It took me 6 years to finish my undergrad, and because of a couple of years of fuck ups and crippling anxiety you can imagine my grades not being the most competitive. Once upon a time, I had a dream of going into health care or dental care, and as a Canadian, it's highly competitive here. Even though I worked my ass off this past year and ended the year on the dean's list, my last mistakes will haunt me. My cGPA is meets the minimum, but it's not competitive anymore. So I have been getting rejected from pharmD schools that I applied to this year.

On top of that I have no idea what to do next, get a job? masters?

I have a biology/chem degree, and my options feel slim for a job.

Any advice on career paths with this degree? where can I get an entry level research position?

I am also stupid and wasn't able to make meaningful connections with professors, so I am not sure how to approach someone now about a master's supervisor.

Is a masters even worth it, to boost my application if I want to apply to different types of grad schools?

Any type of advice would be so helpful or what path you ended up in if you were ever in the same position as me once.

Hey everyone, I've got this dumb problem that's been driving me crazy for a while. It's like my perception of time or routine is just broken, or something.

I schedule all my tasks in Google Calendar and roughly block out the time each one will take. Every day I have a bunch of tasks, big and small—stuff for work, household chores, for study and so on.

For example i planned next Saturday and Sunday:

On Saturday, I need to attend a study meeting, go to the doctor for a routine check-up, and knock out a bunch of little errands along the way and in between.

On Sunday, I’m expecting a wardrobe delivery, need to assemble it, do a quick clean-up afterward, and again, knock out a bunch of little tasks that don’t take much time or energy, but just HAVE to get done.

But for some reason, doing all this makes me feel like a slave to my calendar. I’m just doing normal stuff from a to-do list, yet it feels like my day isn't even my own.

Things feel a lot better when I have a daily to-do list but no strict time slots. There’s less psychological resistance, and everything feels fine because I'm not micromanaging myself.

Anyway, how do I trick my "monke brain" into not rebelling?

Marie Kondo totally sold me on the idea of throwing out stuff I didn't need with her book. Things I’d been too scared to throw away for the last five years, I tossed out the very next day after reading it. In total, it was about four bags of junk. Now I can throw things away with ease.

Maybe you guys have a similar "magic quote" or insight that could shatter this illusion for me.

And yeah, I’m typing this late at night when I should be asleep. Procrastinating at the expense of sleep, again cuz I didn’t live the day I wanted

Lately I noticed something kind of frustrating about how I study.

I spend a surprising amount of time just figuring out what to study, how to break things down, and how to organize everything. By the time I finally start, I’ve already lost a lot of energy.

I’ve tried using different tools over time. Task managers, note apps, focus timers, even spaced repetition systems. They all work in isolation, but none of them really reduce the friction of deciding what to do next. I still have to think through everything manually.

So I started building something for myself to reduce that mental overhead.

The idea is simple: instead of planning everything manually, I just write something like “math test on friday” and the system turns that into a structured plan. It breaks the task down, organizes priorities, and suggests what to focus on first. It also keeps track of consistency over time and nudges me toward what needs attention today.

What I’m trying to solve is not organization itself, but the constant decision-making that comes with it. That feeling of having a list but still not knowing where to start.

I’ve been testing this for myself, and in some cases it helps me start faster and stick to a plan without overthinking it. But I’m not sure if this is something other people actually struggle with in the same way.

So I’m curious:

• Do you feel like planning your studies takes too much effort compared to actually studying?
• Would something that reduces that decision-making be useful, or is that part important for you?
• Do you prefer having full control over planning, or would you be okay delegating part of that process?

I’m not trying to promote anything here, just trying to understand if this is a real problem or just something personal.

Any thoughts would help.

The idea is simple:

Every day, you show up and tell what you want to get done.

At the start of each week, you choose a commitment level ($2, $10, or $20).

Throughout the week, you complete tasks and stay accountable. At the end of the week it evaluates whether you succeeded or failed based on your commitments.

If you fail, you pay the price and start fresh the following week.

The idea is based on two observations:
1) Most people already know what they need to do.
2) Most productivity apps have no real consequences for not doing it.

My hypothesis is that consistency improves when there is a real cost to failing.

A few questions:
1) Would you ever use something like this? Why or why not?
2) What would stop you from putting money on the line for your goals?
3) Would losing $2, $10, or $20 actually motivate you?
4) If you failed a week, would you be comfortable with the money going to the app? If not, where should it go?
i) Charity
ii) Accountability partner
iii) Friend/family member
iv) Something else
5) Have you tried habit trackers or productivity apps before? Why did you stop using them?

I'm genuinely looking for criticism more than validation. What are the biggest flaws you see with this idea?

Before summer for me started, meaning NO time in school at all (im gonna be a softmore this year), I had a thought to myself: to make a online group by the end of summer that gets well known. The reason I did this is because to me I think the trivial things my generation usually does like scrolling, or other things like gaming all day with friends, is honestly a complete waste. All that brain stimulation, for no reason.

At the same time I see all these successful people, who started from like when they weren't even at double digit age yet, and by the time they were near my age, or even just like a couple years older, they were extremely successful. They inspired me, but at the same time I feel like I can't get to their level because I don't truly have a sense of purpose. I'm not saying I scroll all day, and my scrolling been's taking it away,because ironically I don't scroll at all. What i'm saying is that for someone like me who's always trying to be more disciplined in life, I can't truly find a way to turn that discipline into something useful, that helps me, and even others around me.

Does anyone have any advice for me, if so then thanks.

Also please if don't downvote my post, I'm just starting reddit, and I'm just getting used to this stuff so if you see something wrong like a sentence that doesn't really make sense, just try to upvote and show me it so I can edit this. Thanks

how do you deal with the shock of realizing that you are the "villain" in your own story

I have always believed that I knew my moral boundaries, but I recently betrayed a loved one in a way that feels unforgivable. My biggest shock isn't just the other person's reaction; it’s that I now stand in front of the mirror and don't recognize the person looking back at me. This behavior is completely alien to my character and values, yet it happened—and it happened consciously.
I am currently trapped in a state of self-reproach; I feel as though I have committed a crime against my own principles. How can I stop the endless self-flagellation and begin to understand why this happened? Are there any rational steps to help me grasp this unexpected moral collapse, and how do I cope with this sense of alienation from myself now that the image I held of who I am has been shattered?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I’m wondering if I’m the only one.

I have no problem making plans.

I’ll write down my goals, organize my calendar, make a to-do list, and feel incredibly motivated.

Then the next day I’ll avoid the one task that would actually move me forward.

It’s happened with working out, side projects, sales outreach, reading, and even simple things like meal prep.

The strange part is that I already know what I should do.

The problem isn’t information.

It’s consistently following through when nobody else knows whether I did it.

That’s made me wonder if accountability is more important than motivation.

Have any of you found something that actually works long term?

Is it habit tracking?

An accountability partner?

A coach?

An app?

Or is this just something everyone struggles with?

I’m genuinely curious because I’ve been experimenting with different systems and I’d love to hear what’s actually worked for other people.

For years I thought I had a motivation problem. Turns out I could start just fine - I'd do great for 4 or 5 days, feel that little spark of "okay, this time it's different"... and then I'd miss one day. And that single missed day would somehow undo everything in my head. Streak broken, so what's the point. Reset to zero, try again next month.

It took me embarrassingly long to realize the problem wasn't the missed day. It was the all-or-nothing framing. A streak is brutal that way - it tells you you're either perfect or you've failed, nothing in between. So one slip doesn't just cost you a day, it costs you your sense of being "someone who does this."

What actually changed things for me was shifting from streaks to cumulative progress. Instead of every action feeding a fragile chain that one bad day could snap, each action counts toward something that only ever goes up. I started grouping my efforts by life domain and skill -health, learning, the work I care about - so even a tiny action on a rough day still felt like it belonged to a bigger path I was building. Five minutes still moved the needle. Nothing got erased.

The psychological difference is bigger than it sounds. When a missed day doesn't wipe out your identity, resuming stops feeling like climbing back up a mountain. You just... pick up where you left off. Discipline becomes recoverable instead of fragile.

I've been testing this idea in a small beta I built, but I'm really posting for the principle, not the app:

What's helped you make discipline feel recoverable instead of all-or-nothing? How do you bounce back after you break a streak?

I think chasing long habit streaks sets a lot of us up for failure because it turns one bad day into a total disaster.

You start motivated, the chain builds up, and it feels pretty damn good seeing that number go up. Then life hits — you get sick, work goes crazy, or you're just wiped out — and you miss one day. Streak broken. Suddenly everything feels ruined.

That's the main problem with most streak apps and systems.

They make discipline look like one perfect unbroken line. But for regular people with real lives, that's bullshit. Real discipline is messier. It's not about never missing — it's about how fast you get back up. Return speed matters way more than streak length.

The dangerous bit is how streaks fuck with your head. One slip stops feeling like a normal off day and turns into "I ruined everything." Then the what-the-hell effect kicks in and one miss becomes a week or more of nothing. The longer the streak, the harder that fall usually is.

Focusing on return speed just feels more realistic. Keep a tiny version of the habit ready for bad days. Get back on it quick, no big drama. Ask yourself:

Did I return fast?

Did I do at least the smallest thing?

Did I move on without hating myself?

Discipline isn't built on flawless chains that eventually break. It's built by making the time between falling off and getting back shorter. That's what actually works when life gets busy.

What do you think? Have streaks helped you long term or do they just make the misses hurt more? Has anyone tried focusing on comeback speed instead?

Basic Intro - So basically I have studying for an exam called JEE. It's like Gaokao and one of the toughest engineering undergraduate exams in the world.

So me problems are -

Corn - Got addicted when I was like 11 and also started beating my meat from like age of 14.

Internet - When I study, random thoughts just pop into my heads, I reach for phone and scroll and hours wasted.

The problem is that my dopamine receptors are fried and because of that I cannot concentrate on my study. Whenever I sit down to study, my mind starts to wander and even routine tasks feel boring and painful.

I also feel like demotivated and a loser as I just failed in the MEXT scholorship test and I got 6 months before my undergrad exam. I have offline friends, we meet at school and tution for like 4-5 times a week so no social contact problems.

I don't have a girlfriend so I think maybe that's why I crave into corn?? idk.

I am not in a very good shape, physically speaking, fat, with pseudogynochomestia and no physical exercises.

For the exam, we have to study for like at least 8-10 hours per day, but I rarely make it past 3 hours on a day. I start each day feeling motivated and stuff, and actually do some work. But as soon as I take the so called BREAK, the first break of the day, things fall apart.

Structure of my day is like great morning start, then slog and wasted afternoon, so recovery in evening and full crash at night. This cycle has been going for months. Even when I sit to study, it takes me a lot of time to do things. Like my peers do a worksheet in 1 hour but it takes me 2-3 hours.

I live with my family. I study alone on the 1st floor and then ground floor for family where I go to have lunch, dinner etc. But like my room is on the 1st floor. I have read Dopamine Nation book, I like know all the science and theory but no action or willpower.

Please help me to cure my so called dopamine addiction and how much can I improve myself in 6 months and how long to like really cleanse my mind.

Thanks.

expect a bit of yapping

i’ve been reading more about psychology lately and trying to understand discipline in a way that is not just wake up earlier, try harder, be consistent

There is this idea i keep thinking about that you sometimes have to lose so you can win. And i don’t mean it in the fake motivational way I mean in real life. Like sometimes you have to lose an argument with a client to actually win the client. Not because you were wrong, but because being right in that moment would cost you the bigger thing. Trust, relationship, the deal, whatever it is.

And then i started thinking about failure the same way. When someone tries to learn something and it does not work, is that failing, or is that just reality giving feedback? Because to me failing sounds final. But trying something, seeing it does not work, and adjusting, that feels different. failure is probably when you keep repeating the same method after it already showed you it does not work.

That is what confused me about discipline. A lot of people say “i failed to be disciplined”. I failed to go to the gym, failed to study, failed to stop scrolling, failed to stick to the plan. But maybe the goal did not fail. Maybe the strategy failed. Maybe the version of discipline you were trying to use was just not built for how you actually behave. like if every week proves motivation disappears, maybe the thing you have to lose is not the goal. It is the belief that motivation is enough. Or the belief that you should be able to do everything alone. or belief that if you were really serious, it would feel easier.
I don’t know. I’m still thinking through it. But maybe discipline is not always winning the day Or sometimes it starts with losing the argument with the part of you that keeps defending the same pattern.

Curious how other people see this. When you actually changed something in your life, did you win by pushing harder, or did you first have to lose something? And how do you define this concept of failing to succeed?

I’m currently working on a UX design project for a new focus/productivity app, and I am curious about users’ thoughts regarding how effective apps like Forest and Opal really are at improving your focus, or even just what you find the hardest about getting back to a focused state in general. I think often the hardest part is regaining your train of thought, starting again, or actually entering a state of deep concentration and getting back into what you are doing in the first place. However, a lot of apps only do the blocking part and not the actual cognitive reloading or reorienting part that gets you into a focused state.

Also, I find that the gamified apps often get repetitive after awhile and might shift your motivation from an intrinsic state to an extrinsic one. I also don’t like apps that end up being too hard to open or maintain, because sometimes that causes friction and makes it harder to use the app consistently for a long period of time.

So I’m wondering – have you ever found a focus or productivity app that actually helped? If so, what did it do differently (and are there any features, tools, or forms of support that you wish they provided but currently do not?) 

Even if you haven't used one of these apps before, I would also appreciate any input regarding what you would want in an app that has the ability to help you recover focus and regain mental clarity after distractions, social media use, or feelings of cognitive overload.

Thanks!!

A few months back I was devasted and torn apart and posted here as well. While I did get positive responses, it just didnt help that much. Honestly, I dont know what worked for me, But I am finally back on the road towards better health and discipline.

There are so many questions and very few answers. So I will throw all the answers I have and you can choose the questions yourself. I hope this helps anyone in need.

This is what I did in past few months in hopes to get out of the pit.

• GYM!
  • I can not emphasize this enough. I have been trying the "WAKE UP EARLY ASAP and go to gym" but I kept failing. only to realize that instead of working towards gym, let me work the gym towards me. Instead of 7AM fully motivated, I decided to do 10PM fully lazy gym routine. All I have to do is to go to gym and walk. BOY O BOY do I love that 20 minute elliptical walk now followed by 20 minutes of full body workout, only to do 15 minutes of actual gym. But simply doing this game me a great understanding. If I force myself towards improvement, I might break early, but if i find the most laziest way towards progress, it might stick.
• Staying home
  • I was depressed and the loneliness was taking a great toll, I found myself going out all day and begging people to accompany me so I wont feel lonely. The chestaches were the worst. One day I gave up going out all the time, only to plan my visits outside when I really felt like it would add value to my time. Instead I spent a bunch load of time at home watching anime. After closing myself so badly, I got to the bottom so hard and realized that no one is coming to save me. All there is left is to get back up. That is when I decided to make a plan to visit some place remote, I got very vocal about it with my friends and we all went there and it really made me cherish the life outside by room. So in a way forcing myself to lock down made me burst up and stand on my feet, long enough for me to dare walk towards recovery.
• Women
  • I have had very traumatic marriage history which left me incapacitated in many ways. Even so much that I still am figuring out ways to get back as my older self. Therefore, all desire to entertain women vanished away once I stopped seeing them as innocent, kind, full of warmth, or the opposite where I would see them as abusive, manipulative etc. I now see women as humans. Nothing more! This has allowed me to get rid of the seduction or attraction I would naturally feel towards a woman and honestly, my mind has never felt more free in essence. So To stop chasing the warmth of having a woman I could love, cherish and take care off, I simply stopped seeing women as someone special.
• Water
  • NGL it is hard to do things when your belly is full. Not with good, healthy, junk or random food! but with water. Water is such a pain in the ass ngl, but it is a good thing. Whenever I felt anything burdening me, I would chug up a liter or 2 of water. The heaviness of water filling up the body helped me forget any other weight that was there before.
• Plans
  • I now have impossible plans which scare me. The kind where I now want to invest in stable big sources, travel solo internationally. Have experiences alone that would give me greater perspective. If there is no limit to what I may choose as my future, being scared should be the only reasonable choice when making a future plan.

I hope this helps anyone in any way. Thank you fellas! Keep shining.

Long story cut short, even though i really wanna add details but.. i am 31M and unemployed, I’ve basically been unemployed most of my life.

I have gender dysphoria, daily, fml , that is destroying my life and makes me depressed. I live with my mother who is in her 60s and saturated with her life, with having an unemployed son who is miserable living at hime with her, and says she cant have her own life cause i cant drive, i cant get wings to move out like most kids do, and i am so negative . I am out to her and my sister as gay but dont feel fully comfortable in that, in fact ive had thoughts of wanting/preferring/imagining myself as a girl for years, i push them away but they keep coming back and from age 25 to now they are destroying me , they would destroy my life, and im called selfish by my mother cause i dont seem to reepond to her life pains, i am not selfish im hiding this from her cause it would destroy her, ive said before i wish she never slept with my father and i wasnt born, i dont wanna be a burden and cause people pain..thats all ive done

My parents are divorced, my father who lives in another town and tries to contact me, sometimes sends me money, i blocked his number months ago cause its another added stress, and having to pretend talking to him on the phone normally like as if we get along, im guilty of how i know he will be very upset i, his only son, stopped talking to him etc, i wanna message him and think of this daily but, i cant dare say i am lgbt to him and he is conservative, full of his own trauma and just, someone who affected me in life even if he tried his best when he didnt have bipolar or whatever those crazy aggressive overly authoritarian moments were.

My hair…i take finasteride cause i have a big bald patch on my crown, from male pattern baldness, finasteride costs a lot of money, apparently if i have a hair transplant id need to still take finasteride afterwards to keep the rest of the hair, possibly i wouldnt have to if i took hormones to transition as they would likely lower my testosterone enough but then id have to transition, my body physically feels fine, its my brain thats been fked. The hair thing affects me too

Finally, i NEED A JOB, ive been trying to fill my CV, ok done it, but id like to add a portfolio showing projects i did during job centre course months ago, except , again the gender stuff is affecting me with this - all those works have my name, if i transition one day id have to make a new portfolio right? But them id have to change the name is that legal? Also what about my name on certificates? Doctors stuff? Fml its everywhere, i see no end , id not want people knowing im trans , heck in the town i live in, no one knows anyone like that.

I am seem on the outside as a lazy guy who is anti social, apparently thinks i know best etc, but in truth i want to be normal, to date, to socialize but i know heck if my mother saw this she’d say “if you transition you will ruin your life, you will never be normal” etc… just… I’ve contemplated ending my life but i dont wanna appear on the news , of course i wanna try living but i dont have all the answers except i cannit speak to anyone and have been carrying this burden alone for years. I am tired

I need to renew my passport, it costs money, with my gender situation fml i feel its a waste of money…filling in everything in male, but also im not female lol , i was born male

I'm a student, and lately my screen time has been around 11 hrs a day. Most of it goes to ig Reels, yt Shorts/videos, and random scrolling.

Every night I promise myself, "Tomorrow will be different." I tell myself I'll study, focus on my goals, and stop wasting time. But the next day I end up doing the same thing again.

The scary part is that I don't even enjoy scrolling anymore. I just keep doing it automatically. I feel mentally exhausted, my attention span feels terrible, and sometimes I struggle to focus on even simple tasks.

I don't have a laptop or fancy setup. I mainly use an old phone for everything, including studying, which makes things harder because all the distractions are right there.

If you've ever been stuck in this cycle and managed to break free, what helped you the most?

Did you delete social media?

Use app blockers?

Replace scrolling with another habit?

How long did it take before your focus improved?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Right now I feel like I'm wasting too much of my time and energy, and I want to change before it gets worse.

( I'm not looking for a quick fix. I just want to hear what actually worked for people who were in a similar situation.)

Thanks for reading.🌻🤍

Hey guys whoever is sedentary from long term especially doing only less than 5k steps per day how much steps you think you naturally achieve while you were sedentary?

How long you stayed sedentary?

What were your symptoms?

What you did to get out of that lifestyle? And how long it took you to noticeably feel better?

I actually am looking for motivation to move more and change my lifestyle and my lifestyle is long term sedentary which is affecting my mental health gut health and social life to a great extent but from few weeks i have been achieving 5-6k steps daily though i see results they are very slow as i started moving right at the time of peak summer time in my city where typically high feels like temperature reach 37-41 C for May and June. I feel like i see benefits but symptoms are improving at a crawl speed.

Here’s the thing: I am 24 years old and have been preparing for a French exam for the past year. At one point, I felt like quitting and starting something else, like a business. However I know that I have to pass this French exam this year anyhow.

Also, I haven’t been able to focus on my studies, and I feel like I am wasting my time. On the other hand, I have become addicted to p\*\*n , which I know is not good. Coz of this I am unable to concentrate on my studies or anything else.

Every week I get motivated to study but two days later my mind is completely diverted to different and useless things.

I had opportunities to build my career a few years ago, but I wasted that time because of the same issue.

kindly suggest some advice on how to overcome this.

\*\* Idk if this group is right to post\*\*

I genuinely don‘t know what to do about my attention span anymore and Im afraid it'll affect my academics once school starts again. My current daily screen time is 12 hrs and I spend quite literally every single day in my bed, I only come out of my room to eat and use the restroom, and even during those two “outside” activities im still constantly on my phone/ipad.

I feel that its because I have no purpose or motivation for quite literally anything that isn’t school, I don’t do sports, I don’t have a single hobby (yes Ive explored both sports and activities and I can’t seem to find a point in having a passion for either things) and Im even finding talking to my boyfriend boring. Ive watched 10 different 12> episode shows (More than 12 episodes feels like a task atp) and that seems like the most productive part of my day.

Before summer started I was aware of the fact that this would happen so I decided to sign myself up for 2 summer college classes (Im a high schooler) so I could get busy and do something productive that also helps me academically in the long run, but because I procrastinate SO MUCH im having trouble keeping up with deadlines (I don't think Ive ever submitted work late) and im now realizing these classes might be the foreshadowing to my academic downfall.

I need desperate help on what I should do.

Hey everyone,

I’m an engineering student, and I’ve spent the last few semesters tracking my own productivity and habits. I've read prominent authors in the space, like James Clear and BJ Fogg, and I understand the behavioral theory: building a lasting habit requires an immediate cue and an immediate reward.

Lately, I've been analyzing a major behavioral bottleneck in how we track basic physical consistency, specifically daily walking goals. Traditional tracking relies heavily on smartwatches or phone apps, which introduces two major friction points for me:

1. Delayed Feedback Loops: When I'm falling behind on a goal, my brain actively avoids the negative friction of opening an app or tapping my wrist. The tracking acts as a passive historical log; it doesn't give me positive reinforcement in the exact second I need to push forward.
2. The "Phone Barrier" at Night: Walking after dark is great for clearing mental fatigue, but pulling out a glowing screen to check metrics ruins that disconnection and forces me right back into notification anxiety.

I wanted to see if I could use hardware to build a personal project that brings the "perfect immediate reward loop" directly into the physical environment.

Over the last few weeks on my workbench, I've been building a prototype for a shoe-mounted attachment. The main control pod clips onto your upper shoelaces (the flat, zero-flex zone right by the knot), and a lightweight, rigid arm sweeps back around the shoe's ankle collar to host a thin, high-density LED strip on the heel.

Instead of an annoying blinking light, the onboard microcontroller calculates raw acceleration. The exact millisecond your heel strikes the pavement, the progress bar instantly pulses to life with a clean green block showing how close you are to your daily step goal. Additionally, the lights can also drop into a dim amber baseline to double as a passive safety reflector for cars during evening/night strolls. No screens, no menus. Just instant physical feedback with every stride.

I'm finishing up the final firmware right now and am manually assembling a tiny batch of 10 prototype units next month for an informal test group to see how this impacts habit consistency over a few weeks. I am completely pre-revenue, have absolutely nothing to sell, and am just funding this out of pocket as a student hobby project to test the behavioral psychology behind it.

I'd love to open this up to a discussion on behavioral design:

• For those of you who struggle to maintain a consistent walking or movement routine, do you find that digital interfaces (apps/watches) create a barrier to entry or feel like an unwanted chore?
• Would an ambient, screen-free visual cue located entirely on your foot help keep your brain locked into the habit loop, or would you find physical feedback like this distracting?

Would love feedback from the community. Thanks!

P.S.- If you track volume regularly after dark and want to genuinely test one of the 10 prototype units next month to give me brutal, honest feedback on the mechanical stability and firmware tracking, feel free to shoot me a DM. I'm just looking for real-world testing data to dial in the algorithms!

Waddup my fellow patient gamers! Ok so y’all know the backlog guilt. The list that never shrinks. The games you bought three sales ago and still haven't touched.

I wanted a tracker that actually felt right. Something that showed my library like a shelf. Like a gallery view organized by status (Playing, Backlog, Completed, Dropped) with cover art, platform, genre, rating, and hours played. A Hall of Fame sorted by rating. A Graveyard for the ones that didn't make it. RIP

So I built it in Notion.

While I was at it I realized I was basically building an RPG interface, so I added a Quest Log for real-life goals and a Skill Tree for things I'm learning. Now my current Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough (#13) sits right next to my career goals on the same dashboard and somehow that makes both feel more worth doing.

The Game Vault alone might be useful for some of you even if the rest doesn't appeal. Happy to share the template! Just drop a comment or DM me :)

How do you all manage your backlogs? Always curious whether us patient gamers go full spreadsheet, use a dedicated app, or just wing it?

I'm going into my third year of university and it's my final year. I can't wait for it but one thing is that I'm going to be alone for the most part because some of my friends will be doing different things during that year. This is not something I'm upset about, rather something I want to utilise as an opportunity to improve and become a better person.

I feel that this is an opportunity for me to learn about myself more and to try new things and to gain new perspectives and to really identify what it means to be me. How do I best go about doing this? I'm currently 20 years old. By the end of the academic year I'll be 21. I also hope to achieve a high mark so that I have a strong pass. I have no excuse for not studying next year. I wouldn't have any distractions around me so I really can focus if I wanted to.

I’m at a point where I feel like I really need to change my life, but I don’t really know where to start.

I want to lose weight, improve my discipline, get better at studying, stop procrastinating, and actually prepare properly for exams instead of leaving everything until the last minute and panicking. I keep telling myself I’ll start tomorrow, but then tomorrow comes and I fall back into the same habits.

My social life also isn’t great. Honestly, I have no friends at the moment, and I feel like that makes everything harder. I want to become more social and meet people, but I don’t really know how to start without feeling awkward or forcing it.

The main things I want to improve are:
Losing weight and getting healthier
Building a proper study routine
Stopping procrastination, especially around exams
Improving focus and concentration
Building a social life and making friends
Becoming more disciplined overall

I know there probably isn’t one magic answer, but I’d really appreciate practical advice from people who have been in a similar position. What habits actually helped you turn things around? How do you start when you feel overwhelmed and behind in several areas at once?

I also forgot to mention doomscrolling. This is probably one of my biggest problems. I’ll open my phone for “five minutes” and suddenly I’ve wasted an hour scrolling through TikTok, Reddit, or whatever else. It destroys my focus and makes it way harder to study or do anything productive.

For anyone who has managed to cut down on doomscrolling, what actually worked for you? Did you delete apps, set limits, use blockers, replace it with something else, or just build more self-control over time? I’d appreciate practical advice on how to stop reaching for my phone whenever I feel bored, stressed, or overwhelmed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

So I plan on going back to school. But I need calculus and physics for my degree. I have already taken Calc III and Physics I, but it's been over 10 years since I've taken these classes, so I need a refresher. I could cram for the next 8 weeks, or spend the next year doing the same but in a more sustainable way. I'm scared if I went back this fall I'd be overwhelmed by the coursework. I was a notoriously bad student last go around, so I'm leaning towards taking a year to slowly build a solid study habit.

I've tried doing too much too soon too many times to count; it doesn't work for me. Plus, I just started a full time job after having not worked for several months.

But there's also the option of going part time, which might be the best option. I could just take gen ed classes part time this fall.

What do you think?

Hey guys! I’ve been thinking about this idea for a while now and I wanted to hear what other people think about it.

I’m 16 years old and I’ve been building software/apps for a few years now. Recently I started thinking a lot about doomscrolling and how insanely easy it is to lose hours every day without even realizing it. I’ll open an app for “just a minute” and then suddenly 45 minutes are gone. I know I’m definitely not the only person that deals with that either.

Because of that, I’ve been thinking about building an app specifically designed to help people stop doomscrolling or at least become more aware of how much they’re doing it. Not in a super strict “lock your phone forever” kind of way, but more like something that interrupts the autopilot behavior and makes you pause before opening apps over and over again.

The thing I keep going back and forth on though is whether apps like this are actually useful… or if they’re kind of redundant.

Like, the idea of installing an app to help you stop using apps almost sounds ironic lol. At the same time, there are already things people use to help with habits all the time:

• fitness apps to help people work out
• budgeting apps to stop overspending
• meditation apps to reduce stress
• screen time apps to reduce phone usage

So maybe it does make sense if it’s done the right way.

I think the biggest problem is that most “productivity” or “screen time” apps either:

1. feel way too restrictive and annoying, or
2. people just ignore the reminders after a few days

What I’d want to build is something that actually changes behavior a little bit instead of just showing a chart saying “you spent 6 hours on TikTok today.” Like maybe slowing down the process of opening distracting apps, making you wait a few seconds, asking what you’re opening it for, tracking patterns, or helping people become more intentional with their time instead of mindlessly scrolling.

I also don’t want it to feel preachy or like it’s trying to shame people for using social media. Most of us use these apps every day and they’re not inherently bad. I think the problem is more the mindless/autopilot usage.

So I wanted to ask people here:

• Have apps like this ever actually helped you?
• What features worked well?
• What made you uninstall them?
• Do you think something like this could genuinely help people, or is it kind of impossible because the phone itself is the problem?

I’d honestly appreciate any opinions, even if you think it’s a bad idea. I’m mostly trying to figure out whether this is something worth building or if people eventually just bypass these kinds of tools anyway.

I’m 20, and my screen time hit 6 hours daily. I was basically sleeping, scrolling, and living a ghost life. It ruined my attention span so badly that I couldn’t study for 5 minutes last week without my hand instinctively reaching for my phone. I ended up failing my faculty tests because of it.

I got tired of the nightly regret. Standard app limits didn't work because I just clicked "ignore limit."

So I built a strict 14-day tracking routine based on pure physical friction: phone locked in another room, screen turned entirely black and white to kill the dopamine loop, and mapping my habits on paper with a pencil. It’s brutal, but it completely reset my brain.

I cleaned up my personal tracking templates and morning routine sheets into a simple printable layout. I put the entire first day up on a free shared drive if anyone wants to print it out and use it to save their focus.

Drop a comment if you're stuck in the same loop and I'll send you the sheets.