Goodbye for two months, Sosuave!

[Shivastorm_88]

I've started recently working on a sort of toned-down bootcamp, and to be honest I've done more progress in the last month than I had done in the last 2-3 years. However, I am not satisfied with it. I am still half-assing everything and mostly chickening out, and not nearly doing enough approaches, always giving myself good excuses. Therefore, starting Monday 14th March (this might sound counter-intuitive to me saying I am tired of half-assing, and yet I'm not starting immediately), I will begin what I decided to call the crazy 2-month challenge. The main goal of it is to learn to do some approaches and try to better control my approach anxiety, however I do have other goals from it, and I am seeking overall self-improvement in a variety of aspects.

In order to do so, I decided, among other things, to stop browsing the Internet pointlessly, and this includes this website. However, I will keep an up-to-date journal on a daily basis, and in two months time (14th of May) I will post my journal (I'll make sure it's condensed), as well as share how it went.

The challenge itself (I wrote it with a dramatic tone... I was bored, and I thought it was funny like that).

CRAZY 2-MONTH CHALLENGE​

Welcome, friend, to the crazy 2-month challenge, which will begin Monday, 14th March. Let this be a warning, this is not for the faint of heart, nor for the weak. You want to reach your objectives and goals? You will have to work for it. Work harder than you have ever worked. You will hurt (ego-wise), you will doubt, you will sweat, your pride will suffer and be shattered countless times. This will not be a cakewalk. This will not be a breeze. Hell, this will be the hardest two months of your life. For two months, there will be no more pointless hobbies. Spared time will be used to study, to read, to play piano, or to sarge. Daily calendars will be made and will be packed to ensure enough time for adequate studies and profitable hobbies, as well as enough time to go out and sarge. No more browsing the Internet and no more video games for two months. As I have said, it will be hard, you will want to cave and abandon, but you will thank me once you see the light at the end of this long tunnel.

However, keep in mind that despite the insane suffering you will go through on a weekly basis, in the end you will thank me. This will bring you closer to your goals than anything else has ever done, and in many ways.

1. First, this will teach you discipline
2. Second, this will teach you to efficiently use your time
3. Third, this will help you get rid of bad habits and get good new habits
4. Fourth, this will force you to do something you have never done: Leave your comfort zone
5. Fifth, this will help your socializing skills beyond measure.

I can already sense your excitement and your fear. You are wondering how this will work? Read on, I shall explain. There are many categories to this challenge. The first is what will become forbidden, as well as restrictions that will be set. The second is what will become mandatory. The third is the methodology. Before we go further into those categories, to help calm the fear that is griping you, let me offer you a gift. Here is a list of your goals and aspirations, which will act as a motivation for you.

1. You want to become a MAN
2. For ego purposes (towards two of your friends)
3. To help out another friend through gained experience
4. To become such a great man that it will attract your Oneitis

Now that you have been reminded your goals, despite that some of them are weak, we are ready to begin. Now remember, foolish one, this will not be easy. You will often want to curl up in a little ball and cry yourself to sleep, begging for your mother. This means that it is working. You cannot adequately grow otherwise. Now, first and foremost, what will be forbidden? You will not like this!

THE FORBIDDEN AND RESTRICTIONS

There are certain aspects of your life that, despite being entertaining, are a complete waste of your time and your potential. Although I cannot expect you to forever rid yourself of it, for the following two months, you shall. Further down, you will see how this shall be replaced.

1. No longer allowed to lie to avoid trouble (except girls you are gaming)
2. No more porn or substitute
3. No more Internet browsing (except the stock market, emails and cooking websites)
4. No more movies at home (except the odd documentary as a reward
5. No more waste of money on petty restaurant snacks and coffees (except when sarging in a coffee shop)
6. The white dragon shall be banned from the Kremlin no more than twice a week

Thus, those are the restrictions that have been created. They may seem harsh, but they will serve you well and they will help enrich your life and move yourself towards a higher end. By riding you of these bad habits, you will be forced to develop newer, more enriching ones.


THE MANDATORY

If you think that the previous list is harsh, you have not seen anything yet. The restriction list is quite lenient compared to what is about to come. Here is what will become mandatory on a daily basis (yes, you have read right, daily). No more petty excuses, you will indulge in these exercises, and you will suffer while doing so. This will be hard initially, but it will become more and more natural, almost second nature to you after a while. Brace yourself for what is about to come:

1. Play at least one hour of piano
2. Read at least thirty minutes before bed; read throughout the day
3. Yoga twice a week (including the Friday community yoga)
4. Visit your grandmother and your uncle once
5. You shall do one cold approach per area you are in, every day, every time
6. You shall sarge once a week
7. You shall do approaches in front of your friends

#6: Now, as you can imagine, this was the easy, very easy part. Here comes the much more challenging and demanding part. Let me explain with a clear example, typical of your day. We are Friday, and you work 8am to 4pm, after which you go to the Yoga class, and after which you go climb. We therefore have five areas. First, there is the metro towards work. One approach shall be made here. Second, there is work. Either one approach made at work, or one made around work (during lunch). Third, we have the metro towards the Yoga. Another approach shall be made there. Fourth, we have the Yoga class. Whether you are with people or not, you shall make an approach. Fifth and final, we have wall climbing. The approach has to be done to a female, of your age if available. 1 star to 5 stars, it doesn’t matter for now. I do not expect you to initially approach 4 or 5 stars, but it will quickly come. As for the approach, whether the girl is busy (music, friends, reading, etc.) it shall be done. It can be a question, opinion or regular opener, but effort must be made to maintain a conversation. Again, I do not expect you to initially number close. I expect this to happen only after about one month, where you will have become much more comfortable with the idea of approaching.

#7: Sarging does not mean it will take your whole day, but there will be parts of your day reserved solely for sarging. Many places can be used, such as libraries, grocery stores, mall, coffee shops, etc.

#8: Whether you go out with your friends at a coffee shop, at the movies, or at a bar, an approach will have to be made according to the rule #6, despite what your friends might think/say.


THE METHODOLOGY

Scared yet? I sure hope you are. I did tell you it would be extremely hard, and I wasn’t lying. Now, how do we ensure that you see through this? Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to punish you if you decide to chicken out for whichever reason, so instead we will use another approach. Every day there will be a short list of things that you will have to do, including build a daily calendar of tasks for the next day, which will teach you self-discipline. Furthermore, as a motivation, you will have to complete, at the end of every day, the challenge’s chart. The list of what is to be done:

1. Read this document thoroughly when you wake up and when you go to sleep
2. Read the fifteen lessons when you wake up and when you go to sleep
3. Read the “Be a man” document when you wake up and when you go to sleep
4. Before the “30 minute reading before bed”, complete the next day’s calendar (on paper)
5. Before the mandatory “30 minute reading before bed”, complete the challenge’s chart
6. Before the mandatory “30 minute reading before bed”, keep a day-to-day journal

#4: This calendar will be a harsh one. It will seem like it gives you no liberties and that everything is time to the minute, and that is the goal. Although long term I do not expect you to always follow such a horrendous schedule, for the length of the challenge it will serve to discipline you and ensure you are on the right tracks.

#5: This is simple and will serve as a motivator. If all the goals of the day are respected and you haven’t done anything forbidden, you gain a point. If not, you lose a point. You start at 0, but you can be in the negative. Once you reach forty-five points, you reach your goal. You have sixty days to reach your goal.

#6: This may be kept on the computer. A journal will be kept explaining what was done in terms of approaches, and will serve to recall how it went, and also to state how you felt at such time.

This will be fun

Edit: I know, some of my reasons for wanting this are pretty bad... Then again, if it's enough to motivate me, why not? The main drive is goal #1, the others are just small add-ons

 

[runner83]

This is an excellent post!



I wrote about the same sort of thing recently in this thread:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1787230

Over the last 6 weeks, I've been out of action because of a broken arm. And unless you are careful the tendency for random internet surfing can creep up on you.

And if you spend say 1 hour a day on wasted Internet surfing, over a year, that is a waste of over 2 weeks of your life!

Maybe I've had an excuse because I need to rest the arm, but not for much longer.

I am seriously considering doing a copy and paste of this and modifying it to suit my own goals. I will probably still post updates to my broken arm recovery journal though, so that is a lot of my focus at the moment.

 

[bish0p]

The white dragon shall be banned from the Kremlin no more than twice a week

What is this???

 

[handle]

I'm not trying to hate on you or anything but if this doesn't work out it may be because you took on too much at once. If it works, great. If it doesn't, consider picking 2 things to make a habit first before moving on to the rest. That's what I try to do -- I attempted something similar once and it was not fun because I was obsessed with "doing important useful stuff" all the time and not having a good time. Either way, best of luck.

 

[Naughty Ninja]

Best of luck Shivastorm.