I struggle with staying productive and organizing myself. I am a chronic procrastinator and have tried everything to be more productive like lists, calendars, apps, etc. but I still can't seem to get things done. I want to study more, read more, and finish my coding projects. However, I end up not doing much and feel terribly guilty. I suspect I may have ADHD or some kind of dopamine addiction but I'm not sure. I do well in school even by studying at the last minute, and I attend a rather challenging school. In my free time though, I end up doing very little or nothing, not knowing where my time went. I try to remove all distractions but it doesn't seem to work.
Does anyone have any advice or strategies on how I can improve my productivity and focus? How have you overcome similar challenges to achieve your goals and stay focused? I feel stuck in this cycle of procrastination and distraction and want to break free.
Be honest with yourself: do you really want to do those things? Or do you want them to be done? I suspect it’s the latter, and you don’t actually want to do what you say you want to do. A lot of people in my experience conflate “wanting something done” with “wanting to do something”. Understanding that may help you understand why you’re having a hard time completing the tasks you want to.
Either way, before you can complete a task you need to have a reason to complete it; what makes you want to do it? Maybe you want to read more to improve your knowledge about a field, or maybe you want to study more to better understand the material you’re learning. That motivation will be your guiding light when you don’t presently want to do something, but your higher goal is to do it. And that time will come. Everyone has days where they lack motivation, and having a good reason for doing something will enable you to have the discipline to do it anyway.
Next, set yourself up for small wins. If your goal is “I want to focus on my studying for eight hours”, then you’ve set yourself up for failure. Start smaller, with something that you know it is impossible for you to fail at. Start by studying for fifteen minutes, or ten, or five; whatever you know you can do successfully. Accomplishing that goal, no matter how tiny, will be a success that you can build upon. Next time, try to study for longer - push your comfort zone a bit. If studying for fifteen minutes was hard to focus, maybe try sixteen. Progress at a rate that you believe you can progress at. And that’s key - if you start challenging yourself with tasks that you don’t believe you can do, you won’t be able to do them. Build up your confidence in yourself, and your habits.
The other tip I have is to set yourself up for success. Reflect on why you typically lose focus. Is it your phone? Maybe leave your phone somewhere else when you study. Is it a loud or distracting environment? Find a separate environment that’s better suited to the task. Do you lose focus because you get hungry? Bring snacks. Whatever the obstacles in your way are, identify them, and then come up with specific ways to target those problems.