3 Extremely Useful Techniques to Stop the Cycle and Kick-Start a Streak

It has been about 2 and a half years since I truly started practicing NoFap. I've learned that even through all emergency protocols and distraction methods, a lot of people still aren't able to make it through a week (even with the strongest will and inspiration). And making it through a week on a vacation with family isn't necessarily cheating, but I've noticed that it's obviously easier to lengthen a streak while spending large amounts of time with family and off the phone. The common denominator in almost every instance of my relapses has been related to my phone, video games, social media, and any instance of the internet. Getting rid of all devices is probably the best step you can take, but its pretty clear that most people need devices in order for school or to make a living, so that's simply not an option. There are important strategies you need to have in mind in advance to your streak if you want to make it through your first week or month without PMO.



1. Develop a Recovery Plan.
A plan could be a simple as no porn, no masturbation, no orgasm for 90 days. But that's simply not going to work first thing. If you've been consistently PMOing on a daily or weekly basis from the period of only a few months to multiple decades, this basic plan will not work for long. If you can make it 90 days without PMO on your first try after being addicted and with no plan, you are a god. I heavily respect you. But for over 99% of people that won't happen. It's pretty clear people are struggling all across this site. Your plan will succeed if it is more developed than just "No Porn."

Even though a plan needs to be developed there are no bounds to your plan. Recovery plans can be as flexible as they need to be. I also recommend tweaking, rethinking, or developing plans when you haven't fully developed it or it has ultimately led you to relapse. Also, a plan doesn't have to be written, but I find it helpful to write it down. A recovery plan can be changed at any time.

There are several components that I recommend should make up your plan. These components work best when you use all 5 of them:

1. Establish your long-term goals. This can include the day count, the person you want to be, or other related problems you want to fix alongside PMO addiction.
2. Establish your rules. I broke my most successful NoFap streak just because of a gray area/loophole within my own rules! You do not have to follow the offical NoFap rules but they are great guidelines. Establish what counts as a relapse, what counts as a slip-up, what doesn't count as either, and when to reset the day counter.
3. Establish your short term goals for the week. This can be related to NoFap, relationships, mental health, or unrelated things like work, school, or fitness. How are you planning to be successful this week?
4. Make a change! This might be the most important component, this is also a very popular strategy among successful Fapstronauts. Has something triggered you into watching porn? This change can be short term, long term, or permanent. Even if you can't avoid this certain thing, a small change to how you approach this thing may help you avoid urges. Something that triggers a trigger might also need to be changed. If your phone is a trigger to porn and you pull out your phone every time you go to the bathroom, remind yourself to stop bringing the phone to the bathroom. Examples of changes to make: start a gym membership and routine, going on walks daily, deleting a certain social media app, deleting all social media, stopping video games for a month, learn a new skill, stop spending on fast food, read a book every night. The bold examples are changes that I have personally succeeded with.
5. Start a journal. This is completely optional but has helped me out recently. It will help you record how you implement your plan and if you need to make changes. I recently started counting "slip-ups" to see if I can reduce the amount I have.

2. Stay Alert.
You may discover through the implementation of your plan that NoFap is finally working. You may experience what I call a "breakthrough." Its that moment during your streak when you know you are headed for greatness, typically when you hit a much higher NoFap record. I still remember my first breakthrough on Novemeber 6, 2020. I wouldn't watch porn again until March of 2021. However, I did a poor job of staying alert during that period of time. I forgot about the pain, depression, and hopelessness that caused me to watch porn. I got cocky. And a relapse slowly crept its way into my life until everything went out of control. I'm leaving out the details, but let's just say that I thought I was free from porn so I didn't have to worry about my mental state and goals during that time.

My advice to you is to not let that "breakthrough" get you cocky. Do not forget about your recovery plan. Always look for ways to help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals. You may feel free one day and all the sudden your lustful urges are back the next day. You don't have to log onto Nofap.com or r/nofap every day, you don't have to look at your recovery plan every day, and you don't have to leave a journal entry every day. But keep them in mind. Porn is always a few clicks away from me because there's no way I can prevent it. If it weren't for my heavy investment in acheiving my goals, my brain would submit to urges.

The NoFap challenge may become easier as your streak increases, but it will never become easy.

The NoFap challenge is a challenge because it's hard. It wouldn't be 90 days long if it was mostly over at 30 days. I find the second 45 days easier because my mind becomes accustomed to the new lifestyle. However, all it takes to break a streak of 90 days is one bad day. Let's say you relapsed on day 80. Most of the progress has been made. No, your reboot is not ruined because you broke the streak. But if your goal is 90 days, then your goal has just gone from 10 days away to 90.

If you know the weekend/summer/spring break is coming and that's where you relapse the most, make short term plans in advance to be able to lock in if urges come. Also, make plans to prevent urges from coming at all. This will allow you to focus on goals in other parts of your life.



3. Know that the Day Count Isn't what Truly Matters.
I am not telling you to not use a day counter. I count my days and it's often very useful to. However, the incredibly high focus on day count has distracted many people of this site from what truly matters.

First of all, comparing your day counts is similar to comparing your weight, looks, strength, or intelligence to other people's. This might happen in your thoughts such as, "He's got such a higher streak than me, it will be impossible for me to get that high," and "I'm not taking his advice, he's never made it past 7 days." Comparisons like this will not benefit anyone in the end. Getting into discussions online is alright, but ridiculing other people's methods to hitting a certain day doesn't work. It makes you cocky, and all the sudden you aren't alert anymore.

Secondly, the obsession with what day you are on can discourage you. "I've barely made it through 25 days. How can I make it another 65?" What day it is doesn't matter. How you handle the day is what matters. Just like the last point, obsession with what day you are on leads to cockiness. Not even worrying about what day you are on might help with your reboot. Once I achieved my long-term of goal of 90 days, for example, I didn't really keep track of what day it was. I didn't know it was day 135 when I relapsed, I just figured it out later.

NoFap only truly works when you see improvements your life. After being addicted, going 30 days of no PMO is impressive. If you end up in the same place you were at the beginning, all of that time and energy on preventing yourself from watching porn led to no changes. Focus on becoming a new person. For some people that could mean starting as a boy and becoming a man, or starting as a girl and becoming a woman. For others, it could mean finding meaning out of life or finding fulfillment. For others, it could mean finally connecting themselves with God, nature, their spirit, or any religion or belief that drives them. NoFap can improve/redeem relationships, improve your career, or end other addictions. The biased media thinks NoFap is a dangerous far-right cult. The Internet thinks NoFap is a ridiculous meme. And older generations don't even know people get addicted to Porn. Don't let the world predetermine an underwhelming/miserable destiny for you.



Conclusion:
NoFap works best for me when I successfully use all three of these strategies at the same time. These are just suggestions, not rules. Feel free to respond if you agree or disagree with a certain statement/idea. Let me know if you want to add something or give me advice as I am currently on day 15 of my new journey to 90 days. As a final piece of advice, when you keep on repeating the same methods over and over again without being successful, it's time to make a change. A simple change could be the difference in you becoming successful or not. I hope the 3 methods I described today help some people on their journeys, and good luck!

 

Tomorrow I ditch an unblocked laptop with access to porn, and I’m getting a school issued computer, safe from porn. This is forced on me, but this will be my change to help me.