Welp I am a dilettantist, any tips on how to become better "prepared"

There is great power in resisting the urges. Every single time you resist you grow stronger.

Life is too short to be mediocre, there is so much more than this constant negative self talk and feeling of inadequacy.

You have taken the first steps and that shows you are better than this shit.

This is the strongest craving you’ll get. If you can beat this you can beat anything (for the lack of a better term) and you literally become the master of your own destiny. Feeling good is not a privillage it is a right.

Cold showers have great benefits. Starting out try cold at the beginning and end. This can be done as part of a routine as well as on a reactionary basis when the cravings are getting too strong - you are literally cooling down your head.

Yoga, meditation and Pranayama (breathing techniques). This can be overwhelming to start with. I suggest you try yoga nidra, it’s like a lying down/goal setting/meditation that goes for around 20 minutes with plenty of videos on YouTube. You can also meditate sitting in a chair, if you’re like 90% of guys who aren’t flexible enough to sit like a monk! There are some real sweet yoga videos online. Look up Travis Eliot, he has a 30 minute yin yoga video which is so good for dudes. Probs avoid the ones with hot chicks. It can feel a bit overwhelming but stick with it and keep the power growing. Kapalabati is an amazing breathing technique to start with and it’s purpose is ”frontal brain cleansing” which is where you can feel the build up from the urges.

Moola Bandha. I urge you to look this one up, as well as the others. This is the contraction of the area between the balls and ass. This practice consists of getting into a sitting position and contracting and releasing the “gooch” area while focusing on your breathing. You could contract on the exhale and release on the inhale for a set amount of time, 5 minutes to start? Please do your own research. But out of the book ‘Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha’ it says “Moola Bandha is a means to obtain sexual control. It may be used to sublimate energy for spiritual development”.

Also it goes with out saying but exercise is always good. There’s a website called darebee dot com that has a heap of workouts, programs and challenges. Just don’t beat yourself up (literally) if you miss a day.

The book ‘The power of now’ by Eckhart Tole is really good at pointing out the unconscious bad habits so many of us have.

This is your life we are talking about here, everything else is insignificant in comparison. I’d suggest putting aside some time to learn about what your brain is going through. As well as reading up on things to counter it, hopefully including the things I just listed.

Don’t every think negatively if you don’t achieve everything you set out to do that day. Life will never ever go to plan. The most positive thing is that you’ve realised you don’t want this shit any more. You’ve laid the foundation and it’s time to keep building on it.