Hi,

Looking for an App similar to Forfeit. (Can it do this?)

But can do something like this:

1. First 5m: Send video of what im going to work on
2. Next 50m: Send timelapse proof of me working on it
3. Last 5m Send video of what I did

Charges me money If I:

1. Do not do it (waste time)
2. Do not submit on time

Willing to pay!

After having this issue for 8 months and now finding my root cause (SIBO), there are a lot of mistakes I made and wish I would've done differently.

My symptoms (at night / after triggers):

• Acidic taste
• Globus sensation, throat irritation, sore throat

Mistake 1#: Self-diagnosing & researching

I feel stupid as hell for being my own doctor,

If you guys have the money, I highly recommend finding some sort of clinician who actually knows what they're talking about.

TONS of advice online has NO idea what they are talking about especially for LPR.

I specifically say this in the context of root-causes, why this happens in the first place.

You can throw the words "Alkaline Water, PPI, avoid X trigger" but not get deeper into the root cause.

I suspect it's because this issue is actually so damn complicated that not many people actually have the expertise.

If you want to avoid 9999 hours of self-research, find someone who genuinely knows what they are talking about.

For example:

• I remember doing research on root-causes one day, when suddenly I see the video "How to Fix Heartburn (Reflux) without Acid Blockers" by Dr. Rusico. And this he mentions every single point that I had previously hunted for across every corner of the internet????
• I try their advice: It works! Low FODMAP reduced my symptoms to zero.
• So I'm convinced: I book an appointment with their clinic, and the person I talked to is very confident they can solve my issue.
• I buy the products they recommend, and it seems to be working! I don't feel much acid anymore in my throat despite sleeping positions that would've caused it a week before. Only 4 days in the protocol.

Had I initially strategized at the start, and realized finding someone with expertise would've saved me massive amounts of time.

I probably could've focused more on enjoying my life.

I don't know how I'd do better than someone who's doing this type of research on a full time job.

Mistake 2#: Trying to achieve 100% certainty

For every decision, during LPR in general:

Option 1: Has something uncertain

Option 2: Has something uncertain

Yet I still try to optimize for maximum certainty?

Especially for these niche diseases, there's going to be something you can't know for sure.

Initially, I wasn't 100% sure if I had acid reflux despite every symptom pointing to it.

I wanted the 100% perfect way to diagnose it, a PH impedance test.

A test that was very hard to get... that I tried to book.

At some point, my doctor recommended me to see how I respond to a PPI, so I did.

And it worked...

You can't have 100% certainty with everything. If you try, it'll take a lot of your time.

If everything is pointing to it, it probably is. If it's not, you'll probably find out.

If you don't want to take the risk, then just don't. But sometimes the time spent in-between is also a bigger risk.

This happened a lot for me for many different decisions. At some point you have to just lay out your options and add 1 big pro/con to them. Then accept uncertainty.

Mistake 3#: Addiction & Mental Conflicts

Try not to hyper focus on your LPR. Take care of yourself & take breaks even if it seems counterproductive for solving the issue. It'll make you a lot happier and able to cope.

Not taking breaks probably worsened my past addiction to "easy pleasure" since it made my life feel pretty dull.

"That food looks really tasty"

"But it has trigger foods"

"oh no"

"it's 2AM now and i'm on Youtube"

Wanting to eat trigger foods... to waste time on entertainment.... to waste life.

This isn't going to be easy, you must do the hard thing that's required of you.

Some things I would recommend:

1. Allen Carr's easy way to stop Emotional Eating (he has this for multiple addictions)
2. Visualize what motivates you every morning and night... It'll help you overcome the hard things in life, especially LPR

Things that worked/didn't work for me in general

My specific issue was Methane dominant SIBO causing my LPR:

What worked the most:

• Avoiding acidic foods to not activate the pepsin
• Sleeping on a wedge + Left-side. Combining is best.
• PPI's (at the 5 day mark)
  • Only did it for 2-weeks since it would've worsened my root cause
• LOW Fodmap Diet
  • This was the primary trigger, that's why avoiding common food triggers for GERD didn't work.
• Herbal antimicrobials so far
• Gaviscon (for severe flareups)

What didn't change anything:

• Alkaline water, sugar-free gum
• Eating small meals
• Low Intra-Abdominal Pressure exercise (didn't notice much change for me at least)
• Random supplements I bought that didn't target the root cause
• Fasting didn't help for some reason??

Turns out it was SIBO! PPI's would've made it worse haha.

Currently on a probiotics + herbal antimicrobial protocol to clear it.

Feeling better already. Less acid at night.

Basically, SIBO means Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.

One major hint that helped me figure it out was my big improvement on a Low FODMAP diet:

FODMAP (with examples) means:

• Fermentable 
• Oligosaccharides (Garlic/Onion, Lentils/Chickpeas.)
• Disaccharides (Milk from Lactose)
• Monosaccharides (Fruits/Honey)
• And
• Polyols (Some vegetables/fruits, "Sugar" free gum)

These are very fast fermentable carbohydrates that aren't well absorbed by your body.

So they act as food for the bacteria.

But the issue for SIBO is that the bacteria end up fermenting it too early, producing gas!

So the theory is that, the gas escapes through the stomach, carrying acid with it. Causing LPR.

It makes sense since most of us don't have conventional acid reflux.

I always wondered why I didn't feel GERD yet the acid went all the way to my throat.

I also took a more specific SIBO breath test to find the specific subtype. Turns out I have an overgrowth of archaea producing Methane. So I can target the killing a lot more effectively.

when im about to do something hard, my mind wants to avoid it

so i get distracted,

wasting 12 hours on YT to avoid 30 minutes of hard work. feeling like shit at the end.

that was until i came across a video that suggested using accountability to stop distractions

but then i thought:

"i can try to get through it with willpower, i dont need accountability"

if that had worked i wouldn't be looking for solutions in the first place

do i want what works? or whats uncertain? (accountability vs willpower)

so i sucked up my pride and decided to try it out

this is a guide on how to set up accountability & how to avoid the mistakes i made!

it helped me to confront discomfort every day and eventually reach my first customer.

here's 5 steps on how to start using this:

1. make the most important task the path of least resistance

foundationally: accountability is useless if you're working on the wrong thing.

have a maximum of 3 tasks on your TODO list,

those 3 tasks should be the tasks that'll make you the most progress

if you had 10 things on your TODO list you'd end up picking the easiest task

so if you only have 3 tasks, you have no choice but to do what's most important.

2. humans fear loss more than gain

accountability requires some sort of punishment upon failure

we often do things that are hard if the pain of inaction > pain of action

humans hate losing things more than gaining

this is why you see people insanely focused & courageous when survival is on the line

to start using accountability, pick something you genuinely don't want to lose

for me it was $20, but one guy i know chose 1% of his company

whatever feels uncomfortable means it's probably working!

make sure it's not too severe or too light or you might avoid it

3. set a specific start and end time

i chose to start work no matter what at 10AM and 2PM.

you can configure different intervals & breaks to your preference

e.g. 1hr work -> 15m break -> repeat

4. be specific about what you'll do

it's called the CAB system. 1 hour long:

• 0m - 5m: send a video of what you'll accomplish

include: What, Why, How

the HOW should be so specific, in such baby steps, that it'd be SO hard NOT to do it

it also sets the stage for what counts as failure.

so that if you didn't do what you said you'd do. you lose money

• 5m - 55m: do the thing

since i was so specific in each step, there was no way to procrastinate on easier tasks

i had to make the cold call. do the uncomfortable thing.

it genuinely worked since otherwise I'd also lose money.

• 55m - 60m: send proof you did it to your accountability buddy

if you got distracted but it wasn't obvious, you can self-report too.

for genuine reasons that hold back my completion, i wouldn't do the punishment

• take a break, repeat.

to summarize, you lose money if you:

1. don't send you start video on time
2. don't do the thing
3. don't send your end proof on time

5. find an accountability partner & externalize punishment

for maximum effectiveness:

you need someone that actually cares about holding you accountable.

the issue with friends holding each other accountable for free is that:

1. they may not care about holding you accountable
2. might be too scared to charge you money.

---

the other thing to watch out for is that you must externalize the punishment

if you are the one administering the punishment... you can just choose not to do it

but if you knew there'd be an external person who'll take your money, you'll know you'll lose it

the best punishment is:

1. based on an objective metric for failure
2. you personally care about it
3. it's externally administered

that's what school & jobs do. they force real punishment.

---

to solve both of these issues:

i literally paid my friend to hold me accountable and charge me money.

this does 2 things:

1. paying them makes them care
2. the incentives are aligned, they make money when you lose

thankfully he had lots of time😅😅 otherwise i dont know where i would've found it for so cheap

so see if you can find anyone willing to do this!

profit, see the results immediately

its genuinely makes me insane being self-aware, knowing what to do, but not doing it.

hopefully this might help someone

to summarize:

1. have your highest-leverage tasks on your TODO list
2. find an accountability partner who cares
3. set times & intervals to start
4. base punishments off objective inputs/outputs (if possible)
5. run the CAB cycle (5m video, do it, 5m proof video)

but i want to ask everyone else,

does anyone else face this problem of distraction when facing something hard?

genuinely curious to hear about what you do to solve this problem.

Context: Currently Grade 11, trying to figure out if Grade 11 marks matter so I can focus more time on building my startup.

By the time I apply. I will already have five 4U course marks (3 midterm, 2 completed)

What placeholder will the 6th one be? (Given that they look at your top 6)

The highest Grade 11 mark?

• For instance: If my highest grade 11 mark is Functions, would that be the placeholder? Or is that an exception because Advanced Functions is already submitted.

Would it even matter if I already have 5?

Thanks so much!