The One Day Challenge - Inspired by Neuroscience

Hey everyone,

I was watching this podcast with neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, and at some point in the podcast he talked about the Hell Week that Navy SEALs go through and how the ones that made it through managed to do so.

They managed by cutting up each day in smaller blocks and rewarding themselves mentally whenevery they made it to the end of a block (e.g., whenevery they reached the next meal they would pat themselves on the back mentally). This mental shoulder pat releases some dopamine and would motivate and enable them to continue.

I think the same strategy can be applied to NoFap. What I think happens now is that people (including myself) decide to do a challenge, for example 90 days PMO-free. But they don't give themselves credit during the process, for example after being 10 days PMO-free. And so slowly the motivation fades, and the chances of relapse increase. And because they didn't give themselves any credit for the progress that was made, they feel like shit about the relapse and it leads to a binge. After the binge some new motivation to be PMO-free is found, and the whole cycle starts over again.

The other thing that can happen, is that somebody reaches the 90-days, which that person is then proud of and so it releases some dopamine. However, there is no new goal after that, so no motivation to continue NoFap, thereby increasing the chance of a relapse again. After the relapse, the same cycle starts over again.

These cycles have happened to me over and over, and I'm sick of it and want to do something different this time. That is why, instead of doing a challenge for a set amount of days, I want to give myself credit after every day that I was PMO-free, thereby reinforcing my motivation to stay PMO-free.

This topic is meant as a way to give yourself a mental reward at the end of every day that you were PMO-free. Just post a message here acknowledging how well you did that day by not using PMO, giving yourself motivation to be PMO-free again the next day.

PS: this is the podcast, for anyone who is interested:

He starts talking about the process of internal rewards around 59:00.

 

Today was the first clean day after my 3-day relapse, and I am proud of myself that I made it through this day without PMO. I had some strong urges during the day, but managed to sit them out. So this is my first mini-achievement, getting through 1 day.

 

I made it through another day, and I am proud of myself that I did. The first 2 days after a relapse are always the hardest, so I'm especially proud that I made it through those 2 days succesfully.