research on what Zane said about the eggs. While eating snacks like walnuts and eating oatmeal is very nice, you still have to be careful on what you eat in the main meals. I don't know if you already wrote about it, but stay away from red meat and go towards white meat and fish. Personally I also eat a lot of vegetables and soup (thanks to my parents). Vegetables are really easy to cook and if you cook a soup, it lasts for some 4-5 days, depending on the amount and how many people are going to eat it. Also congrats for being close to your weight goal!

Almost forgot to do the gratitude exercise I'm grateful for: 6. Being able to store food in the freezer for quite some time; 7. Being so easy to buy food and other products; 8. The products being so cheap even if they had to go through a lot of processes (Like a can); 9. Being possible to adquire knowledge from hundreds and thousands of years ago; 10. Being able to communicate with people so far away from me in such a short time.

Good news! I just found out my perfect meditation routine \o/ I woke up 30 minutes earlier than usual and everyone was sleeping. I got the energy to get up and start searching for a place where I could meditate. This time I tried while sitted in a chair while facing a window with a good view. It was 6:30 AM, no cars sounds and the birds start singing, great ambience! I have to say, this was the first time I REALLY felt comfortable while meditating. No pain, no urge to move, nothing. I felt that my arms were pillars and that my body was made of stone. My feet and legs were vibrating. I only did it for 15~20 minutes because I didn't put a timer, but I definitely could do it for 30 or more minutes. It was really nice! Going to stick with the chair for now A while after my meditation something came into my mind. I am not as funny as I previously was. To be honest I can't remember the last time I was funny. So I read a bit on some sites and I found that it's possible to practice being funny. I just have to alter the lense through which I see the world. I'm using a very analytical lense which can be explained why I'm in engineering ahahah So I am going to do this exercise (that I got from a site/video I trust) for atleast 3 months: Ask to myself in every occasion "What could I make in this situation to make this funny?";Random Sentence StringsSet a 10 minute timer;Sit in a quiet place;String random sentences using the last word of a sentence to start the next one;Affirmation and VisualizationSet a 5 minute timer;Visualize this statement"I see funniness everywhere;Set another 5 minute timerRepeat the same statement over and over;Then do the same for "I am a Rascal"Live Practice (Advanced/Do when comfortable)Go to a mall, cologne store;Conversation about a cologne;Ask for her name, where she's from, how she got this job, etc..Look for the funny in everything she says;In case anyone is interested, you can use this plan too! I forgot a lot of times to notice my rythm of speech and to slow it down if needed. Have to notice it. I also installed the facebook news feed erradicator (I saw that recommended in another thread, can't remember where) and I have to say that IT'S AMAZING!! Just to let you know how much I was addiced to check it, I still refresh the page sometimes, even with the plugin. Ouch!! Definitely something to keep. Bye bye mindless fb scrolling o/ I'm loving to read "Meditations", there's so much stuff that I can apply to my daily life and to remind me that my life is finite and that we must enjoy it while we can and respect the order of the Universe. I'm filling my Evernote with quotes, it's crazy!

Hello! I have been writting in my physical journal, but I find it interesting to write in here, so here it goes What I'm reading: "Meditations" by Marcus AureliusWhat I need to take care of: Have a meditation routine;Learn a (or some) techniques that helps me to relax when I get stressed/nervous For now it's just these two. I don't want to push myself a lot in the beggining. The problem of the meditation routine is that I live in a flat with 4 more friends and I also share my bedroom with another guy. So the only way to meditate without noises is in the morning before they wake up. Well, that's okay! But I tend to fall asleep or drift away if I try it early in the morning... I will keep at it though, hopefully will get somewhere.. Another big problem of mine is that I get nervous. I think that I'm do not look relaxed throughout the day, maybe it's because I tend to talk fast and not clear enough? Hmm then I will start to talk more slowly. It's not my posture, because I had already worked on that (no more slouch and hands in the pockets). I also get nervous when I talk to groups bigger than 3 people, but I guess that's something that only goes away from practice. I've been an University Mentor for about 25 freshmen and also 4 Erasmus Students (International Students). And I always get a bit overwhelmed on the first day when we met where we have to go with them a series of steps. This year was much better than the last year. What I will work on: My nervousness. Will start to talk more slowly;My social skills. Will try to have 2 coffee meetings with new/old friends each week;Meditation. Being more aware and awake in the morning. Will try to breathe the outside air before trying to meditate;-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today I got up early (6 AM) to pack my stuff and go to my flat near the University. I read while in the public transports. Had classes from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM (ahhhh gotta love Mondays!). Had 1 and a half hour to lunch, read for half an hour and stayed with a friend of mine for another half an hour. Arrived to my flat, a lot tired. Studied and tried to advance in a lab project (Computer Security), managed to understand some key concepts through some youtube videos. Did dinner and now I was browsing through the forum and writing this journal. Now I remembered something that I kind of hated why it happened. In an exercise class I was able to do the exercises. The professor asked for my name and asked me to answer to solve the exercise he had in the board. I said some stuff but not everything. Then he asked another guy to complete what I said. I really hated when that happened. I knew the answer to the problem! But I got too nervous that my brain froze! It was the first time a professor asked me for something in a class and that also asked for my name (The professor is very good by the way, really really good). Now that I'm getting my masters degree I want to give a good impression to the professors and this just happened Next time I will get it right! Hopefully it wasn't as bad as it seemed to me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm grateful for: 1. Getting to know 2 cool guys that are in a lab group with me. 2. Having less freshmen students to mentor than last year, it's so much more easier and possible to help them all; 3. Being able to change; 4. Having a great summer internship. Learned a lot; 5. Living in a country with such a good weather.

Hello George! it's great to have you here! For a Portuguese, your english is just fine I respect your will to go for the 90 day challenge, and hopefully, for many more days! The first days may be very tough, try to have something to do during "the void" NOW! If you're having any thoughts or troubles, please let us know as we will be here to help you. Having the journal will definitely help! Try to make it as important as you can so you don't get lazy Take care

Hello Phoenix! Thank you for sharing you story with us. Most if not all of us went through a similar path to yours and it's okay! I keep thinking that if maybe I didn't play anything at all would let me being here trying to improve myself and learning a lot! I think that's a good perspective to have Leaving games cold turkey works, but not if you can't find anything to fill "the void". But I find that even if we relapse, some of the reasons to stop gaming or some of the things we learned stays with us! As Marcus Aurelius wrote "When circumstances force you to some sort of distress, quickly return to yourself. Do not stay out of rhythm for longer than you must: you will master the harmony the more by constantly going back to it." (6.11). I'm finding some of his quotes to ressonate with me a lot! Personally, I'm not a fan of making friends at parties/bars, etc... Only because of the people there, I don't want to meet people who enjoy staying until late hours, getting drunk, almost wasting their time. But I can see why people like to make friends there. At the moment I can't give you any tips on how to go to parties without a friend, besides just chatting to random groups... One thing you could do is join groups. Is there any running club near you? If not, why not make one? Congratulations for returning back to this path! Take care

Hey Cam! It's cool you're thinking on coming here! I can give you a list of some cities you can choose to go. But if you're interested on coming to the capital (Lisbon), I live there and I can show you the best spots around Another good city that tourists love is Porto and it's 270 km away from Lisbon. Thanks wookie! You're welcome I'm still finishing to read it, but I'm loving the way he sees the world and life/death. I find it best to write down the entries that ressonate the most with me. You should try it too!

Really interesting choice of books! Just added them to my Books-to-buy list. Thank you for recommending them.

Hi! I'm Rodrigo and I'm a Portuguese 21 year old guy who is taking a masters degree on Telecommunications and Computer Networks Engineering. I have played a lot since I was about 6 years old until this year. I completely feel that I would accomplish much more if I would have done more interesting activities. I lack social skills, mostly. I literally played so many hours of FPS games that I just can't play them anymore. But I still have a weak spot for MMOs and fantastic story driven games. I just can't ignore this hole inside of me that makes me feel hollow... I'm 21 years old, but I feel like I'm still a kid sometimes, not morally, but in the way I stand in the world. I don't know anything... I'm not a stranger to Game Quitters! I actually stayed in the StopGaming reddit and I got to know Cam and his videos which were very interesting and also a good thing to grasp besides the reddit. I was able to stop playing for about 3 months and then I got a relapse that lasted for more 3-4 months. BUT the knowledge and some of the habits that I learned during those 3 months I stopped, stayed with me. I still had the mentality of doing what I felt it was umcomfortable for me. For example, I made a personal web page and started to look for an internship in the summer. I could have just spent the summer playing games, but I chose to do the internship and I got one. Of course that I played videogames when I arrived home, but atleast I was doing something that I wouldn't do if I hadn't those 3 months of not gaming. And more! A lot of stuff that I learned in those 3 months of not gaming it's actually paying off right now! I'm applying them in some classes that are giving me lots of advantage relatively to my colleagues and I'm connecting to some very cultural professors. Interesting stuff... I want to read books again, I want to feel like I'm actually using my free time well, instead of just living each day feeling like I didn't do nothing. I want to be someone. I want to have REAL and POSITIVE friends that want to grow. Like Marcus Aurelius wrote, I want to let the god that is within me be the champion of the being I am. I felt like posting this would give me the boost I need to stop playing again. I have the time to read and watch some good podcasts and documentaries, but I'm wasting it on videogames at the moment... And it would be great if I could make some friends around here, because I respect everyone that works hard and tries to be umcomfortable to improve himself Thank you Cam for continuing with this project! I look forward for more of your ideas! Take care, Rodrigo