Search the Community

Credit for this game goes to @Aerisand who started this PVP. Disclaimer: A large part of this is @Briniel's star introduction to Monkey Taming, digivolved for efficiency. TL;DR: For Tamers coming back, the changelog is at the bottom of the post. This group is for those of us who suffer from procrastination, "the action of delaying or postponing something". Or, more specifically "the act of ruining your own life for no apparent reason". I thought it would be a good idea to get together with other serial-procrastinators and tackle this bad habit together. Concepts taken from this brilliant article on waitbutwhy.com A point based game to beat the instant gratification monkeys, help our rational decision makers get out of the dark playground through the dark woods and help both of them enjoy themselves on happy playground territory (or the rainbow of flow, if we get lucky) together. If that sentence didn't make any sense to you, go read the article (including part 2). Do it now. Don't wait until later. (Unless you're procrastinating from some other thing you should be doing right now, then do that thing first and read the article right after that.) So, now that we're all on the same page and know what's going on and who keeps us from our goals, let's teach our rational decision makers how to tame a dragon monkey!!! Monkey Tamers United Step 1 - Figure out which bricks to lay Take a task that you find yourself procrastinating on a LOT but that is actually really important to you. If you've done some challenges you probably know which of your quests give you the most trouble. If you don't, go by what's written in the article or decide for yourself. You could even chose several things if you're feeling confident. Make sure you have a clear plan of what task it is that you will not procrastinate on any longer. Then break it down into smaller tasks, if necessary. The idea is to end up with nice 30 minute bricks that you can lay down one after the other. Make sure you phrase those tasks in a non-icky way. Step 2 - Figure out when to lay the bricks Designate a certain timeframe for brick laying. It could be an hour at 9am every day, or wednesdays from 6-8 pm or any other timeframe that works for you. These first two steps are supposed to be a tool to help you be successful. If you'd rather go at it without the planning or in between doing other stuff, that's totally fine. Step 3 - Lay bricks and earn points When the time comes to lay your bricks, put them down. CONCEPTS The goal is to score higher than the monkey. Your score depends on how you lay your bricks: Productive Brick For every brick (30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey), you will get one point. It does not matter if you lay these bricks right after the other or if you do other (productive) stuff in between. Even if you over-estimated the size of your bricks and still have work left after 30 minutes, don't fret, you still get the point. Adjust your brick sizes for next time (or live with the fact that you won't finish the task with one brick... it's up to you). Halfassed Brick If you're not happy with how you set the brick, because the monkey and rational decision maker kept dragging you in and out of the dark woods, you'll end up in mixed feeling park and your points will suffer. Monkey Poop If the monkey should manage to take over the steering wheel so much that you can't lay the brick at all and end up in the dark playgrounds, the monkey gets points instead. Of course this is all up to your reasoning, but I think you'll know whether you're in the dark woods or the dark playground (procrastination anyone?). Be honest with yourself. If you didn't finish your bricks for the day, any bricks not laid become monkey poop... Of course, if you manage to procrastinate for longer than you were supposed to have time for, feel free to add more poop, lol. Once the productive bricks are all done that day, you don't have to track any more and are free to go wild! About taking breaks You can take scheduled 5 minute breaks every brick (so you'll work 25 minutes, then have a 5 minute break. Or you could work 50 min and have a 10 min break. Taken from the Pomodoro Technique ). Just remember that the monkey will do his very best to drag you out of the woods during break time. It might help to have a plan for how you spend the break. Do what works best for you. It might also help immensely to actually set a timer that lets you know when it's time for bricks and time for breaks. There's lots of apps for that EXPERIMENTAL: Alternative way to track Productive Bricks For rewarding task completion instead of time a.k.a. "I always forget to track time". Reveal hidden contents Estimate the amount of bricks needed for each task you need to get done (blocks of 30 minutes of focused work, not disturbed by the monkey). After completing a task, you may enter the estimated amount of bricks instead of counting the actual time it took to finish it. Remember to still count halfassed bricks and monkey poop. If you notice a task took a lot more Productive Bricks than you estimated, add more bricks to your total. If you notice a task took a lot less Productive Bricks than you estimated, use the middle point between the actual amount and estimate. (Why: daunting tasks probably weigh more) DIFFICULTY MODES Choose your own mode. Easy: +1 point per brick, +0.5 points per halfassed brick, x5 monkey points per monkey poop = The original system Normal: +1 point per brick, +0.0 points per halfassed brick , x5 monkey points per monkey poop = Against halfassing! Kong: +1 point per brick, -0.5 points per halfassed brick, x8 monkey points per monkey poop = Like a boss JOIN US If you want to join the Monkey Tamers, let us know what you're planning to build, and join our colorful Google Spreadsheet for tracking your progress! In the spreadsheet, all you need to do is fill in the black squares: Write your name and difficulty mode. Enter the planned amount of bricks - for each day. You can fill those as days go by, just make sure to enter the planned amount before actually starting to lay bricks. Write the amount of bricks laid where they belong (productive bricks, halfassed bricks, monkey poop) *For those coming back, what's different: We've added a spot for Week 0. It won't count towards points but it may help in getting started, testing things, or just doing something so you won't lose momentum.

If you have been following me for a few challenges, you may remember a few references to an upcoming Top Secret Mission (TSM). Well, it is getting down to the wire, and I need to have preparations more than 90% completed by the end of this challenge. The most logical thing for me to do is focus this challenge around preparing for the TSM! Here is the catch: the TSM is a surprise for hubby’s birthday – he is hitting one of the big round numbers this year. Even though he has not yet shown the inclination to come on Nerd Fitness (no matter how much I have encouraged him), I can’t post details in case he does. It is, after all, a Top Secret Mission. Not to worry, however, all will be revealed by the 7th of November on this thread, so you just need to endure a bit of suspense, and a bit of torturous clue-dropping. Here is the training and preparation plan devised: Goal 1: Agents Must Be Ready for Any Physical Challenge- Build greater fitness with well-rounded physical training. Parts of the TSM will be physically demanding, and I must be in the best shape I have been in for years to have the greatest success with the mission. I am going to devote a minimum of 20 minutes (30 minutes preferred), 6 days a week, to physical workouts. These will be at least 2 days of a bodyweight workout (a REAL BWW, not a mishmash of occasional sets throughout the day), 2 days of an aerobic workout, and 2 days of a long (at least 20 minutes) yoga routine. I will grade myself on frequency and duration of the workouts, keeping the appropriate types, and pushing myself. I have complete freedom to change the exact BWW, yoga routines, and kind of aerobic exercise. I am also free to change the days of the week on which I do different workouts, though I am going to try to stick with this routine: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Rest BWW Aerobic Yoga BWW Aerobic Yoga Since one of my problems in past challenges has been muscle fatigue after pushing myself on bodyweight workouts, I think this will help me have enough time in between to fully recover, while not having so many recovery days or needing to do such light workouts that I make little improvement. Possible Points: +2 STR, +2 STA, +2 DEX Goal 2: Agents Must Be Mentally Strong – Improve mental outlook and calm The demands of preparing for the TSM while still meeting the responsibilities of family, work, husband and friends, while ALSO keeping it all secret can be emotionally and mentally draining. I will continue the work I have been doing in positivity and meditation, with slight changes. -Ask myself 3 positive-focus questions at least once a day (2 or 3 times is better). I do not need to write or post them, just think about them. (I will still try to post some whenever I do make an update J ) -Spend at least 3 minutes in meditation daily. May be all at once, or broken into shorter chunks. Bonus: Complete the 7-day Positivity Challenge before the challenge ends. This means that for 7 consecutive days, I will have been successful at not engaging any negative thoughts. When a negative thought comes up, if I redirect my focus or attitude within 1 minute, that is still considered positive. (See the 16:30 minute mark in the video below) Possible Points: +1 CON, +2 CHA Goal 3: Defeat Enemies That Could Destroy the Mission- Weaken the evil Procrastinista & her Fear Machine There is SO much that has to happen for the TSM to be successful, and so many other things that have to happen before the Mission occurs, that procrastination could cause major failure. It is not quite ALL the things that need to happen, but it is a lot. For this goal, I am undertaking the “Conquering Fear†challenge. I can not remember where I first saw it (I thought it was in an NF email…), and both a search of my inbox and the internet did not locate it again. Essentially, the idea is to do something that scares you or that you have been putting off every day for 30 days. I am altering it a little to make room for a bad day here and there, and to make it last 6 weeks. My version: On at least 6 days each week during the challenge, I will do either something that I have been putting off, or something that I am afraid of. Some of these things may repeat (for instance, I can call a friend I have not contacted for a long time on 3 separate days and count it three times), but I may not count the same thing for consecutive days. The things may be long or short. It is the habit that is important. Possible Points: +1 CON, +1 CHA, +1 STA Life Goal: Complete Top Secret Mission Plans One cannot embark on a mission without plans – at least, not if one expects the mission to be successful. This goal will track the TSM plan progress on a progress bar in my sig file, with the goal being 90% completion or higher by the end of the challenge. I am in the process of making up a comprehensive list of everything left to do. As I check things off, I will update the progress bar and – if possible – give you a euphemistic (story-line) update on what I accomplished. Possible Points: +3 WIS Now, to launch this challenge:

Hiya I'm Kumamon, 23, girl, graduating from uni this Nov/Dec. So I've finally decided to use the progress bar. 100 points a level, keepin it simple. Goals: Eat paleo but include whole wheat pasta. 3 meals. (+3) Exercise 10k steps (+1)12k steps (+1) workout (+3) Sleep 7.5 hours (+1) no screens 1hr before bed (+1) GTD write down 3-5 things to do (+1)complete to-do list (+3)Here we go Let's have a little fun today.

I'm still pretty stoked to have finished the last challenge. My grades were A, C, C - not stellar, but getting all the way to the end without giving up is a pretty big deal for me. I can see the difference in my fitness, and I really feel like I'm working on building permanent habits rather than my usual 'crash diet and binge' cycle. So here I am amongst the Adventurers - challenge number two - COME ON! MAIN QUEST:- To be a good role model for my son in having a healthy relationship with food and being able to exercise with him (and keep up with him!) I'm working towards modelling the same behaviour around food and fitness that I want my son to have when he's an adult. My parenting mantra is 'Kids don't do what you say, they do what you do'. Well, I don't want him to be a serial dieter like me, and I'd like him to see exercise as part of a normal adult life. It's also important to me that he sees me working hard at a career that is meaningful to me - basically just leading a balanced life. So all of these goals feed in to that... Goal - Do some exercise that I enjoy at a moderate to high intensity for half an hour three times a week This is continued from last challenge. Once again, I'm only going to do things I enjoy because I think that's the best way to make this stick when I'm starting out. I've failed many times before by using willpower to bully myself into doing things and then giving up, whereas the exercise habit from last challenge seems to be sticking. I've decided not to 'extend' this goal i.e. I've kept it exactly the same as last challenge. It's still such a big change for me compared to before my first challenge and I want to really establish this habit before I push further with it. Also my food goal went badly last time, so I'm going to focus on improving my score there, while maintaining my exercise score. A - Three times a week B - Twice a week C - Once a week FAIL - No exercise beyond my usual long walks Goal - No eating apart from planned meals and snacks [edited from 'No eating between meals on weekdays' - changing goal after Week One] A - Stick to plan B - One small lapse during the week C - Two lapses or a major lapse during the week D - No change from current habits FAIL - I only grade it as a 'Fail' if I stop checking in and being accountable Goal - Life Challenge/Side Quest - Procrastination vs Taking A Break. I'm working from home and struggling with productivity. I have a bad habit of avoiding taking a 'proper' break away from the computer but then wasting a load of time on the internet. I know that if I take a 'proper' break like exercise, or practising guitar or going for a walk, doing some stretches or meditating - then after doing these things I work better, my mind is clearer - and it's better for my eyes too. I've figured out a simple scoring system for the working day to take positive breaks. I have a target score of +50 points per working day (I'm only keeping score during working hours). I can score +100 by just getting a reasonable amount of work done and taking two or three positive breaks during the day. Whereas a whole working day spent wasting time on the internet while eating junk food takes me into negative numbers... I have a spreadsheet for tracking but it this scoring system doesn't work for me over the course of the challenge then I'll adjust it as I go. A - score 50 points per day or over and record every day's score B - stay in positive numbers over the course of a week and record every day's score C - write down the score every day regardless of what the score is - measuring and being aware of what my habits are and staying accountable here is still a passing grade D - skipping a few days of writing down the score FAIL - consistently not recording my habits and not checking in with scores here

Hi I'm QofC and I'm back for my third challenge! I am currently living in Tomsk, Russia teaching English to what seems like most of the city. I am starting my challenge on January 2nd. Main Goal: Increase my self confidence! Motivation: I want to feel good about myself and eliminate the areas that make me feel like a failure. Confidence Boosters: Study Russian: Study Russian everyday, starting with 10 minutes a day and increasing 10 minutes every week. Why? This will boost my confidence because I will be able to communicate with people much more easily and I have little wins when I understand words that I studied. How? Part of my studying must include my flashcards. I can also count time spent on Bliu-Bliu, Lang-8, making flashcards, or working on my Big Book of Russian Grammar. Grading: After two exceptions I drop a letter grade for everyday I miss. In the event of extenuating circumstances I must study my flashcards at minimum and make up the additional time within the week. WIS +4 Be Polished: Be dressed and polished within an hour of waking up. Why? When I am well dressed, and I know I'm well dressed, I feel better about myself and clothing usually gives me a confidence boost. Also I won't feel like I'm not well dressed for work. How? Polished means that I am thoughtfully dressed for the day, with make-up, jewelry, my hair done, my nails done and scent. Smelling nice is a treat for myself. The only exceptions are days when I am sick. Grading: I will allow myself two exceptions. Afterwards I drop a letter grade for everyday that I miss. CHA +4 Be Prepared: Be completely prepared for classes two days in advance. Why? I always feel like a terrible teacher and person when I procrastinate on lesson planning and ultimately have a hastily put together or unplanned lesson. How? This means that I have my lesson plans written out, all printed material is printed, and all necessary materials are gathered. The only exception would be when I gust lecture because I don't often know the topic until a day or two in advance. I think I will have around 36 classes to prepare for, I will know for sure when my holiday break ends. Grading: I will allow myself one additional exception. For every non-exception class I miss I drop a letter grade. WIS +2 CHA +2 Side Quest: Practice a handstand for five minutes everyday. On days when being upside down is not an option I must sit and quietly think about handstands or practice floor planks. Grading: For everyday I miss I drop a letter grade. STR +3 Rewards: If I get an A for my Russian I will buy myself a Russian book to read. If I get an A for the first two weeks of being polished I will buy myself a new hair clip. If I get an A for being prepared I will buy myself new sock yarn. If I post 60 posts I get to change my name to something more fitting with new me! Давайте Ñделаем Ñто! Let's do this!

I half-failed in my previous attempt at a 6 week challenge, I stopped completely after about a week when people started cutting into my workout times. I think I was trying to move too fast, too soon. However, it wasn't all for nothing. In the time since I began my first quest, I have partially achieved some of my goals. 1. I have dramatically cut down my smoking to about 7 cigarettes per day. This may seem like a lot, but a month ago on August 13th, I was smoking a pack and a half to two a day. That is equivalent to 30-40 cigarettes in a 24 hour period. and 2. I did not drink pop or eat junk food during my challenge. This is considered a win. Didn't even miss them. However, with the exception of the first two days, I still only eat once per day. I hear the phrase all the time "Just eat when you're hungry". But that only happens once a day. A Special K bar and I'm good for at least 8 hours. Not healthy, and considered a failure from me. Main Quest - My main quest is, in the next few months, that I want to reduce the stress I hold in, and finish laying the ground work that my previous challenge started. Quest 1: Quit smoking (take 2) I still smoke. But I believe quitting has become an achievable goal. I will still grade this pass/fail, but it will be determined on whether or not I am still smoking at the end of the 6 weeks or not rather than the second I put one to my lips.. Quest 2: Exercising Beginner Training For Parkour (MWF) Follow suggested routine according to the article to the best of my ability. Just the beginner's parkour this time. The everyday training last time made me lose motivation because my schedule felt so full. I am a beginner. I need to slow down and try not to take everything on all at once. Grading will depend on whether or not I stick to it, and how many days I am able to work out in the time remaining. Still no pull up bar in my home, however I will replace that with more push ups and stretches with my pilates bands to compensate. Quest 3: Breakfast, Lunch Dinner Eat 3 smaller meals. Whether I'm hungry or not, I never eat breakfast. Something as simple as a hard boiled egg can go a long way to fixing my eating schedule. Will be graded on how many times per week I am successful. Life Side Quest: Tone down procrastination. I am a heavy procrastinator. I know I'm not the only one. My goal with this quest is to do some of the things that I've been putting off to make my life better. These things are: 1. Get a job. 2. Spend more time with my dad. (I only visit him 1-2 times a month and I really should get to know him better. Parents had a messy divorce that, 10 years later still affects me, my parents, and my 3 siblings.) 3. Clean my room. (and keep it clean) 4. (Unfortunately) put my black cat Nero up for adoption. I can't afford to feed him for very much longer. 5. Write at least 2 chapters of my novel idea. 6. Start and finish the halbred for my Denmark Cosplay. Motivation: Youmacon is on Halloween. I want to be able to go there and be able to walk around the convention without getting winded, or be tempted to just run into the fast food joints and scarf down a ton of dollar cheese burgers. I am stronger than that. Height: 5'7" Weight: 230lbs Hip: 49.5 inches Bust: 47 inches Waist: 39 inches Neck: 14 inches Pants size: 16

Whoops, I originally posted in the wrong challenge sub forum... I decided to migrate over to the Rangers side of the house as I think it’ll be good fit for this challenge! I am very excited about this one; the last one really motivated me and kept me focused (I’m an instant gratification kind of person, so that’s a big deal). Love this community! So, for a quick overview… I am active duty Navy and have been in South Carolina for several weeks for school and it’s been sort of a “vacationâ€, if you will, from my life and work(ship). It has been very easy to fit in workouts because my schedule is very cut and dry and I have no other distractions (i.e. boyfriend, dogs, roommate, beer. ..Skyrim doesn’t count.) . The overall idea here is, upon my return, to adapt working out to my constantly fluctuating ship schedule and to, in general, make better use of my time. I am the type of person who always wishes they had more hours in the day as I lay on the floor daydreaming for 2 hours after work. Enough of that! Here are my goals… 1. Pass the Navy Physical Readiness Test with an overall Excellent! The test is coming up May 20th. In order to pass with an Excellent I need to accomplish the following: Curl-ups- 87 w/in 2 minutes (Not my strong point…) Push-ups- 39 w/in 2 minutes (Definitely not my strong point but they set the bar pretty low…) 1.5 mile run- 13:15 (My strong point, hurray!) I will accomplish this by: A. Adding the “100 push-ups†sets at the beginning of my lift days (M,W,F). I will have to deal with the loss of gains I may have in OHP and Bench. B. On rest days (T, Th), I will time myself for 2 minutes and do sit-ups till failure and the P90X Ab Ripper X video. I would like to do the timed curl-ups every day, maybe every morning, but twice a week will suffice for now. C. At least one day every weekend I will run 1.5 miles. 2. Continue the SL 5x5 program! As I will be returning to my ship, I simply want to maintain consistency here. I will go to the gym even if it’s packed with giant meatheads that intimidate me. I will go to the gym even if I’m at work till its dark outside and I’ll get stuck in traffic. I will go to the gym even if I’ve been invited over to a friends house after work/have something “better†to do. Also, I will maintain proper form and ask for help if I feel like I’m slacking! 3. Fuel my body the right way! I will maintain a healthy weight by eating a balanced, clean diet full of variety! Specifics: A. Define “cleanâ€: Keep the majority of meals simple and with at least one meat/protein and one veggie/fruit per meal. I will stray away from anything frozen or boxed. B. Meal plan! I will make a flexible plan for meals for the entire week every Sunday, and buy groceries according to that. I’m going to set myself up for success by pre-marinating and freezing meats, pre-slicing frequently-used veggies, and divvying up snacks into baggies for grab-and-go. C. Juice during the weekdays! I am going to convince my bf to let me adopt his juicer and then make one green concoction every morning! I should pre-assort veggies and fruits according to recipe so I can do this quickly in the mornings. Also, I’d like to primarily use veggies/fruits that I don’t care to eat raw…i.e. ginger, pears, grapes, beets, kale. Since it’s his juicer, I should expect to be making 2 green concoctions every morning… 4. Less procrastination…more domination! A. Get my damn motorcycle license! Call and make the appt, get it approved through my command, go to said appt, pass…That’s all there is to it!! B. Make one piece of art per week. This can include drawing, painting or completing some kind of craft. Get those creative juices flowing! I’d like to post what I do here maybe for accountability…we’ll see. Overall: Juice each morning. Eat clean. Craft once a week. Get my bike license. M-Pushups/ Lift T-Curl-ups/Abs (along with divisional PT) W-Pushups/ Lift Th-Curl-ups/Abs (along with command PT) Fri-Pushups/ Lift Sa-Active rest (or run) Sun-Active rest/(or run)/ Meal planning & grocery shopping (Excluding duty days) Wish me luck and I am open to feedback!