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there was an anon this morning who was depressed about difficulties following through and achieving goals, the one i can remember being japanese reps. i don't know if he'll see this, but i was thinking of a few actionable things that i think can help anyone, and that aren't just regurgitation medhealth article shit. mostly brainfog alleviating stuff.
1. don't buy into the carbs bad meme, just limit sugar intake. honey is probably the best source of sugar, but it doesn't really matter, just realize that 400 calories of sugar is crazy and as a society we eat things like that all the time.
2. by extension, rather than having any specific attitude toward macro good macro bad, i think a good rule of thumb is that at any given meal just try to avoid having too much of all three macros, proteins carbs and fats. that's what makes you sleepy and lethargic. people never really talk about it, but proteins are the hardest macros to digest. since most people just think in terms of 'protein good', when they try to intuitively link their diet to their energy levels, they never even consider it as a contributor. my rule of thumb is that eat lots of all three macros at a meal, and it'll make you want to take a nap. i mean that's fine before bed obviously if you want to have a big dinner.
3. go get fifteen minutes of sun and walking a day, trying to get it as close to sunrise as possible. i literally work through the night but i still take a walk at dawn. and if you're the type that wakes up late, don't give up just because it's noon. go outside and walk.
that's self care stuff to lessen lethargy. as for productivity.
4. organization will set you free. how you set yourself free is something you have to personally figure out. the thing most people don't realize is that you're never going to stick to some tech solution like GTD (getting things done) unless the software is an extension of how you're already internally processing task management. if you are still at the pea brain self direction stage which, don't worry, i was there for an entire goddamn decade, then sometimes it is honestly just better to have a single wordpad document that you write shit in or even a literal physical notebook. a friend of mine recently received their doctorate in quantum chemistry, and they got all the way through their entire schooling just using one physical notebook at a time. i would at least recommend something on the cloud so you don't lose stuff and can access it with your phone, but i notice people trying to get on virtuous cycles who download like thirty apps at once to self manage which is counterproductive.
5. that said, you do eventually want to work up to figuring out your second brain of choice. for a lot of people that usually stops at to do list. that's fine. some people are religious GTDs, and want to use proprietary GTD software, which works pretty well. lots of my friends much more technically competent than me use shit like emacs or vim. personally, i use obsidian, and that single program with the help of community plugins takes care of all my second brain needs.
for me, it really was a decade long battle with actually getting myself to properly use external self organization. the reason why people have a hard time is because when they overreach with tech or methods that don't particularly reflect how they cognitively self organize, these things just become impediments and chores and things you have to do, rather than reliefs that take weight off of your brain. but i do think when it comes to achieving long term goals, one way or another, you have to learn long term management, and most people in the world are gonna need external self organization to do that.
i have a more specific technique i use involving pomodoros but i feel like i'm already getting too autistic.
