If I can't do this one simple goal in one week, then I'm quitting online poker. Seriously.
Even if I succeed, I'm going to quit. For the rest of the week. Seriously.
I think most of goals in this forum are complete BS and unrealistic ($1,000,000 from 10 FPP? C'mon, man!), and I need to make some progress. Any progress. Things are THAT bad.

Other goals for the week:

[ ] lose one pound
[ ] contain myself to only 5 drinks this week
[ ] clean the house
[ ] spend 5 hours on writing my paper
[ ] reply to a personal ad
[ ] get laid

got till next Thursday 6 am CDT to do this.

DAY 1

Only played for about an hour yesterday since I had a home game last night with friends. Played pretty well, just didn't hit many draws:

Hands: 300
Progress: -$0.35

I've decided to play 2000 hands this week no matter what; according to my winrate over 20,000 hands at this limit, this should be more than enough, although bad luck happens. (The FPPs are too valuable not to accumulate.)

On the plus side, I absolutely pawned the home game last night for $66

In the op it sounds like you haven't been enjoying poker, in which case not playing can't be that bad of an idea. Did pawning the home game change anything? What game/stakes was it?

It's not that I wasn't enjoying the actual game, but I've been frustrated with the results. And of course jumping from LHE to Stud to 5CD to Sngs just complicates things. I need to pick a game and stick to it. When I do it, over the long term I do well, but I get way too tilted when I have the 2nd nut flush 3 times in one session and lose to the nut flush. After 5 years I should be more disciplined.

So I am cutting down on my playing time and trying to concentrate on other things I've neglected. Maybe limiting myself to 300 hands a day, which I can do in 1 hour.

I love the home game. My closest friends are there and we have a lot of fun.
Especially last night, where 12 of us were playing at one table. We play spread limit, where bets and raises have to be between 0.20-1.00 the first two rounds and 0.40-2.00 the last two rounds. I know, maybe not the biggest game in town but its fun to see eveyone play and watch the pots get really big. Fortunately I had all the luck last night; there have been other nights with this many people that I never won a hand.

Obviously this online challenge is more about mental discipline and responsibility than actual money.

DAY 2

Whew! I knew I could get into positive territory. It helps when you get aces three times in 300 hands. Two of them actually held up and the other time I threw them away by the turn. Look out!! Getting close to my goal and will no doubt reach it soon, the hard part will be staying above a dollar.

Total number of hands: 600
Progress: + $0.73

DAY 3

Well, I played another 300 hands today and continued moving in the right direction. Helped when I called a raise with 22 and none of the other four players believed I flopped a set. Even better when none of them improved.
Interestingly enough, I flopped a set with 22 on the very last hand. Sensed someone else improved and didn't call her raise on the turn. Lost to a set of 9s, but only the minimum. Thankfully I passed my $1 goal after 150 hands today, but kept playing and I'm glad I did.

Total number of hands: 900
Progress: +$1.34

Add to that Ohio State beat Miami in football, and I'm feeling happy. Even without alcohol. We'll see if this luck continues tonight, when I have another home game.

DAY 4

The bad news: I lost $25 at the home game last night as my friends got some of their money back. Also, the Browns lost to a team they should have beaten, and the Steelers won a game they shouldn't have.

The good news: I went through last night without a drop of alcohol, and actually had much more energy to show for it. Oh, and of course I had my best day of online poker this week:

Total number of hands: 1200
Progress: +$3.04

Why can't I keep up this winrate?

Looks like you're doing great thus far.

Good luck!

DAY 5

Pretty much break even today, which is fine with me. I need to focus on the other goals I made for the week.

Hands: 1500
Progress: +$3.13

Thanks, Strat!

DAY 6

Woohoo! I did I ever want to leave .02/.04? (Oh yeah, to make more money and become a better poker player. But still...) At any other level one other player on a
3456x board your QQ would lose when you/check call, but here you see JJ. Awesome!
Of course having aces and kings a bunch of times helps too. Have to convince myself that not every week can be like this one:

Hands: 1800
Progress: +$4.59

It looks like barring a total disaster tomorrow, I will make by one dollar goal. (Oops, did I just jinx myself?) I'm trying to work on my nonpoker goals of the week. Have been swimming and was pleased when I stepped on the scale this morning.

DAY 7

Well I made it through my first week. Even though today was a losing day (in fact the worst of the week) I am pleased with my progress, both in poker and in life. And I made my dollar!

Hands: 2100
Progress: +$3.89

I'll give more details tomorrow about this and other goals, and start a new thread for the next week.

so the keys to success is to set reasonable goals, I guess. On to week 2;
will start another thread in this forum right now.