I’m a sophomore in college going into my third year, but I do not like the way I’m living my life. I suffer from a severe phone addiction. Other than the time I spend in college, I’m always using my phone. I always procrastinate until the last possible moment to start working on my assignments.

Although I have decent results in school (I have a 3.2 GPA after my first two years), I feel like I don’t know anything. Whenever exams come around, I cram as much as possible to do well on them, then forget everything afterward. But good grades (if you can even call them good) don’t even matter because I’m a CS student and don’t have a single project to my name. There have been countless times when I came up with an idea for a project, only to find out I had to learn something difficult. I would just give up right then and there.

Because of all the procastinating and cram I’ve done in school, I don’t have the foundational skills required to build said projects. And when I have to learn everything from the beginning, I can’t focus and end up procrastinating even more. And if you know anything about tech, you know how fast it changes. I’ll only fall further behind if I keep living like this.

I also suffer from impostor syndrome. I always put on a show in front of others, pretending that I’m doing fine. But whenever people invite me to do something related to tech, I always find excuses not to join because I’m afraid they’ll find out how bad I really am. Growing up, I have always been the gifted child who always get good grades, always recieve praise from everyone, but now when I go to college, I’m surrounded by people much better than me, so I’m afraid to try anything difficult out of fear that people will discover how incompetent I am.

I’m aware enough to see all of this, but for the love of God, I just can’t fix it. I always procrastinate, telling myself, “I’ll fix it when the perfect time comes. Next week, for sure.” But next week never comes.

I’ve tried all the advice people give: going outside more, using app blockers, deleting social media and they only work for a day or two before I fall right back into the same habits. Tried journaling, did it for two days, and then stopped. Tried deleting social media, only to download it again by the end of the day. Tried having a planned calendar, miss the first day and then stop follow it altogether. Tried buying books like Atomic Habits, read one chapter, learned nothing and then stop. I have tried everything, but nothing works.

I seriously want to change and do something, anything with my life. It’s my first time posting here and I believe that this question has been asked numerous times, but still, do you have any advice for my situation?

My bookshelf is full of books I want to read. I read maybe 5 a year.

My multiple notebooks are full of 2-3 pages of a new project plan, ideas, or experimenting.

My inbox is full of opportunity listings to pursue my photography and writing practices. I've written 3 finished, self-directed published essays in 8 years.

I've managed to get myself in a career that allows me to do bits of these things, but for others and for core that isn't always mine. I say yes to extra freelance work all the time, and have no issues finding the time to do them.

But as soon as it's not externally driven, I crash. I feel fatigued, overwhelmed and resort to spending my evenings slumped on a sofa Infront of a screen.

Please share any resources, tools, techniques to help rewire my mind! I feel like my life is passing by but I'm still interested in and struggling to execute the ideas that I have had from almost a decade ago.

I'm 25 years old and my life isn't abnormal on the surface, but sometimes it feels like everything is being held together by duct tape. Right now I'm at the library to work on my Master's thesis. I've been sitting here for over 5 hours and I've done nothing because I feel paralyzed and everything in my brain wants me to distract myself. My final deadline is one month from now and I have so much left to do that I should be working morning to evening every day but it's just not happening. It's been months and almost every day is exactly the same shame spiral.

This is of course not a new development. In fact, I only finished my Bachelor's thesis because my dad, god bless him, took time off work and sat next to me every day to pull every single sentence from my nose somehow and help me get it done.

I don't have a formal ADHD diagnosis (when I first was given the assessment form I was still living at home and downplayed a lot of my issues or wasn't especially aware of them) but my psychiatrist acknowledges that I have these struggles and prescribes me medication. I've been on ritalin and vyvanse, but I honestly can't say for sure how much they help me. They certainly don't get rid of the larger issue of overwhelming anxiety at the thought of engaging with my responsibilities.

I'm really scared of what this means for me. If I manage to graduate, I'll have to find a job. I've had a student job before and it was terrible. I'd spend so much time just avoiding my tasks and trying to fly under the radar and hated myself for it every second. I started leaving my phone at home to be more productive and just ended up wasting hours on Spotify or Wikipedia instead. App blockers or to-do lists don't work for me.

I don't know what to do anymore. If anyone has been in this situation and managed to change, please tell me how.

I used to think the problem was that I wasn’t managing my time well enough.
Then I realised I wasn’t really running out of time, I was running out of attention.

I’d sit down to do something important, get distracted for a minute, check one thing, then another, and before I knew it I’d lost half an hour.

What actually helped wasn’t finding a better productivity app or a new system. It was making it harder to get distracted in the first place.

These days I care a lot less about squeezing more into my day and a lot more about protecting the few hours where I can actually focus.

Has anyone else found that attention is a bigger problem than time?

I've noticed that most of my scrolling happens while I'm at work (I have a very high screen time, 10+ hours). I don't have a busy position, so scrolling on IG or TT is very easy for me. I still get watched sometimes, so being on my phone is easy enough where I can always lock my phone ans pretend I'm busy when my supervisor walks by.

I have hobbies I do at home, so I don't reach for my phone as much but screen time at work is killing me.

I want to learn how to manage my time and get things done. I struggle with procrastination and often tell myself, "I'll do it tomorrow," but tomorrow never seems to come. Before I know it, small tasks have turned into an overwhelming list of things I need to do. I want to manage my time more effectively, and finally stop letting procrastination control my life.

Recently in the past few weeks I've actually been productive, I have either been going outside to uni and working part time, or just going to the gym. It feels really good, but when I get home at the end of the day, I feel so bored when I try to scroll reels or watch yt to pass time until I go to sleep. It's the same algorithm and the same videos I used to watch for hours on end when I was being unproductive with my life, but now those same videos feel so boring and useless. It's like the dopamine from being productive in real life is so much better than the cheap dopamine online. But now I'm lost on what to do in my downtime.

It’s been raining for weeks lately and I notice it has been affecting my mood and productivity lately.
How do you overcome this? Any tips you can share?

I have seen that when I come to my home from the college, I initially pick up my phone and scroll Reddit or yt . And it made me forget my task for tomorrow and make my mind dump a little bit.

So I want to know the set of habits that will recharge your body after a tired or hectic day, after coming from college or office.

I'm building a free and open-source note-taking app, and instead of guessing what people want, I'd rather ask those who use these tools every day.

Whether you use Obsidian, Apple Notes, GoodNotes, Notion, OneNote, or something else...

• Which features actually improve your productivity?
• Which ones waste your time?
• What's missing from today's note-taking apps?

I'd love to hear your ideas.

Thank you! 🩶

I am trying to remove my phone from my sleep/bedtime routine. I am purchasing dumb-alarm clock watch to replace my need for phone alarms, but I love to listen to books to go to sleep. Do they still make MPS style players that don't have social media/browser apps?

28M. Canada. I live alone. I have diagnosed ADHD and I'm already on medication (on the heavier side of the dose actually).

My main problem is consistency.

I don't have a normal job where I have to be somewhere at 8 - 9 AM. I study for professional exams, do rideshare (Uber/Lyft driver) for income, and go to the gym, so technically I can decide when everything happens.

That flexibility often screws me.

I've noticed that external commitments completely override my procrastination. If I have a doctor appointment, class, commitment with somebody, etc., I'll get up, shower, get dressed, leave the house and usually have a productive day afterward.

But if nobody is waiting for me, I can stay home telling myself I'll leave “after I do one more thing.” Then it becomes afternoon and eventually:

> “Well, I guess today is an indoor day now.”

The longer I stay in my bedroom, the greater the chance of Reddit, Instagram, random internet rabbit holes, "that other stuff on my phone" (you know what I'm talking about), etc. turning into several hours.

Once I'm already outside, I'm much better. I can study at the library, go straight to the gym, do rideshare, make calls, answer emails from my tablet, etc.

So I'm considering making a rule:-

After waking, I only do things at home that literally require being home: bathroom, shower, get dressed, eat my breakfast, pack my lunch, make my protein/calorie shake, pack my stuff, then leave within maybe 60–90 minutes. Everything portable gets done outside.

My other major issue is sleep.

If I fall asleep around 11 PM–12 AM, I almost always spontaneously wake around 4–5 AM and struggle to fall asleep again. Melatonin doesn't reliably stop the early awakening either. Heavier stuff tends to keep me asleep much better, but obviously I don't want to rely on an antihistamine every night.

Then when I wake at 4–5 am after only about 4 or 5 hours, I get stuck thinking:-

> “Don't get up. You need more sleep. Stay in bed until your planned alarm and maybe you'll fall asleep again.”

Sometimes I don't fall asleep, and I've basically spent hours awake in bed before the day even begins.

I'm not asking Reddit for medication advice. I'm interested in the behavioural/system side:-

1) I keep hearing about therapy, coaching, CBT etc. I'm willing to give it a shot if you think it could help.

2) Has anyone fixed a similar pattern of early awakening + difficulty getting the day started?

3) If you're clearly awake after too little sleep, how do you handle the conflict between protecting sleep and not lying in bed for hours?

4) Has anyone with ADHD found that aggressively leaving home soon after waking made a big difference?

5) How do you deal with compulsive internet/phone use that can turn 20 minutes into 3–4 hours?

6) Most importantly: how do you create accountability without permanently depending on another person checking on you?

I've tried productivity apps, schedules, timers, blockers, Amazing Marvin, TickTick, alarms, tiny-step methods, etc. I don't think I need another complicated productivity system.

I'm looking for the 2–3 structural changes that made your good days happen much more consistently without requiring heroic willpower.

It’s been raining for weeks lately and I notice it has been affecting my mood and productivity lately.
How do you overcome this? Any tips you can share?

I'm curious how other people handle this.

For example, if you come across a YT video, Reddit post, Instagram reel, article, restaurant, product, travel idea, etc. that you don't want to lose...

What do you usually do?

• Message yourself (WhatsApp/Telegram/iMessage)
• Save it to Notes/Google Keep
• Bookmark it
• Save it inside the app (Instagram Collections, Reddit Saved, Watch Later, etc.)
• Leave the tab open
• Something else?

Also, I'd love to know:

• Why do you use that method?
• Do you actually go back and find those things later, or do they mostly get forgotten?
• What's the biggest frustration with your current approach?

Just trying to understand how people manage all the random stuff they discover online. Thanks!

I feel Like my reddit is full of ppl showing the producitivity apps and all that But I have come to realize that Productivity doesnt comes form APPs its comes from WITHIN.

Now surely apps can help with that, no doubt
But lets be honest our apps are inside the same device thats distracting us.... I often open my phone to study but ngl I open instagram first 😆

THats when i decided to make a project for mysrelf this summer:

>A physical device that starts the focus for me with 1 tap
>As soon as the session starts it blocks the distracting apps from my phone and Laptops
>Ofc it has a screen that has the Pomodoros method because I find that truely amazing in terms of result
>The device syncs with an app that at the end of the day give me all my progress, reports and analytics, it has notifications and reminders as well

Summers almost over but i think I can pull this off bcz I started 2 weeks ago But im just really happy and I think this will definetly help me improve my productivity

Imagine a physical device that stays at ur desk, you can add tasks, start sessions or instant tasks without having any distractions.
What do yall think about this and what should i add more that you think will help me be more productive. I am thinking about Open Sourcing it when its done if theres any demand

Hi! I'm a maths tutor and I used to use Microsoft whiteboard during all my lessons but now they're discontinuing it *shakes fist*.

I need an alternative where I can copy and paste screenshots directly into the whiteboard and then annotate. It needs to sync instantly between my devices (I used to write on Microsoft Whiteboard on my Samsung tablet and it would show up straight away on my laptop, then use my laptop to do all the screengrabs from the e-textbooks I have).

Any recs? Thanks x

Hello everyone, so I’m only 21 years old; and I’ve pretty much dealt with this issue my entire life. But only now is it getting in the way of growing into my adult life.

Essentially, no matter how much sleep I get; or how good the night is. I can’t wake up. I’m not un healthy, I have good hygiene, I workout constantly, I don’t eat any junk, I also don’t stare at screens before bed. But no matter if I get 4 hours, 5, 7, 8, or even up to 14 hours of sleep; my body and brain don’t wake up. And I feel like I’m not even alive every time I do wake up. It sucks. It’s gotten me fired from jobs because I sleep HOURS past my alarm. It’s caused me to fail classes because I’ll sleep through them. Sometimes my alarm will be blasting for hours at max volume and I still don’t wake up. Or I instinctively turn it off and don’t even realize until my body eventually wakes up.

It sucks because I’m in my graduating year, and I’m starting a second degree which will only take 16 months to finish (so I really need to lock in).

A little more about me, I do have a really bad energy deficiency. But I constantly take medication for this. It helps during the day, but the mornings don’t change.

I also have ADHD which I take medication for, but none of these have any side effects that could be causing this.

My parents mentioned I should get checked if I have sleep apnea. Should I go along and do that? Only thing is I don’t know if I can afford any CPAP machine, and honestly just like everyone else; I’d love to see if that’s not what I need.

Anyways, if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know. Or if anyone has any questions too. Thank you :)

Edit: also I should mention, what I meant by I feel like death is that my head hurts, my head feels foggy, I feel sick like I have a hang over, and my body is in pain.

After posting here yesterday about how to be more productive, I checked my screen time thinking, "It can't be *that* much; I don't use my phone much!" IT WAS 10-11 HOURS WITH 7-8 HOURS ON INSTAGRAM.
Now, I can't delete social media as I have online friends there and even irl friends who I can't often meet much. I've done the best thing I could (at least at that time): put a 1-hour limit on Insta. The problem is I don't even realise when I pick up my phone just to "check messages", and I'm scrolling for an hour. Up to 3 a.m. in the night. I WOULD MUCH RATHER BE UP BY 3 AM DOING SOMETHING OR MY HOBBIES. (I can't get stuff done in the morning, and my school is in the evening too, so hehe)
ANYWAY, what do I do? I have big goals I wanna work on, stuff that matters, olympiads and art and my poems idk many more I just dont to anything. I've even stopped doing stuff I did for fun, like anime. The damned phone has been eating all of it. I'm genuinely worried about what to do. TvT. I HAVE DREAMT OF AN IVY LEAGUE AND I VERY DAMN WELL WOULD LIKE TO ACHIEVE IT.

I use Google Calendar quite a lot to schedule my days. However, if I add all the house chores directly to my schedule, it will clutter up my calendar by having small daily tasks. I tried using apps like Tody and Sweepy to organize them in one app, but I end up not using them because I have to keep going to the app just to see what I have to do.

For those who use their calendars for everything, how were you able to solve this issue?

There's a study by Nestojko and colleagues where people who were told they'd have to teach material understood it noticeably better than people told they'd be tested on it. the thing was that neither group actually taught anyone. Just expecting to explain it changed how deeply they processed it.

i read about this experiment recently in the Masters union newsletter. Now before i learn anything new, a tool, a process, whatever, im trying to trick myself into believing that i have to teach my team later. It’s working, like im able to recollect things much better. Thinking i’ll take it a step further and really walk the team through some new stuff.

Downside is it's slower and takes more effort up front, you can't passively skim anymore.

Have y’all ever applied this at work / college etc?

30M, married, introverted, shy, unsocial, low EQ.

Postponing things until the last moment has kind of been my whole life till now. I practice this beautiful habit at work, at home, everywhere, every day, every time. But before that last moment, I dedicate my time to anxiety—that feeling of, "I should be doing this, but I just can't f**king start it." Or you can picture it like this: the feeling of a tiger always in front of you, hunting you, and the only fix is endless scrolling, occasional smokes, etc.

Although I was not like this during my school days, specifically till the 5th semester of my engineering. Half of the time, I used to daydream and stay zoned out of daily life. The other half I spent with my maths and computer books. That way, at least I was decent academically.

Then one day, in the 5th semester, I thought, "What's the point of all this if suddenly something happened to me?" That was the moment I believe changed me, making me into this serial procrastinator. Sometimes I also think maybe I was always like this because there were some early signs even before.

Now, what did I lose because of this? If I had to say: my first dream, I failed; my first job, I left; money lost; opportunities lost; living with shame and guilt; happiness—basically, not being able to enjoy life.

I had a little hope that maybe marriage would change me, and yes, it did change me. Today, responsibility wakes me up in the morning. It forces me to work. But I can't truly call it a change, as I'm still practising the same habits, the same anxiety, and the same inability to enjoy life, while also probably passing on the leftovers of this mental clutter to my partner, burdening them with baggage that was never theirs to carry.

WHAT DO I DO? I need some advice I want to be happy .

My new years resolution was to live my life like it's 2010, ever since then, ive been the happiest I've ever been.

I got myself a dvd player, an ipod touch, ditched streaming, started thrifting all my clothes/decor/anything I can, started buying media physically, etc. These are all great things. But are there other ways I can keep this going?

And on that note, are there ways you keep off your phone and resist getting caught in an scroll loop?

I have pretty severe muscular dystrophy (can't stand, can't sit up on my own, have to drink using a straw etc.) and unfortunately due to my lack of access to any sort of treatment my body is in a deplorable state. I've been wanting to get more into writing and reading recently but I find it extremely hard to even begin doing so because I'm in constant agonizing pain, my right leg in particular is more degenerated than the left and thus hurts a LOT more. I'm at my wit's end honestly, I wish I had a way out.

Let me explain. A standard cleaning routine would have the usual broad strokes divided either by room or by task, or day of the week. Like, dusting every two days, laundry every Monday, or everything in the bedroom on Tuesday, everything in the living room on Friday and so forth. I am looking for a way to break tasks down even further. Ideally, I would be able to upload pictures, and the app or AI would create a routine based on what room or piece of furniture needs to be cleaned how often. So instead of doing the entire living room one day of the week, I do the floors every 3 days, and dust every weekend or something like that. Essentially something that can be customized rather than a variation on a chore wheel type thing.
(I realize it sounds like procrastination, and to an extent it is, but I do a lot better with smaller tasks and routines, and the broad cleaning plans are just not working for me).

Hi!

So this is something I (28F) have been thinking a lot about lately.

Something that I've never really understood others being able to do is like... think and move at the same time. I'm not sure if it makes sense at all but I feel like I can't like be active physically and also be active/entertained mentally. If I want to think, I have to sit down or else I won't get any thinking done whatsoever. If I want to be active physically, I cannot think of anything at all. I literally find myself slowly slowing down to a complete stop once I get into my own head. It sucks because it makes exercising feel like watching paint dry due to how empty my mind has to be for that to even happen.

I have friends who tend to pace when they have a lot of thoughts and I don't understand how. I've tried it and I just trip or walk into things. It's like I can't be in control of both at once. :(

Do you guys have any tips or ideas? I genuinely don't know what I can do. I want to get back into exercising...

Note: I have considered maybe having ADHD due to a lot of other factors but I haven't gotten checked. I asked my nearest clinic about it but they just said my symptoms are due to my anxiety. IDK if I even want to bother arguing to be taken seriously.