Break the Start Stop Cycle and Stay Consistent on Your Freedom Journey

Have you ever noticed a pattern in your life where you find something that helps, start

seeing progress, and then slowly stop doing it? Maybe it’s a new habit, a workout, or even something for your health.

I’ve experienced it firsthand with my lower back pain. Yoga was the one thing that really helped me. Just ten minutes every other day would keep the pain away and make me feel better.

But here’s the problem: once the pain eased, I didn’t feel the same urgency to do yoga. It was uncomfortable, took time, and I started skipping days. And what happened next? My back pain came back. Then I would get consistent again. The cycle repeated.

Sound familiar? You can probably guess where else this shows up—the porn struggle.

The Start Stop Cycle

Viewing porn causes real pain. Shame, guilt, regret, the feeling that you’re not living up to your potential, or the fear of being found out by a partner. You start taking action, doing the work, and you notice progress. Things feel better. The pain lessens.

And then, naturally, you back off a bit. You stop doing the things that were helping. And before long, urges hit you unexpectedly, and you have a slip. The cycle continues: pain brings action, progress fades, consistency fades, slip happens.

I call this the Start Stop Cycle, and it’s extremely common.

Why This Happens

Here’s the hard truth: humans need powerful, compelling reasons to take consistent action. Without them, even helpful habits fall by the wayside. Waiting for external events or pain to motivate you is unreliable.

The solution? Choose your own reasons and feel them intentionally every day.

Power Reasons: Your Fuel for Freedom

Imagine taking ten minutes to answer these questions:

• Why do I want to be free of porn?

• What would it mean if I were still hooked five years from now?

• What could be possible if I were completely free one year from now?

Then, pick one negative reason (something painful you want to avoid) and one positive reason (something exciting you want to gain). These are your power reasons—your personal fuel for consistent action.

Take just 20 seconds each day to read your power reasons and really let yourself feel them. That’s it. It’s simple, but it’s incredibly powerful.

Why This Works

Instead of waiting to be blindsided by urges or guilt, you’re proactively fueling your consistency. You’re choosing to feel your reasons for pursuing freedom. Your daily practice becomes automatic, even when things feel easy or the pain fades.

Breaking the start stop cycle doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s not about willpower or feeling stronger than your urges. It’s about having a clear, compelling reason to do the work every day.

Make It Even Easier

To help, I created a cheat sheet that gives you your negative and positive power reasons in just ten minutes. There’s also a visualization exercise, called the movie theater exercise, that helps you really feel those reasons and internalize them.

You can get these and all my Frontline tools in New Paths Academy.

Your Next Step

Ask yourself:

• Have I defined and written down my power reasons?

• Do I read and feel them regularly?

If not, it’s almost inevitable that the start stop cycle will continue. Not because you’re weak or broken. It’s because you’re human.

But when you intentionally fuel your freedom every day, you can finally break the cycle and move consistently toward lasting change.

True freedom is possible. Take the next step today!

-Dan