Overcome Porn: The 40 Day ChallengeSample

Anyone who wants to make a U-turn at their triggers first needs to know what their specific triggers are. What sights, sounds, or events tend to get the motor going? Knowing your triggers will allow you to be more vigilant.

At every step of what Dr. Kevin Skinner calls “the porn activation sequence,” if someone wants to make a U-turn, they need to turn on their “thinking brain”—the part of their brain called the prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that does the deliberation, that chooses between wise and unwise actions. You can do this several ways, but one of the easiest ways to do this is to simply speak aloud and label what is happening: “This is a trigger.” By saying it out loud, you stop being a passive participant by letting your habits stay in the driver seat, and it helps you to snap you out of it.

Then, once you’ve collected your wits, get up and do something else. Step away from the trigger.

Action Step

In this video, Matt Fradd talks about Dr. Kevin Skinner’s “pornography activation sequence,” including the first step of the sequence: triggers.