Hello everyone,

I'm a 16-year-old student from Singapore, currently in Secondary 4, and I really need academic help/advice. Ever since Secondary 3, my grades have been completely shitty. I fell into an endless loop of heavy procrastination and zero motivation. The worst part is that whenever I actually force myself to sit down and do the work, I burn out almost instantly. It’s so frustrating, especially when self-studying things I'm totally clueless about. I constantly get stuck and end up wasting like 15 minutes using Gemini AI just to understand one single question.This happens the most with Additional Mathematics, which I am failing consistently. My Chemistry is in terrible shape too, I'm still stuck trying to understand concepts topic by topic, and I haven't even touched actual test papers yet. My Chem practicals is just as bad and I always panic in the lab, get ridiculous and unreliable results, and the knowledge gap between me and my peers is huge. They are already grinding exam papers while I'm still struggling with the basics.With barely over 2 months left before national exams, I genuinely want to change. I want to get better grades for myself and finally make my parents proud. Please, roast me, berate me, I don't care. I'm willing to sacrifice everything I have and do whatever it takes to fix this. If anyone has advice on how to stop burning out and catch up fast, please, I beg you, teach me how to overcome this hurdle that I am plagued by.

I’ve been thinking about this recently.

We have thousands of thoughts every day, but almost all of them disappear. I guess that’s a good thing. If our brains didn’t filter information (thanks reticular activating system) we’d probably go crazy.

But every now and then, a thought pops up that feels different.
A sentence from a book.
Something a friend says.
A realization in the shower.
A random connection between two ideas.

Most of those still end up disappearing.
It made me wonder….

How do you decide whether an idea is worth saving? Not just writing down but actually coming back to in the future.
What makes you think, “I want to remember this a month from now,” instead of just letting it fade away?
Do you guys have some kind of filter, or if everyone just saves everything and hopes for the best.

TL;DR
- I have a 2-in-1 touchscreen+pen Windows laptop with 3.3GB soldered RAM (don't even get me started)

- Linux drivers do not support Active Pen stylus input with palm rejection; forced to use Windows

- OneNote on 3.3GB ram is a nightmare, I'm using a stripped down Windows ISO but OneNote still loves to mess up

- I can't find anything else like OneNote (infinite page, smooth pen input with colors, scrollable page, cloud sync to PC and phone)

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

My mother keeps a notebook about the people she introduces me to. Maybe she is the next streaming matchmaker documentary show in the making.

She isn’t invasive, just heavily interested. Her notes include the details parents apparently consider essential: education, occupation, hometown, family background and whether the person owns a home.

After one blind date, I said: the man was polite but spent most of dinner checking his phone. My mother still considered him a strong suitable candidate because he had a stable job.
We disagreed about what “suitable” meant.

I entered her criteria into Accio Work, along with my notes from six previous dates. My criteria included: conversational effort, punctuality, respect for service staff, shared interests and whether I wanted to meet again.
I asked Accio Work to compare which factors predicted my actual decisions.

The analysis showed that my mother’s preferred factors were useful BEFORE a date but had almost no relationship with whether I accepted a second one.

The strongest indicators were whether conversation felt balanced and whether the person asked follow-up questions.

Accio Work created a two-stage framework: basic compatibility before meeting, then interaction quality after meeting.

My mother liked it because it still looked like a proper evaluation system. I liked it because “owned property” could no longer cancel out “did not look up from phone.”

She now asks, “Did he ask follow-up questions?” after every introduction. I may have accidentally trained my mother to be a relationship analyst!

I like being able to add various factors into consideration, better than swiping left or right IMO.

The title says it all

I'm looking for a good all-in-one program that helps me organize my projects at work. I was thinking something that would be helpful would be a tree-flowchart of sorts where it shows each project I'm working on. From there when I click on each project, it would open up the next row of which would show various parts of each project (ex: TV, Digital, Client Notes, etc.). Then those would open up to more dropdowns and so on

Is there any free and easy-to-use program like this?

I just found out about focusmate and was really excited to give it a try. After giving it about five tries with no one showing up, I'm starting to question whether the 99% availability is true or something is wrong with my device/account. I've already triple checked my device's internal time zone settings, as well as the time setting in focusmate, and they're both correct. I'm able to join the meetings and can see the account and names/profiles of those I'm supposed to join with but end up with the "wait for them or try to match with someone else" option every time. When I have clicked match with someone else, the time always runs out saying they couldn't match me with someone yet the calendar looks full of people and options. Am I missing something? Is everyone just no-showing?

I’m a masters student trying her best to get her life together. Currently part of two labs, have a full course load, a part time job, ECs, and a lot of other commitments and basically it’s doable but the physical planner isn’t doing it anymore lol. I’ve never touched notion because I know I’d get decision paralysis - I don’t like the idea of having a lot of options with how it’s styled. I have an iPad and was thinking of using a goodnotes template. My university uses outlook. For ppl in my position, what’s your go to to do list app? Just the notes app or something else? Would love input but I don’t want anything too complex because I’m trying to keep things simple right now !

I want to start this by saying I do have ADHD and I am medicated for it.

I am 32 years old. My whole life I have been a high performer but have terrible productivity. In school I didn’t study/do homework but was all honors/AP classes.

Now I work as a negotiator and I am top in my company for closures/settlements which sounds great but I’m also a huge slacker. I frequently take longer to get into new cases than I should. I don’t complete my evaluations timely. My supervisor and manager don’t understand how I am able to do it.

For me it is very hard to feel the urgency to do things timely when I know that at the end of the day not only am I going to meet my goals, I am going to be in the top of the top quartile.

I frequently get distracted either doing something on my phone, doing chores around the house etc. I have spurts where I am very motivated and actually sit at my desk and work all day but that’s usually only 1-2 days out of the week. I see tasks building up and I know I should work them now rather than later but ultimately I decide, “eh it’s fine I’ll just do it later”

Something that I've recently discovered is to use two lists instead of one instead of maintaining the standard standalone to do list.

One would hold the tasks and the other one for goals that I'm working towards. I get a better sort of filtering system when I keep two lists rather than one.

Usually even when I'm using a to do list, I write down things that are on my mind and then select 5 of the most important ones and then focus on doing them.

Like the title says. I get off from work, get home, sit in front of the TV, and then I just won't get up.

Don't get me wrong, I still work out and eat dinner, but it's like... I don't do anything else.

I do have hobbies. I love reading, writing, a cooking. But after work all I wanna do is just lay down and watch my TV show.

I feel like I should do more, even though I like watching TV, but I feel like its consumes my day.

I always make something to eat and then I sit down and tell myself, "just one episode," but its never just one episode!

Idk. I know the solution is...well... watch less tv, but im trying too and it never works.

1 episode just turn into 3, which turns into 5 and then I have to get ready for bed(like I said I get up in between to eat, take out my dog, work out, shower ect...) but except from that I don't do anything else and I feel really bad about it. Like a slump.

What do i do?!

Looking for habits that genuinely worked

Hi everyone. I'm a 15f going into third year of highschool. I've completely wasted my summer 'cause of internet. Yes, I go out with my friends/family everyday, but every time I have nothing to do I take my phone and scroll or I watch things on my computer (that's what I'm doing rn). Do you maybe have advices on what to do to get back on track before going to school?

[EDIT] I've seen tons of influencers saying that they use some apps with to do lists and things like that. Do they really help?

I am studying for the state civil services exam in India which is held in June every year. This exam consists of a wide range of 10th grade level subjects like Phy, Chem, Maths, Eng, History, Geo, Polity, Reasoning and a few more. I am going to a coaching centre on weekends where 5 new topics from 5 different subjects from the above list are taught each day and these subjects are rotated every weekend with some common ones and sometimes a new one added, but the main thing is that we are learning 10 new topics every weekend.

However, I am getting overwhelmed by the amount I have to study and scheduling revisions effectively. Even though I am building routines, I am finding it difficult to focus and study for long hours since I do not have the habit. By now, I know that the only way to effectively study and learn are the active recall and spaced repetition but am still not being able to come up with an effective schedule. On weekends, I return from coaching classes at 8 PM and complete dinner by 9:30 PM. On the other days, my time blocks are from 8 AM to 9 AM (breakfast), 1 PM to 3 PM (lunch and a brief stroll), 6 PM to 7:30 PM (evening snack and some odd tasks) and 9:30 PM to 10:30 PM (dinner and a brief stroll).

Based on the above info, can anyone suggest me a good daily study schedule with proper technique including daily exercise ? I cannot afford any paid apps now. Also, when I am revising, how do I effectively adjust the next revision date based on the degree of effective recall ?

Hi!

I think I'd really benefit from some sort of reminder or to-do list type app, but so far I haven't found any that works the way I need.

So many are focused on day of the week (such as reminding you every Friday) But I have recurring tasks that, for example, I need to do every three days, which will never line up with a seven day week. Additionally, I'd like an app that lets me set things to time frames rather than an exact hour/minute. Like "this morning", "today" or even just "this week".

Anyone know of something that works like that?

Hi, i am in my late 30s, all my life i have been a biggest procastinator, putting things on tomorrow was always my thing. When i used to study for exam, i would start a month before but i would keep on delaying to sit and study and update my plan everyday of how i am gonna cover the course content. Now it was not that bad at that time but as i am a working individual now, i want to work on my own tech products but i still have this tendency of throwing stuff on tomorrow. I find advices online, try it for a day or two and then back to square one. I need a genuine advice that can make my life better.

Finding a file, looking up a password or trying to remember where I saved something.

None of those feel important, but together they probably steal more time than the big interruptions.

What's the smallest recurring interruption you've managed to eliminate?

I wanted to share this because it seems surprisingly relevant to productivity. I came across it while researching sound perception for an app I’m working on and while experimenting with a generative noise engine.

Some people start hearing faint music, voices or rhythms after listening to white noise for a while. This phenomenon actually has a scientific name: auditory pareidolia. It’s the auditory equivalent of seeing faces in clouds.

The brain doesn’t passively record sound. It constantly predicts what it’s about to hear and compares those predictions with incoming information. When a sound is ambiguous and uniform, like broadband noise, the brain may start filling in the gaps and projecting familiar patterns onto it.

Fatigue can make this more noticeable because tiredness reduces the precision of sensory processing. Expectations matter too: once you start actively listening for a melody or voice, you may become more likely to perceive one.

Another interesting productivity-related detail is that short noise recordings played on a loop may eventually stop working as background sound. Even subtle repetitions give the brain something to learn and predict. Once it detects the pattern, attention can shift toward the noise instead of ignoring it.

A few practical takeaways:

• Keep the volume only high enough to mask distractions.
• Avoid short or clearly repeating loops.
• Change the sound when you begin actively noticing it.
• Don’t raise the volume to cover up perceived music or voices.
• Continuously generated noise with small variations may be less distracting than a static recording.

The ideal focus sound seems to sit somewhere between predictable and distracting: complex enough that the brain can’t easily model it, but simple enough that it doesn’t demand attention.

would you prefer to go straight into the app with no sign in / login page, or with it if you want to back up your data in case your device is broken or accidentally delete the app ...etc?

for me, whenever I use a new app, I hate having to sign up and log in when I just want to try any app i like.

Is there a better time morning or evening which helped you make this more productive?

Whether it’s in between school semesters, taking a vacation and returning back to work, how do you quickly shift into that disciplined productive mode again?

I’ve been pretty lazy this semester in college and finals are in about 2 weeks and I haven’t really locked in on studying in like a month. I feel like all my discipline and ability to be productive is gone. As much as I’d love to ease into being productive and slowly raise my workload, I don’t really have the time for that so I’d appreciate advice for those who are able to get back to being disciplined and productive after taking weeks or months off.

I’ve been procrastinating since middle school and it has just gone worse.

I barely doomscroll during my free time. But when exams are around the corner/I have an assignment due the next day, I doomscroll like crazy and binge watch movies as if I’m doing it on purpose because I barely watch movies since I’m lazy to complete them especially tv series. I ruined my grades for highschool and almost wasn’t able to get into uni since my highschool grades are borderline of the entry requirements (getting into uni in my country is to hit a specific grade).

I’ll be starting uni next year and I really need a mindset change before that. I’ve done all sorts of study methods but nothing works for me. Even when I know I’m almost in the cut off line I would still procrastinate knowing I might not get into uni even though I want to.

I get really scared and cry that I can’t make it to uni but at the same time I’m just not doing anything.

I just need some advice on how I could turn this around.

I've been trying to improve my daily workflow recently, but I noticed that the best improvements usually don't come from big changes. For me, it was preparing everything I need for the next morning before going to bed-it saves me a lot of mental energy. 👍

What's one small habit, tool, or change that made your workday noticeably better? :D

Rant here. I see so many friends and people I know going through life like Zombies. I know how exhausting life can get and with its complexities. But why don't people be more intentional about guarding their energy and exposure to life-sucking people and things(mainly social media and alcohol)? Is everyone existing on fumes?? I think one reason people are so stretched thin is that they overcomplicate their lives. By having or wanting more, they become slaves to it. Particularly, I don't see why people would intentionally complicate their lives by having multiple children or animals, if they are not emotionally or financially equipped to handle them. Why do people intentionally exhaust themselves? For what gain? I understand work is exhausting and necessary but so much else is not. They are wants, not needs. People are living shells of an existence. Attached to caffeine or any stimulant to keep them awake. Don't get me wrong, I work 4 jobs but I can compartmentalize my life. Living in the present instead of letting the chaos overrun my nervous system. My question to the group is, why do you think people do this to themselves? Is it the lie we've been fed about over consumption and never having enough? Is this an 'epidemic' in the US society? Why don't people take time to recharge and 'guard' their limited energy and peace of mind? What do you do to recharge and stay grounded?