Mo Motivation - No Procrastination

[Lucius]

I have been away from IML subs for quite a while and decided to get back to them. 

My last run was the first version of Ultra Motivation/Overcoming Procrastination. Due to an erratic listening pattern caused by the nature of my job, I abandoned the sub after about a month of listening. During that run, I experienced reverse resistance with a sudden spike in my level of procrastination. 

As I mentioned here, the benefit I got from it was I stopped PMO. I thought it was just random as It was not listed in the goals of the sub. One member (I can't remember who) also mentioned he stopped PMO while using the sub. This made me conclude those results were thanks to the sub. I even joked to myself Shannon may have used the wrong "OP" script for the sub. 

Anyways, more than a month after I stopped using the sub, I shot myself in the foot by deliberately forcing myself to get back to watching porn. At least that's what I believed. I had developed a habit of PMO that I got paranoid when I did not have the desire for it anymore. So, I had to "test it". Dumb, I know. 

Well, on to my current run of version 2 of the sub. I started last week, with a day off on Sunday. The first four days were excellent! I would normally do unproductive stuff when I get back from my job in the evening. However, just after the first day of listening, I came back from work and had a strong urge to complete some Uni coursework I had been avoiding. I spent two hours straight on it! I woke up before 6 am the next morning feeling refreshed. This happened every morning for the first four days. 

I guess that was just a teaser of what the sub can do because I did not experience the same motivation when I took the ASRB break and afterwards. Tonight will be my fourth night of listening, so I'm hoping my motivation will kick in again after the break. 

Back to PMO. I decided to get back on nofap back in January. It's been challenging as I still had the urges even after 80+ days on hardcore mode. Just like with my first run of this sub, the urges have greatly reduced after I started listening. On Monday, I found myself deleting most of the bookmarks to porn sites on my phone. I no longer show interest in adult videos shared in some Whatsapp group chats I'm in. I still have some bookmarks on my phone, but I want to delete them "naturally" as I did with the ones on Monday.

Shout out to @RogueTwelve and @CatMan. Your posts on getting rid of this addiction made me start this thread.

[CatMan]

So good to hear from you again, man. Thank you for the shout out.

I wish you an awesome run!

[Shannon]

What you are describing is a subconscious that is actively seeking to sabotage your results.  

Anyways, more than a month after I stopped using the sub, I shot myself in the foot by deliberately forcing myself to get back to watching porn. At least that's what I believed. I had developed a habit of PMO that I got paranoid when I did not have the desire for it anymore. So, I had to "test it". Dumb, I know.

I have noticed that a lot of smokers will do this little trick when they quit smoking as an excuse to keep smoking, even though they've succeeded in stopping.  It's nothing more than an excuse to start up again, disguised as a "test".

The initial results you got show what the sub CAN do.  The results you got after that show what happens when your resistant subconscious notices those positive results and starts trying to intervene.  

Good luck my friend.  I will eventually be building this sub again.

[Zubrowka]

You are experiencing what is referred to as “the flatline” in the Nofap community. I think it happens because your brain is re-wiring itself - and you are in a state of limbo where you no longer have the external stimulus that you have used before, and neither have had the chance to develop the natural connections for producing “feel good chemicals” - so your brain is in abstinence - and use your psyche to find ways to make you stop this abstinence - in this case making you worried that “something is wrong with you and you need to make sure it is still working”. Read some about it, have faith and don’t give in to the tricks that are played on you and you will start to find ways to develop more natural pathways of feeling well

[CatMan]

You are experiencing what is referred to as “the flatline” in the Nofap community. I think it happens because your brain is re-wiring itself - and you are in a state of limbo where you no longer have the external stimulus that you have used before, and neither have had the chance to develop the natural connections for producing “feel good chemicals” - so your brain is in abstinence - and use your psyche to find ways to make you stop this abstinence - in this case making you worried that “something is wrong with you and you need to make sure it is still working”. Read some about it, have faith and don’t give in to the tricks that are played on you and you will start to find ways to develop more natural pathways of feeling well

That's exactly what the flat line is about. It's a fantastic sign of healing. Means the process is working. Everything "down there" works fine, and WILL work fine in the future. It's important not to risk ruining all the progress made, just to "test" things.

I know the flat line well. May be coming out of one today in fact, based off two dreams I had. Both centered around girls I know in real life. One was somewhat sexual, those are extraordinarily rare for me, so that is VERY notable. We'll see if it this sticks, this might be a turning point. Some people ebb in and out of a few flat lines before things stabilise.

Just stay the course no matter what.

[Zubrowka]

You are experiencing what is referred to as “the flatline” in the Nofap community. I think it happens because your brain is re-wiring itself - and you are in a state of limbo where you no longer have the external stimulus that you have used before, and neither have had the chance to develop the natural connections for producing “feel good chemicals” - so your brain is in abstinence - and use your psyche to find ways to make you stop this abstinence - in this case making you worried that “something is wrong with you and you need to make sure it is still working”.  Read some about it, have faith and don’t give in to the tricks that are played on you and you will start to find ways to develop more natural pathways of feeling well

That's exactly what the flat line is about. It's a fantastic sign of healing. Means the process is working. Everything "down there" works fine, and WILL work fine in the future. It's important not to risk ruining all the progress made, just to "test" things.

I know the flat line well. May be coming out of one today in fact, based off two dreams I had. Both centered around girls I know in real life. One was somewhat sexual, those are extraordinarily rare for me, so that is VERY notable. We'll see if it this sticks, this might be a turning point. Some people ebb in and out of a few flat lines before things stabilise.

Just stay the course no matter what.

Yeah - and to get up on the horse when you fail - and I'm not saying when to encourage you to fail - but as it's most likely that you will at some time. If you do, don't beat yourself up too much about it, just focus on getting back on track again and over time you will find that things will improve.

[Lucius]

So good to hear from you again, man. Thank you for the shout out.

I wish you an awesome run!

Thank you! It feels good to be back. 

You are experiencing what is referred to as “the flatline” in the Nofap community. I think it happens because your brain is re-wiring itself - and you are in a state of limbo where you no longer have the external stimulus that you have used before, and neither have had the chance to develop the natural connections for producing “feel good chemicals” - so your brain is in abstinence - and use your psyche to find ways to make you stop this abstinence - in this case making you worried that “something is wrong with you and you need to make sure it is still working”.  Read some about it, have faith and don’t give in to the tricks that are played on you and you will start to find ways to develop more natural pathways of feeling well

Thank you, Zubrowka. I read about nofap on Reddit a long time back and largely ignored the experiences of others. I had my wake up call when I could not climax with a girl. I had to wait for her to leave to finish off on porn! This was after I went back to porn after stopping temporarily. 

I took nofap seriously in September last year but broke my streak around day 70. My flatline experience then was horrible. I was highly aroused in my head but the signal was not received down there. That's an experience I wish only for my elementary school bully. 

I started nofap in January and struggled with urges. It has become much easier after I started using this sub. 

To anyone taking porn lightly, be grateful if it has not affected you negatively and quit while it is still easy to do. 

That's exactly what the flat line is about. It's a fantastic sign of healing. Means the process is working. Everything "down there" works fine, and WILL work fine in the future. It's important not to risk ruining all the progress made, just to "test" things.

I know the flat line well. May be coming out of one today in fact, based off two dreams I had. Both centered around girls I know in real life. One was somewhat sexual, those are extraordinarily rare for me, so that is VERY notable. We'll see if it this sticks, this might be a turning point. Some people ebb in and out of a few flat lines before things stabilise. 

Just stay the course no matter what.

I hope I stay the course. I don't even want to count days anymore. That will be an unnecessary added pressure. I want to avoid intimacy as well.

I don't know how to find out when my brain gets rewired though. Will I just know it?

[Lucius]

Today is day four of listening meaning I will be taking a break tomorrow.

I woke up early again this morning. I did not feel energised like the other mornings but it was still easier for me to wake up.

I cleaned and arranged my place, getting rid of stuff I have not used for more than two years. Normally, cleaning is one of the ways I use to procrastinate on the more important stuff. Today, however, was different because I planned to lie in and just drink beer. I did not get even a sip of beer even though my housemates were getting wasted. If I can continue to lose interest in beer it will be a big plus to my overall productivity.

[CatMan]

I don't know how to find out when my brain gets rewired though. Will I just know it?

I hear you on not counting the days. I'm just doing it for the hell of it.

I wanted to go "hard mode", to aid the healing further, make it occur much faster. That's essentially, no searching and seeking for erotic pics or videos online, detailed erotic fantasy, no orgasm of ANY kind, even a normal one with a girl during sex. That isn't difficult in my case, so I'm using my virgin status to my advantage for now. "Hard mode" is like a comprehensive dopamine detox, to get the mind out of the state of being flooded with it for such a long period of time.

On how you'll know when you've rewired enough... A good turning point, is when you start to get some erections, like I am starting to. They aren't strong, but they're starting to appear. Usually when I think of some attractive girls I know, nothing erotic, just normal sexual attraction towards them. So, this semi-erect phenomenon is starting to occur once in awhile, fantastic sign of rewiring. Not to the point of full erections in such cases, but well on it's way. Getting joy in everyday situations, because you aren't flooded by dopamine from superstimulus from porn/fapping. Seeing girls as more relatable to you, this may be VERY slowly starting for me. Thinking about sex in a more "normal" way, not with weird fetish and kink stuff coming in, which is again fueled by porn. Morning wood is a good sign too. There are others, but yourbrainonporn.com covers all that and more. Devour the stuff on there, it's gold, buddy.

[Lucius]

Being away from the forum for a while, I missed the discussions on FRM so I have read very little about it. FRM is in UM/OP v2 and I think it is kicking my bum big time! My heart has been racing all day and I'm becoming aware of some limiting beliefs I have.

I am afraid of being successful. It's one thing to read about being afraid of success in self-help books and suspect you are manifesting that, and it's another to just "know" it. I don't know how best to explain this but it feels like someone just offered me a shit ton of money and I don't know what to do it with it and trying to escape from the offer. It is a weird illogical feeling.

For example, I have had mostly minimum wage jobs since I moved to the UK. Hopefully, I will be in a position to get a far better job starting this summer. The thought of me making more money than I make now raises insecurity issues in me which I've never experienced before.  

I'm hoping the FRM will bulldoze through whatever fear I'm harbouring.

I'm still waking up earlier than usual. I woke up today at 5:30 am. I normally wake up around 7 am. I've also been more hungry in the last couple of days. I guess that means I need to be well fed to execute.

[Lucius]

I think the FRM has helped me deal with some of my fears. I mentioned in my last post of being afraid of being successful. Thinking about it now, I no longer have that feeling of fear I had last week. Instead, I am getting excited thinking about the financial freedom I can have through creating multiple sources of income. The feeling of undeservedness I had has greatly reduced.

My motivation is low, but I am procrastinating less. Sometimes I  want to relax, scroll through my phone, and watch silly videos. But I would get a nagging feeling prompting me to do something more productive. A few times I told myself I would do some work later only to find myself asking "What is stopping you now?!". It feels like when I was a kid being asked by my parents to complete a chore. It is kind of annoying on the one hand, but on the other, this helped me to complete a project two days before its due date which I did not expect. 

I will be taking a secondary ASRB break tomorrow. In the first two cycles, I listened to the masked waves track before moving to the hybrid waves track. I will stick with the hybrid for now.

[Shannon]

It is very nice to hear about someone having success with UMOP. I know a lot of people did, but almost nobody who did reported it.

[Lucius]

It is very nice to hear about someone having success with UMOP.  I know a lot of people did, but almost nobody who did reported it.

I am experiencing great results with the sub, and I know I can achieve even more when the sub is upgraded. 

So far, I feel that the "OP" module is more noticeable than the "UM" one. I procrastinate way less than I did before the sub. If I could put a figure on it, I would say about 70% less procrastination and about 20%-30% more motivation. 

Carrying out planned activities still feel like a chore more days than not. However, looking at it in the long term, this is a big accomplishment as I get more done now than I did before. If I continue this way, I will accomplish more this year than in previous years.  

In the short term, it feels annoying as I am not yielding to the cravings for temporary satisfaction procrastination brings. For example, some mornings I wake up early and sulkily begin my day instead of getting another hour of sleep. No one forces me to do it, neither do I have to justify it in my head. I just do it. But at the end of the day, I would look back and be happy I chose to be up early. 

I know the sub can be upgraded as I have had glimpses of what the motivation module can do. I have experienced getting a jolt of energy and excitement when working on something which seemed boring when I started. I have experienced waking up early feeling well-rested and full of energy and focus. On such days, I won't even feel like eating until late into the afternoon. I really wish most of my days could be like this. 

I have tried the masked, hybrid, and silent track versions of the sub. So far, I think I am achieving more results with the trickling stream masked version. This is interesting as I think I read the masked version is the least powerful of all the versions. Does this mean my subconscious really don't like being told what to do?

[Shannon]

It might mean that. I can't be sure. Most of the time, lower volume is either interpreted as persuasion or ignored because it's not "urgent" enough. People who don't like being told what to do at some level tend to prefer the "persuasion" approach to the "Drill Instructor" approach (as they see it), whereas people who don't mind the instructions the sub is giving them tend to respond better to the louder volumes, interpreting it as "urgency" instead of "Drill Instructor".