What works
- From Therapist: TEMPORARY SOLUTIONS ARE STILL SOLUTIONS!
- Do you focus better if you work upside down? Fantastic! Do that while it works!
- The time you get focusing until 3am is not worth not being able to focus at all the next day
- Mastering the power of habit, establishing a consistent routine
- Exercise gives you free dopamine juice to overcome having naturally lower levels of that stuff
- Lean on friends!
- When you work with another person, they’re your sidekick. If you’re both neurodivergent (Bug man and I) then it’s sidekicking, a verb.
- Spanish guitar
- Jazz
- Classical
- Metal!
- Problem: If you’re trying to read something, generally silence is best, but how do you get that same accountability from having people you know around?
- Short answer: you can’t.
- Long answer: You can make yourself accountable (somewhat) by setting timers, using the pomodoro method. “Work” for 25 minutes, then don’t do anything for 5 minutes. Let yourself think, self-reflect on whether or not you’re doing what you need to do. It’s not nearly as good as a sidekick though.
- As well as your main drugs, coffee works well, especially to get you started
- Atomoxetine is good, but side effects kicked my ass
- Talked with my doctor. If you take meds reliably, don’t miss any days, take it at the same time every day, you should be better off
- Going offline! The biggest distraction you’ve had is the internet, after all, eh? If you can, it really helps.
- Turning devices to greystyle mode can help prevent them from being distractions, sometimes.
- UNCERTAIN: Sugar sometimes helps give a dopamine boost and makes me able to focus better. Better to be used as “here, take this to get you back on track” than “use this as a reward for when the task is done”.
- I think when I have already been productive, this doesn’t work as well. Speaking from experience.
Pomodoro
- Classic “25 minutes working ‘pomos’, 5 minutes break, every 4 pomos you get a 15 min long break”
- Breaks MUST be spent not looking at a screen.
- Set a single task to do that will fill up that time, don’t try and tackle multiple things with the 25 minutes. If you finish early, take the extra break time as a reward :)
- Forest - My personal favorite, available on mobile and as a browser extension.
- Costs $3.5 for full version, totally worth it though.
- Buy trees and ambient noises from the in-app currency that you earn from focusing
- Plants real life trees if you focus for long enough over time!
- Web app / PWA.
- Free with unnecessary paid version
- Cool sidebar
- Audible ticking to remind you what’s going on
- Windows 11’s focus timer (bottom of the notification menu)
- In a pinch, literally any timer is good - phone timer
- Ticktick
- Todo app with integrated calendar and pomo timer
- Least favorite personally because the app itself can be a distraction sometimes in my experience
- Badass
- Asserts dominance over everyone else in the room
- Audible ticking
- Untested: work chair and break chair
- Work chair is for getting work done, break chair is for breaks. Break chair is for letting dopamine levels fall to the point of boredom, so that means no phone / stimulations
- Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Coz6_-eAFb4/
- A change of scenery helps if you’re getting distracted.
- Also, instead of thinking to yourself “I’m going to do school” or “I’m going to focus”, or maybe “I’m going to work now”, think instead “I’m going to program”, “I’m going to do physics”, “I’m going to write”
Being on top of my shit
- Why do you need anything else
- Apple calendar (in theory)
- Outlook calendar
- Paid version not annoying
- Don’t get me started
- Just use whatever is the default on your phone / computer tbh
- Google keep does the job just fine, Google docs for bigger things
- OneNote if you really need to draw something
- Apple notes looks good
- Don’t try anything else - anything more than a basic text editor is for lunatics
What Worksn’t
- Playing <game> before finishing what I need to get done.
- I finished one assignment that was due (out of like 4) and used minecraft as a break, but I got in that mindset and was stuck watching MC videos after that
- Possible solution: smaller breaks that I can pull away from easier, like taking a walk or playing music
- Using tools that don’t have customization
- This might just be me, but if I can tweak a tool, like Emacs, then I’ll spend all my time tweaking and none getting shit done
- Trying to find the “best” apps to complete whatever you’re trying to do has already taken up more time than you’ll ever save using them - just use the google ones you dork