Set your Day Zero and this counter shows your days, your record (clean days out of total days, so one slip never wipes you back to zero) and which stage of a 90-day plan you're in. When an urge hits, start the 15-minute urge timer and work through the 10 steps: in the Ironclad method an urge is a wave that rises, peaks and usually passes within 10 to 20 minutes if you don't act on it.
Last updated:
For adults (18+). Free, shame-free and private: everything you enter stays in this browser on this device.
Feeling an urge? Press start, then work down the list, in order. The timer keeps running in the background; your job is to get to the end of it.
Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired or Bored is the danger state. Fix the state, don't fight the urge.
| The urge says | You say |
|---|---|
| "Just one quick look, no big deal." | "There is no such thing as one look. I don't do that." |
| "You've been good for ten days, you've earned it." | "Rewarding not doing it by doing it is the exact loop I'm breaking." |
| "You'll never actually quit, so why suffer?" | "That's the habit talking. It's been wrong every time I've ridden it out." |
| "Just to help you sleep." | "It's never helped me sleep. I'm going to sleep now." |
| "You already slipped this week, the streak's gone anyway." | "There is no streak. There's who I am." |
If you are thinking about harming yourself, or feel you can't keep yourself safe, contact your local emergency number or a free crisis line now:
UK: Samaritans 116 123 (24/7) · US: call or text 988 · India: Tele-MANAS 14416 (24x7)
If this habit feels out of your control, keeps going despite real harm to your relationships, work or mood, or comes with low mood or anxiety, please talk to a GP or a therapist who works with compulsive sexual behaviour. Asking for help is a strong move, not a weak one.
Record, not streak. A streak is a number that resets to zero and takes your motivation with it. This counter tracks your record: clean days out of total days since Day Zero. A slip on day 40 makes it 39 out of 40, which is a very good record, not a zero. "Since last slip" is shown too, but smaller, on purpose.
The 90-day timeline. The stage you see comes from the timeline in the book, built from what men commonly report when they quit. Everyone is different and the days are rough guides, not rules.
| Stage | Days | What it often feels like | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Grind | 1–14 | Frequent, strong urges, especially days 3 to 10. Irritable, restless, poor sleep in week one. | Phone rules absolute, urge timer on standby, train hard, sleep on time. Just get to day 14. |
| The Flat Line | About 15–45 | Urges drop, but so does everything else: low drive, low mood, "nothing works". | Don't "test" anything. Keep training and keep the routine. It lifts. |
| The Return | About 46–70 | Energy and mood come back. Urges are rare. Complacency starts here. | Keep every rule. The phone rules stay. |
| Consolidation | 71–90+ | The habit is quiet. Real life is interesting. | Decide your permanent rules. |
The urge timer runs 15 minutes because the method treats an urge as a wave that peaks and passes in about 10 to 20 minutes. The steps change your position, your room and your body state first (cold water, 20 push-ups, slow 4-7-8 breathing), then give your hands a boring task until the wave passes. Once you've ridden a few urges to the end, you can try urge surfing: noticing where you feel it and watching it rise and fall like weather, without obeying or fighting it.
This tool puts a few of the named techniques from Ironclad to work. Each line says how it relates to the tool.
See every technique in Ironclad →
A streak resets to zero after one slip and often takes your motivation with it, which can turn a slip into a binge. A record counts clean days out of total days since Day Zero, so a slip on day 40 leaves you with 39 out of 40, which is still a very good record.
In the Ironclad method an urge is treated as a wave: it rises, peaks and falls, usually within 10 to 20 minutes, whether or not you act on it. That is why the urge timer runs for 15 minutes. Research on urge surfing (observing an urge instead of fighting or obeying it) found that brief instruction helped smokers smoke fewer cigarettes.
Stop now, put the device in another room, and ignore the thought that you've blown it. Shower and change, message someone you trust within the hour, go to bed or outside, and leave the review of what happened until tomorrow when you're clear-headed. One slip is data, not a reset of who you are.
No. Wet dreams are normal, especially in the first month. They are not a slip and don't change your record.
If the habit feels out of your control, keeps going despite real harm to your relationships, work or mood, or comes with low mood or anxiety, talk to a GP or a therapist who works with compulsive sexual behaviour. The World Health Organization lists compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in its ICD-11 classification. If you ever think about harming yourself, contact a crisis line: Samaritans 116 123 (UK), call or text 988 (US) or Tele-MANAS 14416 (India).
Yes. Your Day Zero, slips and urge count are saved only in this browser's local storage on your device. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere, and clearing your browser data or pressing Reset deletes it.
Self-help and education for adults, not medical or psychological treatment. The day ranges and urge timing are the book's practical guides, not clinical facts.