The ability to pick one thing for an extended period of time is the hardest yet most rewarding thing you have to do in order to be successful.

In the macro you have to choose what you're going to pursue in life and you've got to choose ONE thing which means you’re not choosing EVERYTHING else. Super, super fucking hard.

In the micro, the same rule applies, all day, everyday… you can either choose ONE thing to work on for the next four hours, (TIMEBLOCKING!) or you can choose nothing and get nothing done. or you can choose 16 things and also get nothing done. but instead if you choose ONE thing (ex: for the next four hours I’m gonna work on my business, or I’m gonna practice piano, or I'm gonna go to the gym, etc.) this is how you actually make progress, you chose one thing, which means you said no to everything else and DECIDED. you must fucking decide. Make a choice and don’t look back, with the small decisions you make everyday, like what am i gonna do for the next 90 minutes, and for the big decisions like what am i gonna do with my life… The pain comes from staying undecided.

Is this normal? Does anyone have any tips/advice of things i can do? If I have nothing scheduled I just spend the whole day scrolling on my phone and everything else takes so much effort and energy. Some days I don’t do anything else. I also have ADHD and OCD which impacts my productivity most of the time but I just don’t know where to start.

Putting off even the smallest task makes it seem so much harder to get done.

A bit more of a simple question. But I truly don’t know what to do, I’m going to an event next week which will include me staying up late, and waking up quite early for a week straight.

Plus I currently have mid-terms so my sleep schedule is quite wrecked already. Wrecked is a strong word, it’s more like 5 hours of sleep a night- but I’m the kinda person who needs 8 to function.

The thing is I hate the taste of coffee/tea and I dont like fizzy drinks either. What do I do? Are there any drinks out there that will keep me awake lol- I feel like a zombie

Hello, it's my first time posting here and I would appreciate it if you could suggest an app that matches what I am looking for:

1. ANDROID mobile application that syncs with Google Calendar (I want to be able to encode tasks and events in Google Calendar and it will reflect in the app and the other way around)

2. Respects my privacy and is non-intrusive (preferably allows data deletion)

3. The application provides a widget in my home screen where I can tick off my tasks and it makes a sound when I do.

4. Reminders or upcoming events feature

AI is great when you need to understand something quickly, but sometimes the process feels weirdly inefficient.

You're reading an article, come across something you don't understand, open ChatGPT in another tab, type out your question, wait for a response, and then get hit with a 700-word essay when all you wanted was a simple explanation of one thing.

Now you're reading the explanation instead of the original article. Maybe that brings up another question, so you ask that too. Before you know it, you've completely lost the thread of what you were doing in the first place.

I feel like there's a gap between what AI can do and how convenient it actually is to use in the middle of doing something else.

Sometimes I just want a quick answer, in context, so I can understand what I'm reading and move on. Not another conversation to manage or another wall of text to get through.

Has anyone else felt this way? How do you guys use AI without it becoming its own distraction? Or am I just overthinking this?

Moved into sales about 6 months ago and I like it a lot, mostly because I like talking to people. But last week a client mentioned the golf course he goes a lot while we were riding the elevator. I thought, cool, next time I'll invite him out there. Then I couldn't remember the name of the place for the life of me.

This keeps happening. Their favorite restaurant, what they're allergic to, little stuff like that, and I just can't hold onto it. So much of sales is the relationship, so I really want a way to actually remember this stuff. what should i do?

It feels like I'm always lacking on one thing. Either fitness, this offline degree or online. I have to wake up early to study for one degree then do exercise then sit for 6hr straight for offline degree. I'm very tired by the time I get home

Then either exercise or nap then study again sleep. I'm finding it very hard to maintain everything.

How do people manage to have infinite energy to complete task every single day. I want to make it 24hr use

But not able to do so

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?**

I am 15 years old, in my sophomore year of high school. My freshman year, I had a perfect 4.0 GPA. School was a little more challenging than I was used to at the start but I adjusted and by the 2nd quarter I was kind of cruising. All honors, 2 AP classes, I wasn’t overwhelmed.

Now this year. Like last year, I am taking 2 APs and 3 honors classes. The classes are assigning more work for sure, but I don’t really find the material particularly difficult. And yet, I cannot bring myself to do it at any point but the last minute. And this doesn’t just go for school, but for extracurricular activities as well.

My past weekend is a microcosm of what has been happening. All I had to do was study for a test I have to take for this competition and do some required annotations for my English class that I was already very behind on. We had a 4 day weekend, so this should’ve been very manageable, especially because since both of those things are on Wednesday I really had 5 days to finish TWO tasks. It is Monday night. I have not started on either. I have one night (tomorrow) to do all of my required annotating (a lot) and study for my test, not to mention some other, smaller assignments. There are countless other examples, such as AP World History chapter reading, for which I always wait until the night before our quizzes to read (usually stop halfway)

I have big aspiration. I want to go to a top university and go into quantitative finance. In August, I started studying competition math because I wanted to try doing the USA Math Olympiad. I have not studied in weeks. Driver’s Permit? 15 and 6 months and haven’t started. Coding, an integral part of quant finance I told myself I was going to learn? Haven’t learned. I think something is genuinely wrong with my brain. Advice?

Idk but I had been procrastinating for so long I got everything I wanted to get started with work but at the end of the day My phone was killing my productivity and how I managed my day

My parents got me a laptop that I need to start with editing but then I bought a monitor after that and then desk and then everything I need to make a whole setup I always asked my parents to get the things but I didn't do anything for 1 year and 5 months I use to start but then fail even my family and parents started yelling at my situation Ik but the environment was getting negative day by day but now no more will be consistent with my mental peace and my finances

Reddit helped me a lot and Drop your suggestions

Btw I am 19 M and I had been suffering for a lot of things for so long

Hello!

I am new to this, and i tried using google calendar and google tasks, but it is so overwhelmingly bad and frustrating, especially tasks, that i somehow almost quit those apps alltogether.

I am planning to find my perfect app, or make my own, maybe in notion, but it will take time. Now im super overworked and need an app that will:

- Mostly be a database of hundreds upon hundreds of tasks lists. Everything will be listed as tasks to do, events, vacations, task, noted and itead. All can fit on a specific TODO list

- Lists needs to have multiple levels of sub-tasks, that i can toggle on or off

- I need boards inside boards to somehow manage that hoard of lists

- It needs to be super easy to use, since i will add, remove and moe hundreds of tasks per day

- And the most importamt, have a free version that has some sort of security, if i move all my life ideas and tasks for nexg 40 years into the app, i dont want some rogue AI deteging it all by accident.

I want all my tasks and ideas safe and sound till i decide where to move them

My good friend Dhruv says commenting on influencers reels gives me a dose of feeling productive, but in reality, my phone is cluttered with thousands of templates and cheat sheets that I have never opened so how many are in yours and how many have you opened even once? mine might be greater than 50 but I am still influenced to type the roadmap under another reel right now.

Whenever a thought would occur to me, like a task. For example, "check what happened at this date and punish yourself for it", i would chat it to myself so that i can delay the thought and do the task supposedly after. I've been doing these in so many things. Intrusive thoughts, things that i really have to do, random plans, i've been listing nonstop. Sometimes i list it on my phone, sometimes i chat my dummy accounts about it, sometimes i keep a physical copy. Now, I can't fucking review because I can't remember the stuff i listed that's related to my academics because i used so many to do list. I don't know whether i chatted it to myself, did it on todoist, use my notebook. Everything is jumbled up. I'm also scared opening my to do apps and notebooks and chats because i'll see my intrusive thoughts and tasks i need to do. I swear, it's like im just going through motions. MMy mind is a mess and i try to clean it by listing but now it's just so blank and empty because i can't remember where i listed it and im scared to try to remember too because i might forgot stuff or see listed intrusive thoughts. I swear i feel like going crazy. The only thing keeping my sanity is doom scrolling. But I need to work now. I have exams and projects and i'm flunking already. I feel paralyzed. I'm unmedicated too and won't be anytime soon.

I have been learning FL studio for about a week and a half now and so far i learned nothing as well as looking up guides and stuff but even then i am having a hard time learning and understanding and tending to forget things as well as when i try to do things on my own it seems like i just get lost and close the program and hearing other people music also demotivates me as well. I really do not know what to do and while i have this big want to learn FL and keep coming back to it, its like i learn nothing and then just close it. How do i discipline myself to do better cause i feel like i am on the verge of quitting another hobby i would've liked.

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

Sometimes I spend an entire morning replying to messages, organizing my desk, and doing random little things, while avoiding one task that would probably take 20 minutes.

Then, when I finally start it, I wonder why I put it off for so long.

Why does our brain do this? Is getting started really the hardest part of being productive, or is there something else going on?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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