Need help staying on track...

[Stormy Skies]

Right, so I have a problem where I have a very hard time commiting to long-term things, like learning how to LD. Everytime I try to learn by going to these forums, I always taper off of them slowly because of outside distractions (Like video games, youtube, friends, working out, etc) and it is very frustrating. I think it's because I don't see any immediet results with me attempting to LD, so I prob just slowly lose interest in it until I completely stop attempting to LD (working out may not have immediete results, but I do weigh myself every week, and see how much weight I've lost, which gives me strength to keep going). And like I said, this doesn't just retain to LDing, it's affects a lot of aspects in my life that require long-term goals. The problem could also be that I'm horrible at 'multi-tasking' or, having multiple duties I have to fufil everyday. For example, if I start working out more, I might not hang-out with my friends enough, or I'll stop going on DV. Or if I start going on DV more, I start to neglect working-out. So, my question is, how do you deal with this? How do you guys fit this into your schedule?

[Tradl3s]

It's mainly Reality checking and ADA (All Day Awareness) that makes people like this. Set your phone to do hourly alarms, or write something on your hand to help you remember. If it's the WBTB (Wake Back To Bed) Technique, Well, although it does help, it isn't required. I wouldn't fully understand, as i am only 14 and im going into grade 9 of school (got no job on my schedule), But if this doesn't help, i don't know what will.

[JoannaB]

I think that part of the lack of commitment to long term goals and distraction by other interest may also be a function of age. I do not remember any more why I stopped lucid dreaming 20 years ago, but I suspect it had something to do with lack of commitment to long term goals and distraction of other interests. I was 19 or 20 years old back then. I actually was fairly successful at LDin back then (more successful than I am now), so I could not say that lack of success caused me to stop. But stop I did. And now 20 years later I regret that I stopped, and wish I had not. I am now not nearly as successful at LDing as I was when I was younger, but I do have more patience and perseverance than I had when I was young. Now I know of course that this is a generalization, not all young people lack patience and perseverance, but I did, and then with age I acquired them. So perhaps you will too? Or if you prefer maybe you will learn from my mistake, and keep in mind that if you stop now, chances are that sometime in the future you will ask yourself "Why, oh why did I stop my LDing efforts when I was younger?!"

[dolphin]

Two techniques, MILD and DEILD, don't require you to take any time out of your day. Once you're familiar with the techniques, you can just practice them every night when you're in bed without committing any time during the day. Obviously a lucid dream is your ultimate goal, but your goal should be to take every night as an opportunity to improve your recall and awareness, even if just a little bit, based on what you find works and what doesn't. Eventually, you'll improve to the point where you'll be where you want to be.

[Stormy Skies]

AH god damn... happened again >->... anyway, thanks for the advice you guys! I'm not sure how much it will help me, but I think I'll try implmenting it tonight...

[duke396]

I have the same problem, right now I'm re-committing and trying to get over basically a 2 year dry spell that was a result of my life changing a lot during that period and getting discouraged by my lack of a good dream recall which was in turn caused by me "not having time" to write down my dreams (that was a mouthful). Just being here and wanting to fix it is a start... I have started doing the alarm thing for reality checks myself through an app called Awoken for android. I haven't seen results yet since I just started yesterday, but it lets me remember to reality check during the day at work and if anyone else is around they just think I'm getting a text (make sure you use a different sound than your actual text though). It also plays the same "totem sound" as the app calls it during the night, supposedly it can trigger you to reality check during your dream and become lucid. ADA is also a good technique that you can use any time without hurting your other activities. Personally I try to devote some time as I'm going to sleep to basically remind myself that I want to remember my dreams and become lucid, and I try my best to get down as many details as possible while a dream is still fresh in my mind even if that means doing it at random times that I wake up during the night. Good luck