Asceticism

29.07.17:

No pmo - check - 7

Healthy eating - check - 7

Workout - check - 7

Meditate - check - 7

No alcohol - check - 7

Study 6h/day - fail - 0

No tv - check - 7

Sitting straight - check - 7

Cold showers - check - 7

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - check - 7

Visualisation practice of my fears - check - 7

Positive mindset - check - 7

Get up at seven a.m. - check - 7.
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30.07.17:

No pmo - check - 8

Healthy eating - check - 8

Workout - check - 8

Meditate - check - 8

No alcohol - check - 8

Study 6h/day - check - 1

No tv - check - 8

Sitting straight - check - 8

Cold showers - check - 8

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - check - 8

Visualisation practice of my fears - check - 8

Positive mindset - check - 8

Get up at seven a.m. - check - 8

40h/studying this week - fail - 30

Intermittent fasting at least three days/week - check - 7.
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Current success rate for each task:

No pmo - 100 %

Healthy eating - 100 %

Workout - 100 %

Meditate - 100 %

No alcohol - 100 %

Study 6h/day - 66,7 %

No tv - check - 100 %

Sitting straight - 100 %

Cold showers - 100 %

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 100 %

Visualisation practice of my fears - 100 %

Positive mindset - 100 %

Get up at seven a.m. - 100 %

40h/studying this week - 0 %

Intermittent fasting at least three days/week - 100 %.

Everything is going well, except that several obligations this week kept me from studying. But at least all these obligations were necessary, so I did not just slack off or play video games but worked hard.

I do have to change my diet though, because I lose too much weight. Eating plant based and only once a day does not give me enough calories. So I think I will add some more high caloric yet healthy foods, like nuts.

All in all, it goes very good!

 

31.07.17:

No pmo - check - 9

Healthy eating - check - 9

Workout - check - 9

Meditate - check - 9

No alcohol - check - 9

Study 6h/day - check - 2

No tv - check - 9

Sitting straight - check - 9

Cold showers - check - 9

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic -check - 9

Visualisation practice of my fears - check - 9

Positive mindset - check - 9

Get up at seven a.m. - check - 9.

Right now it is pretty easy, but I know from past experiences that this is deceptive. Still, I would like to make the challenge even harder, so if anyone got some ideas about which valuable tasks I could add, I would love to hear!

 

Everything is working fine. Actually, I have not been as energetic and motivated since as long as I can remember. I don't know what the reason for that is, maybe the healthy food and sports, or whatever, but I feel extremely good. Not even tired, which is usually my biggest cause of failure.

Here is my current statistic. I will not present every single day as long as everything is going good. Also, I added the habit of not browsing the internet for fun between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

3.8.17:

No pmo - 12

Healthy eating - 12

Workout - 12

Meditate - 12

No alcohol - 12

Study 6h/day - 5

No tv - 12

Sitting straight - 12

Cold showers - 12

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 12

Visualisation practice of my fears - 12

Positive mindset - 12

Get up at seven a.m. - 12

No browsing - 3.

 

Current status: all fine. A few days ago I played Playstation with my friends so I restarted the No TV task.

6.8.17:

No pmo - 15

Healthy eating - 15

Workout - 15

Meditate - 15

No alcohol - 15

Study 6h/day - 8

No tv - 2

Sitting straight - 15

Cold showers - 15

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 15

Visualisation practice of my fears - 15

Positive mindset - 15

Get up at seven a.m. - 15

No browsing - 6

Studying 40h/week - 1

Fasting - 15.

 

I was not able to study the last two days because I visited my family. Fortunately, I achieved everything else.

Current status on 13.08.17:

No pmo - 22

Healthy eating - 22

Workout - 22

Meditate - 22

No alcohol - 22

Study 6h/day - 0

No tv - 9

Sitting straight - 22

Cold showers - 22

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 22

Visualisation practice of my fears - 22

Positive mindset - 22

Get up at seven a.m. - 22

No browsing - 13

Studying 40h/week - 0

Fasting - 22.

Success percentage:

No pmo - 100%

Healthy eating - 100%

Workout - 100%

Meditate - 100%

No alcohol - 100%

Study 6h/day - 77,3%

No tv - 95,5%

Sitting straight - 100%

Cold showers - 100%

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 100%

Visualisation practice of my fears - 100%

Positive mindset - 100%

Get up at seven a.m. - 100%

No browsing - 100%

Studying 40h/week - 33%

Fasting - 100%.

 

This is it -- I finished my 30 days challenge. I am pretty satisfied with my challenge and the progress that I have made. The most amazing thing is that all of my tasks became easier and easier to do, to the point where I just did them automatically.

Before I started my challenge, whenever I was in the library to study, I would keep saying to myself: "come on buddy, wouldn't it be cool to just go home, eat a pizza and take a nap? You can start studying tomorrow, what would a single day matter?" And then I would have a hard time fighting against my own sensual inclinations, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but always having to fight -- which is exhausting.

But now, I just get up in the morning, drink a coffee and sit down to study, and don't even think about eating or taking a nap (I am doing intermittent fasting, so I only eat one meal in the evening). I just fulfill my tasks concentrated, without even thinking for a second about NOT doing them. I just do them. This is a huge game changer for me. Enough of the talking, here are my current stats (streak number and success rate):

Stats on 23.8.17:

No pmo - 32 - 100%

Healthy eating - 32 - 100%

Workout - 32 - 100%

Meditate - 32 - 100%

No alcohol - 32 - 100%

Study 6h/day - 4 - 81%

No tv - 2 (I wanted to watch the solar eclipse on tv) - 93,8%

Sitting straight - 100%

Cold showers - 100%

Visualisation of myself as an ascetic - 100%

Visualisation practice of my fears - 100%

Positive mindset - 100%

Get up at seven a.m. - 100%

No browsing - 6 - 95,7%

40h/studying per week - 1 - 50%

Intermittent fasting at least three days/week - 32 - 100%.

I will continue living like this, because it is amazing, I never felt better. I am way more energetic, focused, mentally calm and strong than ever. But I want to keep improving, so I am thinking about which new tasks I could add. Any ideas?

 

Thanks a lot for your comment my friend, it really motivates me! Also, I will take your advice and add a task to leave my comfort zone: at least once a week I will deliberately do something that scares me just to improve myself, e.g. jumping from a diving platform or something like that. So thanks!

Also I can only say that I always used to be seeking the easy pleasure, just wanting to chill at home and eat and watch tv, instead of working and improving myself, so I think I know exactly how you feel.

I think it is crucial to see yourself as a person who is not driven by seeking pleasures like watching tv, eating, pmoing or anything else, but who has a stoic and ascetic attitude: train yourself to deny yourself the empty pleasures. You will see that you will feel a genuine kind of happiness if you can think about how you remained strong and tough in the face of pleasures.

For me, the most accomplished and amazing people had a kind of stoic and ascetic attitude. Imagine that one of your heros, whoever they be, would just have lived a life of staying at home, eating and fapping. Imagine that someone like Marcus Aurelius would have only wanted fast pleasures. Or Epictetus, or Kant, or Napoleon, or Ghandi or whoever it is that you admire. It is obviously a ridiculous idea to think that these people would have been driven by lust, or food, or pleasure seeking in any other way. None of them would have accomplished what they did if they were pleasure seekers.

So I think it is crucial to think of yourself as someone who is able to deny himself pleasures. If you are able to deny yourself pleasures, you will see that you will get a much more valuable kind of happiness in exchange: you will feel better, you will be stronger, tougher, more accomplished, and you will gain an inner independence of external pleasures. Only once one has denied themselves external pleasures, one can find out how shallow they are. These pleasures are not what is important to you, they are not part of you, and they have no real value. What is important and valuable is your freedom and independence from shallow pleasures. You can do it, my friend!

P.S. I want to make clear that I do not advice to give up pleasures like spending time with your friends and families, going to the gym, taking a walk in the sunrise, getting intimate with a woman you love etc. Those are no shallow pleasures, but very valuable ones. I only advice to train denying shallow pleasures like food, pmo, too much sleep, watching tv etc.

Thank you, buddy. That is also an impressive list. I think I will add journaling as well. I will do a stoic kind of journal where I take notes about whether I have lived virtuous or vicious, and whether I was able to deny myself sensuous pleasures or not. This will make it even easier to see that pleasures do not provide happiness, but that self denying can give happiness. All the best for you too, my friend!

 

Also, I want to add that it helps to stay motivated to keep track of your habits. I use an app called Habit Bull to track everyday whether I fulfilled my tasks or not. This way you can see your progress which can give you a huge satisfaction.

 

Here are my current stats (streak length and success percentage):

Study 40h/week: 0, 42%

Study 6h/day: 4, 74%

Write on novel 2h/week: 1, 100%

Meditation: 50, 100%

Visualisation of myself as ascetic: 50, 100%

Visualisation of my fears: 50, 100%

Mindset: 50, 100%

Cold showers: 50, 100%

Workout: 3, 90%

Fasting: 50, 100%

Healthy eating: 50, 100%

Wake up at seven: 50, 100%

Good posture: 50, 100%

No alcohol: 50, 100%

No PMO: 50, 100%

No tv: 9, 90%

No browsing during the day: 0, 92%.

 

Hey guys,

since the last time I logged in about a year ago, much in my life has changed (started a new job, moved to a new city, got married). Though many of these changes were positive, in all that trouble, I did not bring forward enough strength to focus on my goals and stick with my habits. Starting today, I will take up the work again.

I still remember how good I felt when I had sticked to my habits, so I have something to look forward to again.

Starting today, these are my habits:

Altruistic behavior: -

Meditation: -

Visualisation of myself as ascetic: -

Visualisation of my fears: -

Mindset: -

Simplicity (meaning reduced use of media): -

Workout: -

Fasting on weekends: -

Healthy eating: -

Gluten-free eating: -

Cold showers (already running good): 119

Good posture: -

No coffee after 2pm: -

3 coffees a day: -

Get up at 6 am: -

Study one hour on weekdays: -

Study 8 hours on weekends: -

No alcohol: -

NoFap: -

No TV: -

All the best to you guys!

 

Altruistic behavior: 0

Meditation: 0

Visualisation of myself as ascetic: 0

Visualisation of my fears: 0

Mindset: 0

Simplicity: 0

Workout: 0

Fasting on weekends: -

Healthy eating: 6

Gluten-free eating: 0

Cold showers (already running good): 125

Good posture: 0

No coffee after 2pm: 0

3 coffees a day: 6

Get up at 6 am: 0

Study one hour on weekdays: 0

Study 8 hours on weekends: -

No alcohol: 0

NoFap: 1

No TV: 0