Tracking Your Progress

espresso123

Member
Great Thread. For me, I get really inspired an motivated when I DIY things, so creating a progress tracking tool for myself is even more inspirational than a pre-baked. Nothing too complicated. Right now, like others I have read, I use a spreadsheet with some graphs. I have a graph that tracks the things I should be doing which leads to success (e.g. meditation) as "%", and on that same graph my days of success and any slips. It is pretty compelling that as the line for % drops, you'll see more slips. For example, say meditation and exercise are the things that increase my chances of success, and over time my graphs shows that my meditation/exercise (daily) goes from 70% to 40%, you'll see "slip" days start to pop-up on the graph. When I get my % back up, the slips start going away. Funny how the mind works. "This is good for me and I feel better, so let's stop doing the things that are making me feel better". That is kind of what the graph is telling me. Lol
 

bstern

New Member
Whether to "track" your progress is an individual decision. Tracking is certainly not required for successful rebooting! But if you like the concept, here are some ideas:



[anchor=physical_calendars]Real Stuff[/anchor]

Electronics are cool, but have you considered a good old-fashioned paper calendar? You can mark the days with a pencil and you'll have a physical, tangible record of your progress that you can hold in your hands!



Another guy even posted a picture of has calendar, on which he had put dozens of the kind of "A For Effort!" stickers you might have gotten on your assignments in elementary school. He gave himself a new sticker for each day clean! Clever ;D I tried to locate that image for this post, but unfortunately I couldn't find it. :-[

It can be fun to be creative! :) In one memorable case a guy reported etching his calendar into the wood of a desk drawer, to help convince himself that his progress was permanent and not temporary. I wouldn't recommend that (you may want to forget about your P addiction one day!) but it's a cute idea.

One guy built a giant calendar out of Lego building blocks, adding a new piece each day. He said he loved it, because there was no way he wanted to relapse and take the whole thing apart ;)





[anchor=spreadsheets]Spreadsheets[/anchor]

A spreadsheet is a kind of simplified computer programming environment that displays data in a table. Many RebootNation visitors are advanced computer users, so it is not surprising that they like to use spreadsheets to track their relapses.

Because you have access to a programming environment, spreadsheets offer a lot of flexibility. For example, you could calculate how often you relapsed in a week or a month or a year, and make charts and line graphs. Or you could include various good habits related to your reboot:



Many people enjoy the spreadsheets and feel motivated by them. Others take a different approach:



Both viewpoints are valid, and that's why we say tracking your progress is an individual decision.

Spreadsheets cannot yet be easily embedded in your forum signature. If your spreadsheet is online, you can include a link, but only a few people will actually click through to view your spreadsheet. Thus, you may find it is helpful to have an accountability partner or close rebooting companions to help you get accountability from your spreadsheet.

Want a spreadsheet of your own? Some kind rebooters have created spreadsheet templates you can copy and use yourself. There is a popular spreadsheet thread over on the YBR forum that includes instructions and a template (Google Account is required!)





[anchor=phone_apps]Mobile Apps[/anchor]

If you use Android or iOS, there are several "calendar apps" available which make it easy to mark off days. There are also various apps related to addiction recovery and building good habits which you may find useful. I don't use any of these apps myself, so these are not recommendations, just ideas.







Note: unlike spreadsheets and the tracker, mostly these mobile apps don't integrate with the forum here.
I've been using an iphone app called "Days Since" which supports a widget, which I have placed on the front / first screen. Great daily reminder.
 

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GenericJC

Member
Huge fan of counters in the earlier stages as they help you keep on track but I think once you get past a milestone point it's important to focus more on who you are as a person and finding out who you can be without porn. There will come a point when 101 days vs 102 days will mean nothing and that's when you can be high at risk for another relapse.
 

STST

Active Member
I usually journal as soon as I wake, working on making this an everyday routine, hopefully I stop PMO'ing even after the NNN challenge.
 

Alexey

Active Member
I've updated the YBR Darxidius' spreadsheet format. The new feature is keeping last 30* and 90* days PMO counter every day instead of resetting at the beginning of the month. The sheet includes 2023 and last two months of 2022.


Perhaps not very well formatted.

* not 30 and 90 days exaclty but 28-31 and 89-92 days respectively
 
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