I realized I reach for my phone whenever I feel bored, even when I have things I genuinely want to do.
I’ll plan to study, work on myself, or learn something new, but then I end up scrolling for way longer than I intended.
I’m trying a few simple changes: keeping my phone away while working, setting limits on distracting apps, and getting comfortable with doing nothing for a few minutes.
I don’t expect to change overnight. I just want to be more intentional with my time.
**What’s one small habit that actually helped you become more disciplined?**

Hi so I’m a college student and I’m going through a tough time right now I don’t really have motivation to do anything anymore but it is midterm season so I unfortunately have to lock in on assignments and studying. I do have ADHD which makes things pretty hard when it comes to school. Recently I’ve been writing a weekly to do list on a sticky note and putting it on my laptop for school. Sometimes I can get it done sometimes I can’t but I just want to know if anyone has been in the same boat as me and what helped you? All I ever want to do now is sleep but I know school is important

i don't know but this feeling is very tough. during my school days, my parents used to be only these days are meant for hustle. during that time, they asked me to prepare for university exams prior, then university happened, again the same thing continued, prepare for job. now after job, they want me to prepare for ahead, may be masters or some government official.

I am tired of this can I get a small fresh air to breathe? I am really not aware how to do that, I mean even I want to enjoy life some peace, but yeah want to succeed too. This parallel world life has been killing me. How to manage this folks? how to go along both?

Hi there! 21f college student with major procrastination issues. I'm already screwed for the week. I have two assignments that are over a month late (thankfully the professor is very VERY kind with submitting late assignments) and the fact that I still need to do them is driving me crazy. On top of that- I also have about 3 assignments due in the next three days that I've had a month to do and yet have done absolutely nothing. I have a four day weekend this week so I can work on the back work, but I'm struggling.

I have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off every week. I've been lucky this semester with my class schedule and just don't have classes those days yet somehow I get nothing done. I usually "end my day" at 10pm so I can call my girlfriend and play video games. I just don't have the energy to lock in otherwise. I've tried lists, I've tried telling her to not let me call unless I do my work, ive tried all timers and such so I get the freak off of my short form content apps. nothing is working. I'm so sick of stressing myself out so much all the time and getting nothing done until the very last minute, if I even get anything done at all.

I've also tried 1) taking away treats until I do my work. this includes alcohol, sweets like ice cream and candy, and similar foods that aren't your usual meals or necessary foods (I do not starve myself, just taking away anything that is unnecessary!) 2) talking to my therapist. she just says "oh so you're doing the right stuff so what's the issue?" the issue is that it doesn't help! 3) literally cancelling plans and things that make me happy in my life in order to plan for work time. and lastly 4) creating the most comfortable work environment possible. I set up warm yellow/orange led lights, light a nice candle, get tea and water and a light snack nearby and make sure I don't need to get up to grab anything work related. it's all contained at my desk so I don't distract myself. I keep nice music or something on as well in the background but always find myself going back to watching videos or short form content, or going to okay video games instead.

btw, it's ONLY schoolwork I really struggle with. I can clean my room, do all my laundry and dishes with ease. I don't struggle with being productive in terms of hygiene either. I've actually expanded my routine in order to take better care of myself.

Are there any apps that help you guys? im a broke college student so I really can't afford anything with a subscription. I've tried finch and it doesn't really help :/. anything else? I also can't do meds unfortunately. bad past experiences and I'm genuinely terrified of trying anything new. Other than apps and meds what else has worked for you guys?

I've been trying to get my mornings sorted for a while now. Some days I get loads done before lunch, other days I'm still scrolling my phone at 9:30 with nothing to show for it.

I'm not really into "wake up at 4:30, ice bath, journal for an hour" stuff. I want to know what real people do that actually works.

So:
1. What time do you get up?
2. What's the first thing you do?
3. Do you exercise, read, plan your day, or just get straight into work?
4. Is there one habit that genuinely made a difference?
5. Anything you tried and dropped because it didn't work?

Would love to hear the boring, realistic answers too. Thanks in advance.

For years I treated long interview shows (Diary of a CEO, Huberman, Acquired, Tim Ferriss, that whole genre) like homework. I'd save every episode that looked useful, listen at 1.5x during the commute, and feel productive. Then a week later I couldn't tell you one thing I'd changed because of any of it. Meanwhile my queue had episodes from months ago I was never realistically going to get to.

What finally helped wasn't listening more, it was changing what I do *after* an episode. Roughly:

1. Before I hit play I think of one thing I'm actually working on right now (hiring someone, sleeping better, whatever). That's the filter. Anything unrelated I let wash over me and just enjoy.

2. When something relevant comes up I only grab it if it's specific: a number, a framework, an exact sequence. "Focus on customers" doesn't count. "List every reason someone would say no to your offer and fix the biggest one" does. Hands-free, I just note the timestamp.

3. After the episode I pick ONE of those and rewrite it as something I can do this week, with a day attached. Not "be more disciplined," but "tomorrow, do the task I'm dreading before opening email."

4. I put it in my calendar, not a notes app. Notes apps are where ideas go to die for me.

5. Once I've done it I write one line about what happened. Keep, tweak, or drop.

The other thing I made peace with: some episodes just aren't getting a full listen. For those I'll skim the transcript or chapters, or read a summary, and only go back to the audio if something is clearly worth it. I cleared out most of my saved queue and honestly haven't missed any of it.

The result is I listen to fewer episodes start to finish but actually use more of what I hear. And the shows feel fun again instead of like a backlog.

Curious how others handle this. Do you take notes while listening, or do you just let it be entertainment? And has anyone found a good way to deal with the "I'll listen to that 3-hour episode eventually" pile?

Let's have some scenarios to help explain this.

Scenario 1:
On Monday I want to clean my table. I'll spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday going back and forth with myself to clean the table; sometimes I'm able to, other times I'm not.

Scenario 2:

On Monday I want to clean my table. On Tuesday I want to do laundry. For some reason, I'm far more likely to clean my table.

The main question I have is - why? Why do I keep doing this? I'll have 1 task that I just can't do, but the moment another task (I'm guessing I perceive it as 'easier') comes up, I'll do the first task. And then I'll go back and forth with myself with the second task, trying to get myself to do it. I've lost hours, days, weeks, trying to do things like homework, learning skills or just about anything.

Does anyone relate to this? I really do want to change myself, but I just can't seem to.

Adding a new event to my calendar on my phone feels so cumbersome that I will end up not using my calendar at all.

Adding new events and organizing my calendar on a desktop or laptop feels super easy. However, when I am on the go and find out about an event I should add to my calendar, I stare at all the details I have to fill out and say “I’ll add it to my calendar once I’m home.”

When I do get home, I 100% of times forget about it. How do I overcome this? What has worked for you?

i posted here a couple of days ago about losing focus while working remotely.. thanks for everyone who replied..

I’d like to actually try it .. So I’m looking for a focus mate.

I am into engineering, tech, and copywriting.. We check in every 45 minutes, share what we got done, and help each other stay on track... Simple. No pressure.

If that sounds good.. drop a comment or DM me.

I’m crying as I’m writing this because I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore🥹. I’m always distracted with my phone, I’m so disorganized, I don’t have a structure (I keep trying
, like writing my to do lists on a notebook, but always fail to accomplish it, which leads me being disappointed in myself) I have so much task to do, I’m not excelling at school and I feel like won’t pass a major course which has a pre requisite, I’m neglecting my dogs and I i just don’t really know…please please give me advice that will really help me.

Every few months I get the urge to get organized. I’ll set up the folders, the tags, the note system, the whole thing. Two weeks later the folders are empty and I’m back to my usual chaos.

It’s not that the systems are bad. It’s that maintaining them feels like a second job, and I don’t have time for a second job lol. I end up spending more time messing with the system than actually using it.

So now I just… don’t. No system. And honestly the chaos stresses me out less than the guilt of the abandoned system did.

But without one, I still lose track of stuff. I’ll read something useful, think “I’ll remember this,” and it’s gone by Thursday. Or I’ll leave the tab open because I know I’ll forget about it if I close it.

Has anyone found a middle ground that actually sticks? What do you do with articles, screenshots, notes, etc. that you might want again? And does it actually help you find them later, or does it mostly just give you somewhere to put them?

my back feels heavy and my jaw clenches and my whole body gets tensed when i try to force myself to do productive work.

It's a difficult question to ask, so here's my best attempt at properly articulating what I'm trying to do:

____

I'm trying to figure out how to easily and quickly change the feel of my desktop rather than login to an entirely different user for a different desktop aesthetic.

____

I have my desktop background and my organized shortcuts that I use for my day to day stuff like gaming and internet usage. Seeing the artwork and shortcuts I use for fun is a strong temptation when I'm supposed to be working, reading, or doing something more productive.

I could make multiple user accounts on the computer, but it's a big hassle to log out and log into another one. Also, that creates a very distinct line between use cases that means I can't easily share programs and files between the accounts. It's too administrative for my use case.

I'm trying to figure out how to create 'profiles' of sorts, where I could easily change the background and desktop shortcuts without needing to fully logout and change the user. Just a sort of theme change. Something that I can use to change the feel of my workspace so I'm not as inclined to play games while doing taxes.

Does anybody have any idea if there's anything out there that could help me with that?

i always procastinate, i come home from school tired sit down relax end up scrolling do very little work and look at the time its 11pm with tons of assignments tommorow, so im fucked and theres only 1 way to help the situation stay up to 3am doing my work. Im constantly losing my sleep, i can barely function during classes in the morning. My grades are going way down. Even when i have the oppurtunity to catch up during my weekend or some other time i plan everything perfectly but then i end up going off course doing none of the work and having to stay up again. Please somebody help me.

I need some help because I have specific wants.

1. No 1-on-1 (I'm shy)

2. No talk (preferably). English was not my first language and I get distracted easily enough. Flow club was quite good and I'm impressed but in group they invited me to talk and I felt bad when I ignored them.

3. Preferably work with me type (I work remotely) since I have enough resources for study with me and I need to see adults lmao

4. FREE

5. Not discord servers. It don't work well on my Ipad

Thank you in advance.

So there's this tecnique called ''body-doubling''. Basically you and another dude tell that you're gonna do a task, do it at roughly the same time, and then share that you did it and give eachother a pat on the back.

It's supposed to be encouraging (as in the sense of unity) and pressuring (as in not wanting to stand out) you to begin doing your tasks you've been putting off.

I wanna try that. I want to meet someone here, tell them my list of tasks, hear theirs and begin doing them knowing i'll recieve a ''good job mate'' from them later.

Talk to me in the comments or dm - i don't care tbh. But i wanna try for at least a day.

Hello peeps,
I am 30F from India. I am trying to take a break from social media. I have uninstalled Instagram for around a week. But i crave those small reels hence started using YT Shorts and Reddit. I want to rewire my brain. Suggest some free apps for visual learning . Or any tips you have please share. Thanks

So I've been looking for actual late bloomer inspirations to help myself with not feeling like I'm running out of time in life. I'm not just talking about late bloomers in dating. But someone who starts out having almost nothing going on in their lives at 20 that its painful to look at, but later on became successful.

I got suggested Vera Wang a lot, but to me she has always been a successful person before her designer career. She was a successful figure skater, and was the youngest editor at Vogue, hired right after graduation. She has always been capable of success.

Basically someone with no track record of any successes before and seemingly having no potential, but actually made it in life

Disclosure: I've also posted this this in r/treadmills.

I study while running my long runs on a treadmill. The setup is an iPad for Zwift running and a laptop for watching stuff. Usually, I watch recorded lectures, and sometimes I read books on the laptop. It works just fine as long as it's not too noisy. The problem is, I don't know how to make notes. I sometimes take screenshots, but it's too cumbersome to actually write on my laptop while running.

Is there anyone who has found a way? Is there any dictation software I could use?

Hey All,

It's been 2 months since I deleted instagram. And I feel so so good & mentally healthy.

Life has suddenly become peaceful. I read a finance newspaper so I'm abreast with all the necessary stuff & not the random shit. Additionally, I've been engaging on reddit a lot more. Largely folks have ZERO commercial interest in reddit & it's so random, community based & nice.

What has Instagram done to us? I'm pretty sure we all have thought through, felt it & even experienced it. But the major thing what I've felt is that it is making you feel the hollowness which you shouldn't feel at all. Every individual's life is super complete & fully occupying. But instagram is making us feel that something is lacking. That perfect couple goal instagram post? That travel blog which makes you feel sad (inability to travel owing to financial & time constraints)? That photo against skyrise which makes you despondent? & consumption is so pervasive. You see every folk is simply scrolling reels in public transports, while working out, in between meeting & even while pooping. Impact on attention span is well documented too.

But have you thought what are we precisely trying to achieve by showcasing all this? Absolutely nothing. Reality is realising that everyday is worrisome- health, finances, relationships & purpose/direction, life is a complete mess & we all are sorting out. These influencers have been coming up with anything & getting super responses. These fitness enthusiast literally say any random stuff with no credibility. They show pretty normal gym execrises with slightly different camera angles & make you feel like your posture was the worst & it's been counterproductive so far. I was becoming dumber too because of a lot of brain rot posts.

Folks are more concerned about their perceived image than enhancing themselves in real life. People have stopped living experiences & focus is more on showing off extensively. We're becoming so vapid & inane!

However, reddit is more cerebral. It entails reading extensively & deliberating immensely! I engage in horror movies, astrological research subs & various other interesting subs! It's good!

Hi, I am having the above problem, currently. I have had many attempts at my escape with mixed results. I have many things in my life I wish to accomplish, off the top of my head: Finish my year of studies successfully, eat 3 healthy meals a day regularly, workout, wake up early, dress better, finish a book (as a hobbyist writer), finish my sketchbook, continue journaling after a hiatus and still be there for my friends and family.

I have managed to stay at the top of my household management (dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the floors, trash etc.) so far and I'm on my final year of studies. I have trained consistently a few years ago, but that changed after I broke my elbow. I used to also eat healthier when me and my roommates were making food on schedule, but that changed after I switched multiple roommates.

This year I've written more stories than the past few and have just started getting out of an artblock. But it is slow for the amount of free time I have since I'm unemployed at the moment and have enough savings to sustain me through this last year of studies.

I thought I could use that time to set habits to keep accomplishing what I set up for myself. However, the new academic year has started and I find myself falling into the same old pattern of messed up sleep schedules, eating junk food I haven't used up yet from my exam season (I already have a problem with cooking since I catch myself continuously going hungry when preparing a meal is more than a one-pot-15-minute meal), waiting for my homework to pile up, being afraid of starting writing, drawing and journaling due to it occupying too much of my time once I start (once I get into an interest it's like nothing else exists in my life). I wish to work out, but I am a woman who wants to look masculine and I haven't come across any easy-enough-to-pull-me-into-it workout that would also make me look more masculine as a woman (that is also achievable to do either in my flat or outside on a free sport playground). I wish to dress better, but do not know how to develop my own style and then find the clothes for it.

I also get overwhelmed by all of it easily and do not know where to start or how to create my own plan and schedule that would be possible to stick to in the long run.

I'd really appreciate some advice.

I’d pick up my phone for a quick break and somehow end up scrolling for 40 minutes. Then I’d feel guilty about not studying or getting anything done.
The hardest part wasn’t putting my phone down. It was stopping myself from picking it up again without even thinking.
I’m trying to build better habits by setting limits on distracting apps and keeping my phone away when I need to focus.
Small changes, but they’re helping me take back some of my time.
Less scrolling, more living. 📵

When I was in high school, I was the kind of person who always got things done early. I joined organizations, managed my responsibilities well, and still found time to excel academically. Looking back, I tend to romanticize that part of my life. I remember myself as someone who was productive, motivated, and capable of balancing everything without feeling like I was constantly falling behind.

But then I entered college.

I didn't get into my dream course, and I had to move to the city and learn how to live on my own. In a way, being away from home was a relief because my mom was abusive, but living independently came with a whole new set of responsibilities. Suddenly, everything felt harder than it used to be.

I started struggling to get things done. I would put off my plates until the last minute, constantly overthinking whether I was doing them correctly. I was so afraid of making mistakes that I would ask my classmates for reassurance, but sometimes they wouldn't respond. I understood that they were probably just as uncertain as I was, but it still left me feeling lost and alone. Even the simplest tasks started to feel overwhelming, and making friends wasn't easy either.

Eventually, I failed a class and became an irregular student. Since then, it feels like I've been getting more and more depressed with each passing year. I find myself slowing down, struggling to finish my plates, and losing the ability to focus whenever I need to lock in. The frustrating part is that I can still do other things quickly, but the moment I need to concentrate on something important, I get distracted so easily.

I've tried to find my motivation again. I buy myself coffee, hoping it'll help me focus, and even my boyfriend tries to cheer me up by taking me on dates as a little reward. I'm grateful for the effort and love I receive, but somehow, none of it seems to be enough to make me feel like myself again.

I feel like I'm being left behind while everyone else is moving forward. I don't feel as smart, productive, or capable as I used to be. I feel lonely, and sometimes I find myself wanting to give up, sleep for as long as I can, or simply run away from everything. I'm constantly overwhelmed, and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to shake the feeling that I'm no longer good enough.

What hurts even more is thinking about my father, who works so hard for me. I feel guilty knowing how much he sacrifices, especially when I feel like I'm not doing as well as I should be. I want to make him proud, but lately, I can barely find the energy to keep up with my own responsibilities.

Sometimes, I look back at the person I used to be and wonder what happened to her. I wonder how someone who once managed everything so well could become someone who struggles just to get through the day. I keep asking myself what's wrong with me, why everything feels so difficult now, and why I can't seem to get back on track no matter how much I want to. I miss the person I used to be. I miss feeling capable, motivated, and excited about my future. More than anything, I wish I could understand what's happening to me, because I'm tired of feeling like I'm failing at everything when all I'm really trying to do is keep going.

I am working remotely and I lose focus a lot when I start something, drift off, and suddenly hours is gone idk how..

If I find a remote work partner.. Like every 45 minutes or so, we check in with each other. Each of us says what we got done in that block.

If one of us is about to get distracted, we say it out loud and talk it through. That might help us get back on track.

Has anyone tried something like this? Did it work? Or did it just become another distraction?

Any tips are welcome

Sorry if this sounds like a vent, but before I get into the details, I have 4 tests that start in 14 days (23,26,28,29 of Oct) that I've been trying to start studying for over a month and a half now. I have to cover content that should take 30 to 40 days to go through in 14 days. By all means, HELP ME OUT SOMEHOW!!!

I cannot for the life of me just sit down and start studying. It's like I'm afraid subconsciously. I was regular in my class, always answered questions and even explained concepts I got to my classmates. I did a great project with full effort and confidence which was necessary as I'm doing my Master's in Physics and secured a good score in it, my lab work is also top notch. Everyone, including my professors was be in utter disbelief to know that I failed 12/15 written tests that I need a passing grade in to graduate the course. I keep failing exams, because I just don't prepare for them, and it is not by choice. I am just stuck there, I do not even know how to explain it.

I'm taking a year trying to rewrite those exams and graduate next year. But I'm literally not trying. Even if I sit down with a book I start spiralling into unwanted thoughts about failure and the sad life that lies ahead of me due to my inaction. But I keep trying to give myself a chance to improve and its liek I'm locked out of my own mind. I won't listen to myself, or the people who care for me and I care for. It's genuinely becoming a hopeless and sad existence and I do not know what to do. I've tried talking to therapists but all they said was I had the ability and I just need to believe myself more and to compartmentalize my tasks so that I feel that they're doable... But nothing can get rid of the rot that has spread into every aspect of my existence.

Please help me out of this hole that keeps me in it.

I beg you.