The No Screen Challenge

10/100

 

11/100

 

Turning off at 19:00. Day 0.

 

12/100

 

13/100

Couldn't sleep yesterday so a bit dizzy today. Probably because I was at home the whole day yesterday, cleaned the house and stuff. I really wanted to go out for a long run but my aquarium screamed for water replacement and suddenly it was too late. Will hopefully run today, even though that short sleep I had isn't the biggest booster.

 

15/100

Awesome work! That's the best, when you feel the resistance and in the end you're pushing through. That's when you really evolve. Keep it up!

Thanks. Yeah, it's the same for me. Too little sleep together with too much coffee and home alone is the worst combination. Luckily I learned that long time ago so this time it went smooth. Since I knew I was in a vulnerable state, I started the day with my own type of therapy session... I stand up in front of the mirror, close my eyes and start fantasising about me entering a porn site and browsing around until I get excited... when that happens I face slap myself several times and yell NO while looking at myself, then I remind myself where this will lead and why I should not do this. After that round I will take several more rounds, successively lowering the threshold for which point I break the fantasy. In the final round, I break the fantasy as soon as I open a new incognito window.

This is very effective because if I get some random trigger I didn't have control of, that usually results in me giving myself a light face slap and then I continue with what I'm doing.

 

16/100

 

17/100

 

18/100

 

19/100

Finally I think I can make it this time in regards to pmo. The conditioning I do is incredibly helpful. The day before yesterday, when I did it the last time, I felt high resistance in starting to do it, which I reconed as a weekness I had to get over. I started anyway and boy how good it felt afterwards.

 

Got off the train after a few successful evenings. Day 0 of stopping at 19:00 again.
I was productive most of the day, but procrastinated on my Anki cards - if you guys don't know, it's a good software for making and reviewing memory flashcards. Took me a lot of time and I screwed up my sleep schedule a bit.
I have trouble being consistent with my habits, like I often exercise, learn and stuff but never at the same time and I know it's not great for productivity, health and wellbeing overall. Need to fix that - sleep is key and screens are a huge factor.

This is extremely relatable. So many things are interesting -or feel like they are-, I end up having dozens of tabs open but learn nothing (or very little) at the end of the day, and it feels like time wasted on unimportant material. I feel it's better to be narrow-minded in a way and to have fewer ressources (like a couple of books) to become really knowledgeable.

 

20/100

Learning is often something that takes time and fight through resistance. If you can learn the thing you want without having internet connected, that could actually help. Sometimes I disconnect the internet on the bottom floor after I have loaded the necessary tabs. The key is not to be just one click away from distractions.

 

21/100

 

22/100

 

56/180

 

@stegiss , I'm very happy to see you're going so strong in this challenge! I can see you like it

I'm going to join you this time and I will try to be as committed as I can. Problem is, I don't really believe in my own promises for the moment. It's a shame to not be the one in control but the first step to change is to admit there is a problem.

May 25, 2018 was a great day. I joined NoFap and had a streak for 2.5 years. Those 2.5 years really transformed into a great person - who kept crushing challenge after challenge. After completing the grand challenge of them all, the 10%-challenge (913 days in no porn mode), I had been doing 30+ other challenges during that time and I was stronger than ever. I was extremely disciplined when it came to commitments: If I started a challenge, I did everything I could to stay on track.

That greatness got me a bit worried at the same time: What would I do after I completed the 10%-challenge? Since everything was a challenge, how would I perform if I didn't do a no-porn challenge at all? I had gotten so dependent on doing challenges and writing them down here so I was unsure how I would perform if I did not. On the other hand, I also felt that I wanted to move on and not be dependent on the NoFap community.

After months of thinking, I gave it a try - I stopped using NoFap and let my greatness steer my path in life. In January 2021, two months later, I relapsed.

During the relapse, I felt something that I hadn't felt in a long time: I was not the one in control. I got so frustrated and I felt so ashamed, I deleted my NoFap account and created a new one, since I didn't want my "character" on NoFap to expose his weakness. For the first five months, I kept relapsing with intervals between one week and one month. Every time, I told myself I was really going to stop and I believed in me... my former success made me think that I was a man who could hold a promise to myself. That belief slowly deteriorated.

I started to feel it was pointless to log in to NoFap and commit to something that I would not complete anyway, so I decided to keep on going, but on my own. However, this has proven to be even worse.

Now it's in the middle of the night and it's time to get back here. The problem I wish to solve is to answer the question "I know I can, but will I?"

Greetings from the creator of this challenge.

 

I’m in for two days. Deadline 9:30 pm
0/2.

 

I'm glad I could get you back on track on NoFap! The brain is so deceiving, you really have to watch every step you take in order to make sure the decision you make is from your conscious brain and not the sub-conscious one, driven by random emotions. That's something a challenge on NoFap is very good to help you out with - by writing down your goals and committing to them here is a step towards structuring your thoughts so you know what to do when a particular moment comes. With the right challenge, you have already made the decision and you don't have to make it at a time when your brain is filled with strong emotions. This can transform you into a person that, in many situations, let you go on autopilot.

I was thinking about this while reading your message. Maybe you can can up with a challenge that manipulates you in such a way that you don't loose track while you're in front of the computer?
I've also had times when I have had a hard time to stay focused in front of the computer. Things that have helped is planning the day, disconnect internet and forcing myself to write what I'm about to do when I open my laptop. I don't remember if I mentioned this to you (maybe I did a few months ago) but I made a script that made my computer to go into sleep mode if I didn't write a short notice about what I was about to do and how long time it would take. That was actually pretty cool, it got me to be very aware about how fast minutes can pass by.

When it comes to this challenge, I think it's one of the best actually. Before I started with this one, I could be up very late even if I was tired. That resulted in bad sleep and a lousy day afterwards, which would sooner or later lead to pmo. So this challenge indeed helps you on a no-pmo journey!

Now what I want to get back is self-love, self-trust and self-discipline. That can only be earned and the way that happens is through hard work. For almost all relapses this year, I have slipped because I wasn't strong enough to choose the path without instant gratification. I've been strong to last a few weeks but then after some time, I just loose it. Somehow I need to find that personality which will do whatever it takes to stay on track. Obviously I found it before my three year streak... At that time, I was at rock bottom, which was a huge motivator for me. Today, I'm far from rock-bottom, which makes it hard for me to motivate myself the same way. You mentioned you needed to find new, strong motivation before. How did you find and what got you motivated?



Over to the challenge:
Monday: 1/2
Tuesday: forgot the time, was using computer 30 minutes past deadline. reset 0/2.
Wednesday: 1/2

To avoid forgetting the time again, I'm starting a script that will make my computer go into sleep mode if time is past deadline.

 

2/2, small challenge completed. Instead of being up late last night I stopped using my computer exactly at deadline. That was a good thing, because I woke up today at 5 am and I could continue where I left off. It also felt very good to do the right thing - to hold my promise to myself.

On Fridays and Saturdays, I'm allowed to watch movies until 10:30 pm. Other than that the deadline is 09:30 pm.

I think I can manage a week without a problem but let us not take such a big step. I will do a three day challenge now.

0/3.

 

I was out on a club yesterday and my sleep got definitely skewed. I used my phone for finding my way home so challenge-wise, that's a reset.