Mantras have been really helpful with this.

Use them to challenge that narrative. You’re an effective human all of the time, first of all. And that’s true as long until your metabolic and neuroelectric activty stop altogether in which case you are an effective corpse all of the time.

Right at that part of the comic where the text grey’s out, that’s where the effect of the mantras kicks in naturally.

Like I don’t know you or what you want to do or what you do, but I know you can take five minutes in the morning to tell yourself how effective you are, even if you don’t believe it, you will find yourself thinking so much less. It won’t feel like such a heavy lift to get started on something, because you’ve already sat your subconscious down and said “listen bitch, I’m effective as fuck.” It’s not going to challenge you back as much. That your subconscious. You tell that bitch what’s true and false, literally.

coffee. get rid of dopamine sinks like tiktok / instagram / youtube .

My only trick to this is to have something more urgent and more important to do. Like an essay worth 80% of your mark in a class you can’t fail for college.

I get so much done when I’m in crunch mode. Things like the dishes, cleaning, laundry, even that oil change I’ve been putting off for months.

Everything gets done, except that very important assignment of course.

The method-method: Keep reading about, applying and stacking methods, finding out which ones work for you.

Be meticulous about them, e. g.:

• Can’t interrupt a pomodoro session, not even to pee. If it does get interrupted, e. g. a look on the phone screen when it makes a sound, the session is aborted and marked a fail.
• Work strictly by todo list. When something is done but wasn’t on the list to check off, it doesn’t count as done. Instead of guilt mode immediately, do ONE item from the list and then procrastinate. When there is no list, start the list and then do your procrastination.
• Guilt-free procrastination: Set a time when you stop. E. g.: I keep doomscrolling until 1:10, and then do the thing. Nice thing is that this is now “legal doomscrolling”, shorter, but guilt-free.
• Get started. Instead of 0 pushups, do 1 pushup. Instead of no meditation, get into the position and take three deep breaths, done.

Tbh, with all that, I still do only a fraction of what I should. But at least something gets done. Becoming just 70 % ineffective, like you, is my current goal :-) But maybe it helps you progress from where you are anyway.

For me that’s been audiobooks or YouTube. It keeps one part of the brain distracted so the other part isn’t sabotaged anymore and is now free to do the work.

I’ve found writing to be a very therapeutic activity. I always found myself making lists and always putting on the list “find time to be creative” so now instead of compulsively making lists all the time, I try to write more frequently. It might not ever make me any money, but the act itself is very calming and gets me to focus my energy into something that feels fulfilling. Tiny victories help executive functioning.

I think the first step is to realize that you aren’t a machine, that it’s ok to not be productive.

You can also reflect and see if there are any emotions getting in the way of doing the task. Are you worried about something? Feeling overwhelmed by the task? Upset at you coworker/ or s.o.? Those kind of things. If so you probably need to work through those feelings.

Another thing to consider to consider is are you setting yourself up for success for the task. Do you have your needs meet? Food ? Rest? Exercise? Does music help? Etc. Do whatever helps you.

Finally a tactic that can sometimes work is to just do the bare minimum task and then to the next bare minimum.

Ie can you still at your desk? Can you turn on your computer? Sometimes doing it that way can help me feel less overwhelmed.

Smoke and chill turned out being my way of coping. The first step is to stop judging yourself for things that are apparently in your hand, but actually don’t.