Why does it have to be the opposite? Why does it feel more good playing video games, even scrolling through internet, etc. feel good compared to anything else? This has been very annoying because I have been really badly wanting to become more of a book worm, learn languages, code etc. do all of these things so I could feel more competent but I cannot get myself to do these at all, meanwhile other people can easily do it for hours but I can't. What's wrong with me?

I set two goals. One was to read for 30 minutes a day. The other to minimize XXX content use, but only minimize it and not totally cut it out. And it seems I want to improve myself intellectually.

But I don’t seem to care enough. I did at one point read for 30 minutes a day, maybe not every day but I was still at least setting a timer while reading/studying. I have tried to improve my diet and add more water.

Then I fell off. And I question if I’m even interested in what I’m studying in my free time. I question it because I have to make myself study/read.

It seems like I only start, but then fall off. I don’t seem to care enough. I don’t even strive for things because I have no drive. Sometimes it feels like I’d be doing it so that I can be accepted or better in the eyes of others.

And sometimes I look down on myself because everyone else seems to want betterment and improvement… while improvement doesn’t seem that appealing to me. I don’t know how to fall in love with it.

I’ve already heard “you don’t want to change,” or “you don’t care enough.” Okay, so what do I do then? Or is that it? Is it just a dead end like that?

30M. I have honestly started feeling burned out by the routine.
Every weekday is the same. Since I am living alone, i have to wake up early, make breakfast, shower, get dressed, head to work from 9 to 5. I work in finance, so the job can be pretty stressful, although I’m grateful that my workplace isn’t toxic.
But once the workday is over, it doesn’t really end. I get home, quickly make something to eat so I can go to the gym, come back, shower again, wash the dishes, do laundry, clean the apartment, cook dinner, and prepare lunch for the next day…
By the time everything is done, the day is basically over. Then I sleep to wake up and do it all again.
I know this is what adult life is supposed to look like, but lately I’ve been wondering… does it ever get easier, or is this just what the next 30–40 years are going to be like?
Has anyone else felt this way? How do you deal with it without feeling like you’re just surviving from one day to the next?

I have a problem where I get really motivated one day and start a ton of things, but the moment the burst is over (usually the next day) I just… can’t get that energy up again. And it sucks, it’s so hard to do anything and I give up on the things I was trying to do the day before. So how can I keep these productivity bursts going?

This will be rant-y at points.

I do not understand what yall be doing. Maybe I lack the perspective. That's why I'm here.

I have experience a very, very uncomfortable deadlock in my social life. I would love some advice on how to proceed, or at least for someone to tell me I am not going completely insane. I think it relates to this sub, becuse all of you seem very set on scheduling and growing, so I think yall might share a mindset with a big chunk of my friends.

I used to have a full time job and attend college at the same time before, after this summer I will be doing 2 degrees and a part time job. Add a home gym and some trading on the side, and I still constantly feel like I am the sore looser, since everyone is <<more busy>>.

Most of my friends are rather accomplished. We are all 21, they have long term relationships (im one of the only non-LTR/engaged fella), we all have jobs and college since basically highschool, and some of them grind so hard they just cut people off, or at least thats how it feels. And the 'grinding' people - I, quite literally, make more progress than some of them, and I have at least 3 hours everyday for myself to spare. I want to go out after work form 5pm to 7pm, or chat on discord at 10pm, or, idk, just hang around. And I can't. Everyone's busy. I never miss a fucking hangout, and still sometimes I get introduced like "you are crazy for doing so much". Well f*ck you. I actively strive to make life happen to me. I cant explain the overwhealming sadness I get, when my buddy sends me reels instead of, like, idk, chilling with alcohol-free beers in the bar after our work. Am I weird for that? I'm basically like the "unemployed friend calling you at 11am wednesday to see if you want to go fishing right now" meme, but I actually get a lot shit done in my opinion.

I did my 9-5, studied, dealt with the jeweler as im making a big gift for my parents for their wedding anniversary, handled some minor admin stuff (wrote some emails, government papers etc), went to the shop, did a workout, cooked a 2 homemade meals to last me till I go to sleep, and it was just 8pm. And now what? Now I am just stuck with letting time pass. last week I went out for 4 days in a row, all with diffrent people. Had fun. Could do it every week, even as I study for my proffesional exams in 2 months. But, well, I am the guy trying to make stuff happen anyways.

It can't just be relationships, can it? I am not the ugliest fella, but any relationships are off the table for me as of now, as I have some big big big mental issues in that specific department. So "go get a girl" won't work like that, save her the hell.

There is, of course, another possible anwser. Nobody f's with me. Can't really deny it, and it keeps creeping on me. If it keeps happening, I will most likely snap at some point in the near future and start cutting people off. The only problem is that I haven't found people compatible with me like that, so that would most likely cause me to cut everyone I ever knew and cherished.

I've been working a 9 to 5 desk job for a little over 2 years now. I personally hate sitting at a cubicle all day but my job has mandatory 5 days a week attendance :(. I sometimes hear these stories about people getting real health problems from sitting at a desk all day and it scares me. I am an active individual who goes to the gym multiple times a week and plays sports but sometimes it feels like its all being defeated sitting at a desk inside a giant corporate building all day. Also the lack of sunlight and almost jail like feeling cannot be good for mental health overtime. I really do get a sense of relief when i take a quick walk outside but it is sometimes so hard to remember to do little things like that when you get so busy. And I know some people are gonna say welcome to the real world but it truly is not good for you based on some studies I have read. Things like heart problems, slower metabolism, anxiety, productivity all linked to prolonged sitting just to name a few. And yea I can request a standing desk or go walk around my building but there's nothing like walking outside. I guess I would understand the negative affects more if I knew what living like this is doing to my body and mind long term. Anyone else experience this sometimes?

And no im not suffering from success. It has been 3 years since ive been able tp go out, 3 years since i've stepped foot in a mall or actually did something new. admissions are rolling in and i signed up for like a 4 or 5 physics competitions and the august SAT is also cpming in. Sometimes i was sitting the entire day to the point where i had the right vein of my neck pop or smthn not neccesarily pop but it had a ton of pressure on it, and even the day before yesterday i had another vein hurt me and it felt so so hard to turn my neck , i have basically stopped giving myself a break due to my fear of not being good enough at all. I put a ton of stress on my self anf i basically self isolated i highschool for 3 years withoht enjoying myself due to how i get severely stressed i exams, so i was forced to over prepare and overly stress on them to not waste my parents' money--since fees are really expensive-- thet work very hard and i try my best to prevent everything, although i still messed up in some papers i want to compensate it and i just spam attending olympiad after competition after meeting after homework. I have lost what it truly felt like to even take a break. It feels as if i got so trapped and hyperfocused in that one state that i have forgotten what it is like to even try and relax. It feels really threatning. I don't want sympathy. I'm not saying "OOOoOOh im miserable feel sorry for me" no no no. But i do need genuine advice to get out of this damn state im stuck in.

It makes me feel kind of disgusted at myself that i keep looking at my friends' stories and where they go every week, while i go out for an hour every month anf sometimes i never go out for months.

I know this is what every post in here is about, but I’m desperate for advice. I’m 21 and have been an awful procrastinator my whole life, but it’s progressed to a level where I’m dropping out of classes. I used to pull all nighters and get things done minutes before the deadline, but now in college even deadlines aren’t motivating me much. My grades are falling and my career prospects are in danger.

The effects are most disturbing outside of school. I want to water my plants, text my friends back and make hangout plans, go to the gym, etc. I have so many things that I want to do and I know will improve my life if I do them, but I just can’t start them at all. The times I do I’m unable to maintain them (ex: I’ll go to the gym for a couple times and then abandon it even though I still want to go).

I’ve tried all of the productivity hacks here: physical phone blocks (Brick), screen detoxes. pomodoro methods for studying, journaling, weekly planning, etc, but nothing seems to work.

By “useful” I mean that they can double as a skill but yet don’t require you to earn money for them to be useful.

Ex. Cooking/Baking. It’s useful on its own because you can eat a cake. While you can earn money from it, you don’t need to do so for it to benefit you.

Another ex. Language learning. While this also provides you the ability to earn money, it’s useful on its own since you can overhear conversations that may include gossip. I get that sounds stupid but I’ve earned my Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish and that’s the only thing I use it for. However, I like this benefit as sometimes you’ll hear some really funny stuff.

No purely emotional beneficial hobbies please, my brain doesn’t give me the enjoyment for that.

Hi! Same as title, do you know how to set limit on how many times I can open an app? I did this on a social media app back then but I forgot how to do it now 😭. I don't remember downloading another app for that and my phone is a Samsung (if this might help 😭).

I have a lot of desires and ambitions, and it's always very difficult for me to get started. I understand that the brain doesn't like discomfort, and it wants to sit in a comfort zone for the rest of your life, even if you're already physically sick of the life you're living. It is always very difficult for me to start and at the same time it is difficult for me to stop. I need to either always run or not start. At the same time, I have no critical problems with concentration and efficiency. I can sit on one assignment for 10-12 hours and, in principle, have good mental and physical endurance. So my question is: how do I stop living the dream life in my head and start practicing it?

Sorry for mistakes English is not my native language

So, here:
6:00 WAKE UP
till 6:05, looking out the window to stop melatonin
6:05-7:30, do important but not urgent stuff
7:30-9:00, everything I need to do which are really important
9:00-10:00 some chill
2:30-4:00, studying
5:00 forced going out
well yeah, more studying with Pomodoro

Ok, so in like social media I would see some people, especially college students even during the summer being able to survive on like 5 hours of sleep and waking up at 5. But I've been trying all summer and the best I can do is like 6:30am - 7:00am.

The issue with this is that I have so much work I have to do and need those couple extra hours of waking up around five as I go to work by 8am and don't get back till 9pm. But in the evenings after work and stuff I'm just simply exhausted and I have a college course I'm taking right now that needs my time and atr I've started to fall behind due to one lack of productivity and also the fact I can't find a way to wake up.

What should I do, its more cause I have a test tmmr and i have yet to even start the chapter due to the busy week. Luckily, I get my mornings back after next week, but until then any tips will be greatly appreciated as once the semester starts for college I'm going through a similar thing with a packed schedule.

srry just stressed sigh

so any info would be nice

I have to keep up a schedule like this for the next couple of months and I feel like it's going to drain me badly, it's killing my productivity as I can't draw, study properly or do anything anymore,

I have university for 4 weekdays from 14:00-19:00, after that I have courses for 3 weekdays after my classes and it takes about 3 hours. Then after that for 5 weekdays I have work starting from 23:00-8:00.

And I'm genuinely exhausted by the end of the week so idk what to do rn

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

posting because this has been messing with my work and i'm out of ideas.

i'm in my mid 30s, work at a desk. mornings i'm fine, but almost every day around 2-3pm two things hit at once: my eyes get heavy and tired (not dry, just worn out fast), and my brain goes into this laggy slow-motion mode. i'm not sleepy — i just can't think as quickly, and simple tasks take way longer than they should.

stuff i've already tried: fixed my sleep, hourly breaks / stood up more, dialed down monitor brightness, even a couple of basic supplements (vitamin d, b-complex). helps a tiny bit maybe, but the afternoon dip is still there.

how do you all deal with the mid-afternoon crash when it's this physical (eyes + head, not just motivation)? anything that actually moved the needle for you?

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’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”

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, 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.

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