Zen Habits

Hi,

I want you to tell you a litte story about my self and my struggles. We should be about the same age. A year ago, I was going strong, working my job, having side projects and getting things done. I was doing a lot of sports and was on the level of a marathon runner. Then I had an injury. Due to the lack of sport, I fell into depression. I was unable to concentrate on a single thing for even five minutes and had no motivation whatsoever. I have had then set goals for myself and after I failed to accomplish them, I beat myself up. Rinse and repeat.
Now, about 9 Months later, I am still in the recovering process. Like you I tried pretty much every productivity hack out there. From pomodoro to bullet journaling, habit forming and so on. What I want to say: There is no quick fix. It takes time.

So I regularly try to niche down on the cause. Is it a motivation, concentration or multitasking problem? Then I try to fix the cause with experimenting with different tools and strategies. At different stages in your journey, you will have different bottlenecks, asking for different strategies.

At the beginning the things that worked for me, were building up from my principles and core beliefs (Minimalism, Freedom, Simplicity). Then I started dreamlining with a monthly timeframe. But it is important, that the goals are measurable and attainable. Then I broke them down, to weekly and daily tasks. I also have daily todo lists, which I still fail way too often.
Currently the biggest…

I'm 23, and I'm in the same position as you.
It might be a generational problem. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/generation-y-unhappy_b_3930620.html

I also think we are tuned to focus on the future and all its glory and not focus on the present, especially in an environment that is all about "becoming the next big thing." So, one suggestion is to focus and be mindful of the present because if your head is always in the future or in the past, then you will be always unhappy. I see this present mind advice everywhere, but it is easier said than done. I don't have nearly the success you have, and I go through the same issues. "Why can't I start up a company and get it going? Why am I just working at a company? Why don't I get all the cool perks like Facebook employees? Is this going to be my life? Am I going to find someone to settle down with?" These questions naw at my core, but I am starting to find ways to avoid them.

One of the best ways to focus on the present is to exercise. When I mean exercise, I mean the gasping for air at the end exercise, which I accomplish via basketball. I only just starting realizing how truly blissful I am after a game of basketball because all I can focus on is getting air into my lunges. Nothing else matters at that point. My mind is forced to clear out because the need for oxygen has taken over.

The other one is to be introspect and read about this kind of stuff. I journal almost every day about my experiences, my emotions and…

Okay, so this is gonna be a bit longer, but bear with me, because I think reading this might help you.

I've been exactly where you've been. AND I did almost all the things that people here suggest. Thought I had ADHD and took Ritalin. Thought I had a depression and took Prozac (both of which I definitely cannot recommend, as they screwed badly with my short term memory).

I've tried gazillions of plugins, "hacks", to-do lists and the like, only to see that if you're smart (I assume you are because you're posting here), your subconcious is only smarter. If there's one universal truth I got out of these, it's: You can't shit yourself.

I've personally read Getting Things Done, The Now Habit, Eat That Frog and consumed lots more of self-help from some of the distinguished authors there are, including Tony Robbins, David Allen, Steven Covey, Brian Tracy, Keith Ferrazzi, Leo Babauta etc. (just to name a few).

I can honestly say that all of those books gave me something, some pushed me over the edge for a week, but then I slipped back into procrastination and self-pity. So here's the deal: For some of us, it's just much harder to stay focused on our goals and dreams. All that can and will change, but only with the right leverage, and your missing piece of the puzzle might be a different one that someone else needs. Anyway, I'll be listing the things from all those excellent books above that helped me most (repeating some of the excellent suggestions here), and finishing with my…

Here is my method, with just Chrome and a combination of 2–3 organization methods.

I’m tired and not english native so this is poorly written, but it enables me to keep 434 favorites (and growing, I could scale to at least 1500 I’m sure) and not feel overwhelmed by them.

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Simple filing from zenhabits’ article: http://zenhabits.net/how-to-create-a-minimalist-computer-experience/
I have four folders on my chrome bar, inbox – projects – reading – archives.

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Inbox is for things that I must take action on, like reading it (but that doesn’t go into Reading because I must read it, unlike things in Reading that are good to read but not mandatory for me).

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Projects contains links related to the projects I’m currently working on, each project got its own folder.

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Reading categories from Mark Hurst’s book Bit Literacy: Inside my reading folder, I have:

Stars for blogs (and the like) from which I usually read every article/news.

Scans for blogs/etc. that I enjoy much but have to scan to then decide what I’m reading (HN for example, the other one I have is Quora).

Targets for blogs from my competitor that I want to keep an eye on.

Tryouts for blogs that are good but not good enough that they are on my routine for reading.

For specific articles, they go at the root of Reading.

This is poorly written and I’m sorry, you should check Bit Literacy anyway as it has a lot of info for not feeling overflowed by bits in general (applies whether you’re a newbie or an…

When my brain is functioning properly (according to third parties), this sounds like great advice, and I can even intend to head it next time I sink.

However, once my brain was processing my every action as futile, I was often too depressed and incapacitated to shower, or even to get up and make food when I was hungry. In that state of mind, things like kayaking and hiking were functionally impossible. Music remained, but my brain retreated to the comfort of Radiohead's "Street Spirit" or "Creep" (etc).

My point is that it's almost like being a different person. Reality is persecution, logic is warped, and intentions from good days do not always carry over.

I was fortunate to have understanding and patient friends who helped me work on this during my good days. Kayaking is still unobtainable, but now I am able to turn to, e.g., "Katamari on the Rocks"[0] for music, and Alan Watts as well. The Zen Habits reminder to breathe [1] is a permanently open tab in my "distractions" group.

As the quote from Infinite Jest says[2], the flames become terrifying. I can only speak for my own terror, but the help and support I've received have made it easier to face and combat. Long talks with friends, smiles from strangers... it has all been important. Thank you.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsB3IfttE50

[1] http://zenhabits.net/more/

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9501234

Short-term focus is why I fell in love with and still use Leo Babauta's GTD-related idea of MITs (Most Important Tasks). See links at bottom.

Each morning I set 3 tasks (sometimes 4 or 5 if I absolutely have to and they're small) that would make me feel good about the day if I finish. I write them in an otherwise empty text document, order them by importance, and start working on the first one.

These tasks can be large or small, sometimes even just "send this email" that will take 15 minutes to write, but is really important to send off. This also works great when working from home, because even if the environment is different, I can still feel productive if I at least finish those 3 things.

If I finish the 3 things early, I assess my energy level and either finish the day with organizing emails or reading up on stuff or other low-effort tasks, or I tackle one last MIT if I feel up for it. The point is to prioritize short-term focus of the 3 MITs instead of looking at the potentially endless list of todos I could keep picking from all through the day.

MIT: https://zenhabits.net/purpose-your-day-most-important-task/

Zen to Done: https://zenhabits.net/zen-to-done-ztd-the-ultimate-simple-productivity-system/