I'm starting with a one month hard mode challenge

Welcome to the forums! You are right, fantasizing is a tough nut to crack. The best technique is to become aware of when it is happening, acknowledge it and let it pass. Over time, you get faster at it like being quicker on the draw. That helps a great deal during the initial stage so reboot because it is window helping you prevent escalation that might lead to relapse.

 

To learn lucid dreaming relaxation exercises are essential - they will be helpful for dealing with being nervous and/or horny.

 

Letting a fantasy pass is much like learning to meditate. When you focus only on your breathing, invariably other thoughts will enter your mind. Some may even be sexual fantasies. What you do is acknowledge the feeling (become aware and accept that you feel this way in the moment without negativity or escalation). Then gently direct your focus back to your breathing. It is about choosing to focus on something specific that is not PMO rather than trying to 'fight' the urge. It passes because you are mindfully choosing to do something different and your subconscious can move past the 'habit' of PMO and will align with what you really 'want' to instead (not what some old urge tells you to do).

This is useful in many areas of life. Sometimes you get riled up over things and if you catch that emotion early, you can choose to do something different. Other times you may 'waste time' in other ways and if you catch yourself doing it, then you again choose a better option. Over time the 'better option' becomes your new habit.

This is better than struggling and trying to 'distract' yourself temporarily. In the case of finding a distraction, you aren't really in control. Your second brain is in control and you are just trying to have a punch-out with it. Instead of that, you choose a mindful response and you win it by seeking peace and alignment rather than by waging war against a bad habit.

When you think about it you can do this at any time of the day. Do it before you become horny at all and you make control that much easier. If you wait until mid-fantasy everything that matters is at full attention and you are half way to PMO land. Although you can still bring it down it gets tougher to do. You might have to resort to a cold shower or some other technique like our panic button that is more last ditch. Focus, motivation, discipline, control and habits help you in nearly every aspect of your life. They just happen to be closer to vital for rebooting (in my experience).