Its cliched but it's true. I've got a bad case of scatter brain at all times. But I've found peace and progress in dedicating small, increasing increments of time to the things I am interested in. Take it one day at a time and don't beat yourself up if you miss a day or two. But try to be consistent. 10 minutes of this, 15 minutes of that. Before you know it you develop a habit that is actually good for you. It also helps me to put my phone on airplane mode and disconnect while I do these things. Just me and the interest. It's not a science and it won't happen overnight. But before you know it you'll just be sucked into rhythms of the things you want to do rather than the things that rot your brain.
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the work-eat-scroll-sleep-repeat pattern had me in a chokehold for ~3 years after I graduated from college, realized that a large part of the reason I struggled to break the cycle was because I’d want to “rest” after work but eventually do something enriching in the evenings, but didn’t actually have an idea of what I wanted to do so the lift to get off [app] was less willpower and more decision paralysis; the friction of figuring out what to do was what was keeping me in the cycle ~90% of the time.
what has worked for me:
1. going outside immediately after work (especially if working from home) to run an errand or go to a book or record or coffee shop
2. keeping a list of projects i want to / am currently working on or skills i want to develop and making progress on those
3. reading a book
4. (most effective) taking a class (writing, pottery, filmmaking for me) and either going to the sessions or doing the assignments
but also sometimes you literally just wanna rot and that’s cool too!
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i tried a couple different ways to structure my time:
1. daily timeblocking (3*/10): setting 5-6 to wind down; 6-7 for dinner; 7-9 for enrichment; etc… didn’t work at all for me. too structured.
2. theming days: (5*/10): mondays are for reading; tuesdays writing; etc… worked slightly better but sometimes you wanna do a different thing than the theme, introduces decision paralysis of whether to power through to build routine or to follow your instincts and have max fun
3. big list: (7*/10): here are all my projects (and subtasks) or hobbies or chores or errands i want to do; i give them a number score of how urgently i want to do them, then do the one i want to do most thats higher priority. bonus points if at the start of the week or month, you put some activities on a calendar for specific days even randomly to just have a schedule when you don’t have something you’re particularly called to do so that’s your default activity and not scrolling. works the best*!
(*for me)
Jan 16, 2025
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oh lord this is going to be so dorky. there's a lot of productivity tools and techniques out there and believe me when i say that i have read a bazillion articles and tried at least 50 apps and methods, but these are the ones that have truly helped me:
TOOLS
1. Apple Reminders & Calendar – ngl i used ot underestimate these two apps, but they work really great because they have an acceptable natural language input, comprehensive and simple user interface, seamlessly syncs across multiple devices(if you're an apple user), and they work with siri. the only problem is that these two lack integration features. so to solve that...
2. Fantastical Calendar – i use another calendar app is to see all my tasks on apple reminders and events on my calendar app in a single calendar and to-do list, and yes, this app does that! it's great because it also has natural language input, enables me to view all my tasks and events in different ways like a calendar or list, and it has many functional widgets.
3. Obsidian – oof, i am found guilty. i built a second brain with obsidian which is basically like a system of knowledge and data mainly in the form of markdown files (a text document that has formatting) with internal links. i write down as much as i could – recipes, minutes of meeting, takeaways from articles, ideas for projects, trivia, literally anything! i also have a daily journal to reflect on the stuff i do, write down random thoughts and ideas blah blah you get the point. the purpose of all this is to have a centralized and organized system of information with links to each other and make it easy to retrieve information you may need for later.
TECHNIQUES
1. Prioritizing my tasks – when there's too much that needs to be done and i feel overwhelmed, i set priorities with the built-in feature of apple reminders. if im having difficulty setting priorities and want to get a clearer vision, i organize them by using the kanban plugin for obsidian.
2. Timers for when i feel lazy – basically the pomodoro technique but more flexible. i can set the timer for 20 mins or 2 hours or don't use a timer at all depending on how lazy i feel that day or how forced i feel on the task. the more i hate the task, the shorter the timer is, cause get this–i dont want to disrupt my flow state when im doing something i really want to do. why would i work on someth for 20 min and take a break when i love doing it so much i could go on for hours. also an important note...do REALLY boring things during breaks to make the task more interesting or enjoyable – avoid triggering dopamine as much as possible.
3. Establishing scheudled habits – this helps me build consistency with the things i want to do more of. for example, i have a daily wake-up and wind down routine which consists of really simple things like washing my face and brushing my teeth, stretching for 2 minutes, drinking water, journaling. i also set a goal for myself to read a book and learn french every day. think of anything you want to do more of and set a schedule for yourself when you should be doing it and stay consistent with that schedule so your body and mind would get used to it.
4. Setting up a distraction-free environment – this is pretty self-explanatory. throw your phone away, paint the walls white, and get sound insulation for your room.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
SELF-CONTROL – without it, nothing is really going to work smh
May 27, 2024
I really struggled with all the unstructured time post-grad and my body totally flipped like what do you MEAN I have nothing to do and if I do nothing, nothing will happen? This rec is annoying, but as a skilled layabout, it really helped me overcome the whole “what do I do all day” thing and also the “why am I falling asleep at 3 AM and waking up at noon?” thing to make a loose schedule and try to adhere. If you’re applying for jobs, school, or even just pondering what to do next, think about:
At what time during the day do I feel most awake and alive? Then, block out like four hours around that window. I try to do 90 minutes of focused work at a time with like 60 minutes between for chilling. So, if you can start with two little blocks of working on applications or doing some intentional, focused pondering, great. Gradually, you can increase the amount of work if you want.
Then, plan the rest of your day around things you need and want to do - move your bod, eat, socialize. Things like talking a short walk in the morning to get some sunlight, going to the movies, and calling friends, lighten me up! Keep it simple babe!
Post-grad, I laid on a couch for three months in stay at home girlfriend mode totally consumed by fear. I asked a lot of older people how they figured things out and they told me that nobody ever does. I like to do some meditations on intention and listening to yourself (linked). And I agree with capyboppy...try to stay present and pay attention to what you got going on right now! The weight of future is heavy becuase you probably want your life to be sick and meaningful….and that’s cool.
Jun 11, 2024
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School made us think reading is a holy act. It is not. Its just something to do. Like watching a movie or sports. You aren’t going to be tested by anyone. Read high. Read drunk. Read 2 pages. Read half awake. Remember nothing or just some of it. It really doesn’t matter
May 2, 2024
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Just do it who cares she probably knows better
Feb 27, 2025