u/Fresh-Spare-2869

Cold showers lasted four days (I hate them). Journaling lasted four entries on a Google Doc. I've most recently tried Flora, Habitica, FocusFriend, and 100PushUps (probably tried more than 20). I've read SO many self-improvement books from Atomic Habits to Make Your Bed but none have worked (at least for longer than two weeks).

A little about me:

• 20 years old, almost 21
• Going into Junior year at UMass Amherst
• Been in self-improvement since 14
• Used to be known for pushups with quotes in the background on TikTok (don't judge)

What I kept missing was that I was trying to fix my habits without any real commitment. I'd have a good streak, feel great, then one bad day would unravel everything and I'd feel terrible for falling off again.

One of the biggest examples was waking up early. I’d set an alarm clock for 5 a.m., planning to get up, drink water, get sunlight, work out, shower, and get going in my day by 6 a.m. However, I’d always end up going to bed late, watching shows or talking with people, and then wake up at 10 a.m. and feel absolutely terrible, which would ruin my day.

The idea I want to try now is putting actual money on the line for my tasks. A personal system where if I don't do a task, then I lose the money. I think it'll either make me get things done or become a much better planner. (Not large amounts of money. Between $1-5, I am not rich by any means, haha.)

A friend mentioned I should add rewards too, not just penalties. Honestly, I don't know what a good reward even looks like for this since it's more built around penalties. Has anyone tried something like this?

I’d love to hear personal stories and get advice. Not going to lie, I am low on money, jobless, stuck in the same rhythm and would love any tips anyone has.

Cold showers lasted four days (I hate them). Journaling lasted four entries on a Google Doc. I've most recently tried Flora, Habitica, FocusFriend, and 100PushUps (probably tried more than 20). I've read SO many self-improvement books from Atomic Habits to Make Your Bed but none have worked (at least for longer than two weeks).

A little about me:

• 20 years old, almost 21
• Going into Junior year at UMass Amherst
• Been in self-improvement since 14
• Used to be known for pushups with quotes in the background on TikTok (don't judge)

What I kept missing was that I was trying to fix my habits without any real commitment. I'd have a good streak, feel great, then one bad day would unravel everything and I'd feel terrible for falling off again.

One of the biggest examples was waking up early. I’d set an alarm clock for 5 a.m., planning to get up, drink water, get sunlight, work out, shower, and get going in my day by 6 a.m. However, I’d always end up going to bed late, watching shows or talking with people, and then wake up at 10 a.m. and feel absolutely terrible, which would ruin my day.

The idea I want to try now is putting actual money on the line for my tasks. A personal system where if I don't do a task, then I lose the money. I think it'll either make me get things done or become a much better planner. (Not large amounts of money. Between $1-5, I am not rich by any means, haha.)

A friend mentioned I should add rewards too, not just penalties. Honestly, I don't know what a good reward even looks like for this since it's more built around penalties. Has anyone tried something like this?

I’d love to hear personal stories and get advice. Not going to lie, I am low on money, jobless, stuck in the same rhythm and would love any tips anyone has.

Cold plunges lasted three weeks. Journaling lasted four entries and the notebook is still on my desk currently functioning as a coaster. Meditation apps I completed the beginner course on two different ones and never opened either again. Five AM alarms set every night dismissed every morning while basically unconscious felt like garbage about it until noon.

I read Atomic Habits twice. Twice. I could teach that book. Still couldn’t stick to anything for longer than a few weeks.

At some point I genuinely started wondering if I was just one of those people who talks about changing and never actually does. Like maybe discipline is a personality trait you either have or you don’t and I just don’t.

Then I made a stupid bet with my roommate. Every time I skipped my morning alarm I venmo him $20. His idea. I thought it was kind of dumb.

That was seven weeks ago. I’ve missed once.

I keep trying to figure out why this worked when nothing else did. The honest answer is kind of annoying because it has nothing to do with mindset or habit stacking or identity based whatever.

Every single thing I tried before had no cost attached to failing. Skip the cold plunge nothing happens. Stop journaling nobody knows. Dismiss the alarm the day just starts a little worse. There was never a version of events where quitting had a consequence.

The second quitting cost something even something small and kind of embarrassing the whole dynamic changed. Not because I magically got more disciplined. Because the math was different.

I think the self improvement space spends a lot of time selling systems and routines and mindsets when a lot of people’s actual problem is simpler. Quitting is free. Make quitting cost something and see what happens.

Anyway. Curious if anyone else stumbled onto something equally dumb that actually worked after all the normal stuff failed.

pretty new to Higgsfield. been lurking for a bit and finally tried making a UGC-style ad today through Marketing Studio.

picked a random avatar, wrote a rough script, hit generate. the result was... okay? like it definitely looked like an ad but it didn't have that natural feel I see in the videos people post here.

I'm genuinely not sure how to structure my prompts

for people who've been using this for a while. when you first started getting good results, how did you make your prompts?

dropping my result in the comments once I figure out how to not be embarrassed by it 😅

if you could drop examples of ones that have worked for y'all Ii would really appreciate it!!

pretty new to Higgsfield. been lurking for a bit and finally tried making a UGC-style ad today through Marketing Studio.

picked a random avatar, wrote a rough script, hit generate. the result was... okay? like it definitely looked like an ad but it didn't have that natural feel I see in the videos people post here.

I'm genuinely not sure how to structure my prompts

for people who've been using this for a while. when you first started getting good results, how did you make your prompts?

dropping my result in the comments once I figure out how to not be embarrassed by it 😅

if you could drop examples of ones that have worked for y'all Ii would really appreciate it!!