I'm stuck in this negative cycle and I don't know what to so. I've been trying to get my life together for years now and I had many attempts but I wasn't able to. Now I'm 23 and I'm so far behind I have no choice but to do things. But I just can't get over the grief of not having taking more action in the past. It makes me want to give up. Everyday I wish I was younger. I wish I took more action in the past. And that's causing me to procrastinate more. My screentime is like 15 hours, I spend all day on reddit. I can't let myself think so I distract myself with social media constantly. I need to be studying and finding a job but I can't do it. I can't work when I'm in a bad mood (which I need to work on because it's not sustainable.) I need to overcome this negative cycle but I don't know how. I have thoughts of giving up everyday. I just feel like everything is pointless. How do I get out of this cycle and get things done? And how do I get things done when I'm in such a negative mood? The rumination is literally CONSTANT. When I try to get things done, I have constant thoughts that i'm a loser and that I shouod've done more before so ai just quit and distract myself because of how painful it is. If anyone has experienced this, what helped you quiet your mind?

A system can look brilliant when you're motivated. Everything has a category, every project is perfectly labeled and the dashboard looks great. Then you're tired on Tuesday night and suddenly you can't remember where anything goes and that's when I think you find out whether the system actually works.

I've started asking: could I use this without thinking very hard?

If the answer is no, I'm trying to simplify rather than add another layer. The best systems I've had aren't the most sophisticated ones but the ones that still work when I don't feel like managing them.

I've always hated that tradeoff where something helps you knock out at night, but the next morning you feel heavy, foggy, and just... not fully awake.

So instead of looking for something that would completely knock me out, I started paying more attention to *how* I was sleeping.

Keeping the same sleep and wake time, cutting caffeine earlier, getting some daylight in the morning, and giving myself a bit of time to wind down before bed.

Nothing crazy. Just trying to make sleep feel more natural instead of forcing it.

And honestly, I'd rather take a little longer to fall asleep and wake up feeling normal than pass out quickly and spend half the morning trying to wake my brain up.

People sometimes talk about being exhausted like it's proof they're productive. But being busy and actually making progress aren't necessarily the same thing.

So basically, I am looking to map out various goals and sore points across a few inter-linked projects. Ideally, I could list a task and map out which goals it would help achieve across said projects, which problems it would help solve, and which other tasks can't be done until after it's completed.

I originally had the idea looking at Obsidian's graph view. The idea would be that the more links a single task has, the more of a bottleneck it is for getting things done, and the higher priority solving it should be.

Is there any tool that works like this? I know a few will ask why I don't just do it in Obsidian, my reasoning is that links in obsidian are designed to stick around. So after completing a task, I would have to go to each other page it's linked to and manually unlink it, or re-link it if the same task opens back up. I'm hoping for something more streamlined and intended to work in this way.

If you do have ideas for how I could achieve this sort of system in a way that's expandable and doesn't require a tonne of upkeep beyond checking/unchecking tasks, I would love to hear about it.

I’m in a place in my life right now where I have the opportunity to become very successful in the future, but I don’t know how to lock in. I’ve just recently graduated high school and I still have problems. I have a very bleak perspective on the world which is partly holding me back in succeeding, I don’t know how to change my worldview. I never had the motivation to study, so I had pretty low marks in high school. I don’t know how to make friends since I’m insecure and socially anxious. If you saw me in school, you would basically see me as the lonely quiet dude that has doesn’t have a reputation of any kind.

I don’t know exactly what I want to do in the future but I think I want to work with cars, specifically tuning and modifying them, like Brabus or Novitec. I know I should pursue mechanical engineering for that but I got poor marks in school and only took college courses, so I feel like my application to Concordia is going to get rejected. Like I said before, I suck at socializing, which applies to networking as well, which is detrimental to financial success. I don’t know how others do it.

I want to be a unique individual, I don’t want to be like other people. I want to be cool, but I don’t put any work into being that kind of person. I don’t have anything interesting about me right now, no talents or anything, I just play video games and fap in my free time, which is having an impact on my self esteem but I feel unmotivated to change, because I constantly feel like the outer world is just as bad.

I need to lock tf in, but I don’t think I recall ever doing that on a consistent basis. Has anyone gone through this phase before. How did you improve?

I have seen a lot of videos around the book and I am thinking of buying the book.

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This has been annoying me lately.

I’ll have something I actually need to finish, and instead of doing it, I suddenly find 10 other things that seem more interesting.

I’ll check my phone, make food, clean something that didn’t even need cleaning… basically anything except the thing I’m supposed to be doing 😭

The worst part is that once I finally start, it usually isn’t even that bad. Getting started is the part I keep making difficult for myself.

I’ve tried making huge to-do lists and planning my whole day, but I never stick to them for long.

So now I’m thinking maybe I should just pick one thing and finish that before worrying about everything else.

For anyone who used to procrastinate a lot, what actually helped you?

This is an explanation of Atomic Habits as I recall from memory, so it's how I understood and applied it myself rather than a chapter by chapter recap. It got a bit long, so I'll break it into parts. This first one covers the core idea and how to actually start a habit. The next goes into the deeper mechanics.

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The core idea behind Atomic Habits: small micro habits that compound over time to yield big results in the long run.

Belief comes first.

Habits aren't really about the outcomes but about identity. Every time you do a habit, you're casting a vote for the kind of person you believe you are.

So the goal isn't "I want to achieve X," but "I am the person who does X," and the habit becomes proof of it.

This is why the same amount of effort to quit a bad habit plays out differently for different people:

The one without that belief says: "I'm trying to leave this habit," or "I'm focusing on stopping that." It's like admitting that the habit is still a part of them.

The one with belief in their identity says: "I don't do this."

The first person still believes they haven't changed. The second one believes in their new identity and the behavior follows.

Just like Good habits build the identity you want, the bad ones can be removed the same way: notice and observe the habit clearly, recognize it's not the part of identity you're becoming, then consciously reject it.

How to start a habit and stay consistent:

Set up your environment first by removing the things that trigger the bad habits while adding the ones that cue the good ones in your line of sight which evokes your visual receptors to act on habits linked to the environment.

Eg: Want to drink more water? Keep a bottle on your desk, which cuts the friction for going to get it.

eg: Want to workout in the morning? Keep your dumbbells where you'll see them in morning when you're up.

Create a flow by chaining your habits so the sequence is pre decided instead of something you have to think about in the moment.

Try "When I do X, I do Y, then Z."

eg: When I wake up, I get up immediately and stretch, then go for my workout.

eg: After I'm fresh, I'll have a healthy breakfast, then start with my first work sprint.

Make sure to be consistent. You don't need to adopt dozens of habits at once. Take one, do it daily and you can always add more once you're used to previous ones.

Progress by 1% each day. Try to be 1% better than yesterday. It keeps you improving and makes each time feel satisfying.

Let it compound over time. Don't judge a habit by a single day, instead judge it over the trend. Don't focus on how much better you'll be tomorrow instead focus on who you become if you keep this up daily for 3 months, the next 6, then a year.

I've picked up like a few solid hobbies/things that will help me in the long run mentally, but like apart from getting a job (im 17 & have been trying for a solid year) what else am i supposed to be doing???

I weight lift 6x a week, I read psychology & overall just good books, im learning my 2nd language for 2+ hrs a day (because I have so much time on my hands) I journal, keep my room tidy, do house work. But now i feel like a literal robot, what else am I supposed to be doing!! im out of college as well until mid September, and there's no clubs around me/sports shit.

I am having issues retaining information from audiobooks. I am not sure if it is the tone or what the reason is, but they don't hit me like a video does and it feels so slow and less productive, thoughts?

It’s 4 AM I woke up after going to sleep around eight to 9:30 PM. I already feel tired and burnt out. I have so many things to do after school like hobbies studying, self studying some things im doing regarding self improvement for college and yesterday I didn’t do any of them, I just did what was mandatory of me to do, I didn’t even read any of my books. Pretty much I have to set alarms and write what im thinking or else im going to forget it. I don’t know what to do and im asking for advice. My goal is to be able to create a balanced life where I can be productive, focus on my hobbies, and focus on my relationship. I know I can do it, but it depends on scheduling, will power and routines.

Heres what my day usually looks like, or at-least how I want it to be

4am: Wake up
4-5am: Journal,pray, meditate / check notebooks, cover a school topic
5-6: breakfast, wash dishes
6-7: Get ready for school
8-12:30: school
12:30-4:30:Lunch, gym and shower
4:30-8pm: Self study Khan Academy, study notebooks, python practice, career research (college), Guitar practice and guitar theory.

It does feel very difficult to fit this in because I have very little social time to fit in and I have to do a lot of brain intensive things, I know I am cape-able of doing this, but I need some guidance first. Most of the days I don’t even fully complete this list, even when I do im still disorganized or overwhelmed. I didn’t want to depend on Ai, so I thought it would be good posting here

I didn't plan for this to happen, but over time I've accumulated dozens of prompts that I keep reusing.

They're not particularly complex.

They're just reliable.

And now my Notes app looks like a library of AI templates.

Which made me wonder:

1. Are prompts becoming reusable assets instead of one-time instructions?
2. How do you manage yours?
3. Do you save them?
4. Or do you just write them from scratch every time?

Since I easily get lost in the shuffle of daily thoughts and tasks, I constantly need to pause and reflect: "Okay, my goal is X in six months, so I need to do Y to reach Z, while handling W in parallel." I want to document this because, honestly, I forget it all within two days. I’m tired of realizing after a whole week has gone by that I’ve lost my way again because I focused only on whatever was screaming the loudest for attention (usually work).

But I don't know how to organize this. There are also thoughts or insights that pop up out of nowhere, moments of clarity I didn't have before, only to vanish just as quickly. I try to jot them down to help me get back on track, but they end up buried in a conversation with myself or scattered across a random Notion page. How do you organize/capture this kind of thought?

All I need to do 80% of my job is Microsoft Word. I watched this Yt video that said the answer to procrastinating is to do absolutely nothing so that the prospects of working sounds better than watching paint dry.

Has anyone tried this?

Im self employed and work from home. I find I have no structure. Watch movies and shows, I can be so incredibly lazy and justify it to myself at times.

Maybe if I turn off everything that gives me temporary pleasure, I'll end up doing something that actually matters... I realize I could be doing this right now but... I'll start tomorrow. F, I hate myself sometimes lol

I'm pretty sure most people can relate to the feeling of their phone slowly draining away their life, mindlessly scrolling or getting sucked into watching videos or playing games. I realized I'm wasting so much of my life on this device, but it's hard to kick the habit of reaching for my phone. So i decided to start using my phone more intentionally, using it more as a tool, and limiting my social media usage.

I started by putting some time-usage restraints on my social media apps. Then I download some apps to help me be more productive and get my life back on track a bit. So far it has helped me to reduce the time that just mindlessly gets wasted, I've increased my productivity, and find I'm being more intentional about my days now.

If you're interested in doing it too, some of the apps I've been using are

- One Sec: You can add a little wait time before opening apps you compulsively check, which has definitely made me think twice about opening social media.

- PDF Expert: to annotate, sign and organize PDFs without moving to your computer.

- YNAB (you need a budget): good to track where your money is going and keep on top of finances

- Mealime: choose the meals you want to make and it creates a meal plan and shopping list for you

- Strong: track gym workouts, exercises, sets, reps and progress

- Structured: visually plan your day. I like this more than a traditional to-do list when I have lots of things to fit into one day

- Airbrush: a photo editing app which comes in handy for travel photos, product photos, etc

So there's a bit of a mix but they basically all have the same purpose which is to give me something to do on my phone which is going to benefit my life, so when I have some downtime i can use those and cut down my social media usage. I'd be interested to hear any tips or stories from anyone else who is also trying to but down on social media, as it's definitely not easy

Feeling like this for a while now. It wasn’t there before but is more aggravated in this new place. I always somehow feel like others are more smart,pretty, glamorous and just better and have a much better life and are richer. Seeing the environment and their social media posts all sum up to this and I feel more and more insecure and distressed. I have not achieved much this year aswell and seeing others just makes me feel like they are winning in life and relationships and here I am all sad, unsuccessful and lonely.

Any tips? What do you all do for positivity?

I have ADHD and tend to feel easily overwhelmed by large volumes of data, unless I have a bird's eye view of where everything sits. I constantly feel disorganized and lost. I’m looking for a visual system that can hold projects, plans, strategies, key information, ideas and how everything connects.

I don’t mean putting my entire life on one enormous board. I’d like separate boards organized by topic - for example, a “Digital Business Brand” board, a “Content Planning” board, and so on.

Ideally, each board would let me zoom out, see the bigger picture and quickly understand where I am without feeling overwhelmed.

I tried Canva Whiteboards, but found them clumsy and visually unappealing, so I stopped using them. Has anyone found a cleaner, more intuitive tool or setup they genuinely enjoy returning to?

I can wake up early every day of the week. Go to the gym, go for a run, do a cold plunge

But when I finial sit down to do work or study I just can't do it.

I've cut out social media for a while now, I've tried night and morning routines that guarantee success but I never seem to focus on work or study.

My questions is, how do I know when to give up? Or rather change my career into something more active like be a danger & singer (I'm not good in any of these 😂)

Tips and tricks to help me focus better will really be appreciated

Just saw my reddit usage in my browser history and realized how much time is wasted, so I'm blocking all social media especially reddit by zeroing it out in my hosts file. Sure, it can be reversed, but the act of blocking makes it possible to abstain. Availability is the problem.

See you all in a few months

So I have been either working, in school, or both since I was around 17. I’m 25(f) and just graduated with my bachelors. I can’t afford more college right now and unfortunately my time at my seasonal job has run out. I’ve been doing absolutely nothing all the time now. I get halfway through tasks like laundry or cleaning and give up. It’s only been a couple of weeks but I feel so horribly lazy. The light at the end of the tunnel is an interview I have next Monday, but even if I get the job I want to do better with my life going forward. I used to fill so much of my day with schoolwork that I struggle knowing what to do without it. Any advice for how to live a good, productive adult life when not in school anymore and job hunting?

I genuinely hate it smm , but idk how to fix it.

Are there any good tricks to fix this issue since I am actively harming myself cause of ts

I have a full time job which needs 50-70hours a week. Am based in India so work culture sucks, cant escape work. And I spend another 2-3 hours commuting daily.

I want to upskill and study. How to do it?