It's Personal...

[Count Arioch the 28th]

-An online gaming buddy bought me Five Nights at Freddy's.

Eeeep.

But seriously, fuck animatronics, and fuck that game.



On a personal note, Depression blows chunks, and Chunks is the name of my pet goat. I've learned that my brain is broke and it taints my perceptions in ways that are batshit fucking insane and I've learned to not act on my impulses without thinking things through, but my fucking GOD this sucks. I've beat the mental part of depression but that physical part is still fucking hardcore (had the fucking shits for a week, can barely get out of bed, etc.)

I take pride that I can remain upbeat and positive now, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I wasn't feeling it right now...

[name_here]

Depression does indeed suck. I recommend looking into meds; works pretty well for me.

[Prak]

Yeah, I think the worst part of having a broken brain (I've never been diagnosed with depression, but then I've never seen anyone about it) is knowing that it's broken, because it's not like you can do a lot about it. In the set up process of my store, I very strongly feel like my bosses set me up or sabotaged me, but intellectually I know that's ridiculous. Not like that makes me feel it less, though.

[Laertes]

That sucks, Count. I went through some pretty nasty depression in my mid 20s and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Well done on beating the mental part and I really hope your upward trajectory continues.

Prak: I don't know how big your company is, but a general feeling of having been set up to fail is quite common within very large companies, simply because of the way they work. Large companies are like Darwinian selection in reverse: their processes evolve into the shittiest, most ad hoc methods that they can possibly be while still somehow managing to survive. If this is the case, you can at least take comfort in knowing that while it's terrible it's not intended personally.

[Whipstitch]

I had an older coworker get a bit frazzled today because she overheard me talking with my boss about how cats are ungrateful savages. It felt kind of unfair because as indicated earlier in this thread I volunteer with the local humane society and have virtually always had a cat in my life to some degree or another. Also, because cats totally are ungrateful savages. As far as I can tell the best reason to own a cat is because you like having your own ineffectual villain protagonist to poke fun at and occasionally cuddle.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

I had an older coworker get a bit frazzled today because she overheard me talking with my boss about how cats are ungrateful savages. It felt kind of unfair because as indicated earlier in this thread I volunteer with the local humane society and have virtually always had a cat in my life to some degree or another. Also, because cats totally are ungrateful savages. As far as I can tell the best reason to own a cat is because you like having your own ineffectual villain protagonist to poke fun at and occasionally cuddle.

My cat used to turn off the light switches randomly when she was younger.

[Stahlseele]

Cats have Character.
That is both a good reason to get a cat and at the same time a good reason not to get a cat. Depends on wether or not you can and want to live with that.

[radthemad4]

Okay, I've got some issues and I think talking about them might help. There's a major assignment due a few hours from now that I'm not going to be able to finish on time. I probably could have done it if I had started earlier. I find myself currently unable to work and unable to sleep either (though based on when I last slept I should definitely be getting some sleep) so I figured I might as well just talk about it.

It seemed like every time I sat down to work, I ended up playing video games, browsing the net, watching TV shows, or pretty much doing anything else 'for five more minutes' all night. It's not the end of the world as one assignment, or even failing once or twice probably won't ruin my life forever. But, it's been happening way too often and I'd like to put a stop to it. Whenever there's a deadline on something that seems either really difficult or a lot of work, I tend to put it off way too long, and then go into panic mode where I find often find myself unable to do even a half assed job. At that point, I either just worry about it, or distract myself with entertainment. And then the moment the deadline has passed or I've failed the exam, I feel ecstatic for a while as I no longer have to think about it, and then all the anxiety goes away, only for the same situation to inevitably happen again eventually.

There have been times when I've been able to work under pressure, but that's only happened if I either find the task extremely interesting, or if I feel like I'm making a lot of progress really quickly. However, the vast majority of stuff I need to do for Uni does not meet that criteria.

I'm pretty sure this term's not going to end well, but I want to stop getting into these situations in the future. Any ideas, the Den?

[Meikle641]

Thought about setting timers for your activities and work periods? Could maybe do a net filtering thing based on times or sometime, since I think that exists for parents.

[radthemad4]

I've had some luck with the Pomodoro Technique (Decide on the task to be done, set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally 25), work on the task until the timer rings, take a short break (3–5 minutes), after four pomodori, take a longer break (15–30 minutes)), but I often can't bring myself to actually start it. Forcing myself to spend at least two hours a day on studies every day (whether or not I've got something specific like an exam or assignment) would help, but I have a hard time getting myself to actually do it. Never tried parental controls. I'll give that a try.

[Koumei]

Try getting someone to hold a gun to your head.

In my case, I've had difficulty doing that, and ended up just studying on days off - so I take two such days per week that are set aside specifically for that. And then I just... make sure not to play games or sign onto various things or whatever.

The short breaks are good, but make sure those short breaks are spent walking around, readjusting your vision and so on. Don't make a break involve doing anything at all on the Internet, otherwise it's not a short break, it's the end of all work for the day.

Edit: I like how at the bottom of the article it has a link to Procrastination. From there I have opened another eight tabs, and will now be procrastinating most successfully. Just kidding, I'm at work, I don't have anything to actually put off doing.

[DSMatticus]

Obviously, you have to find a way to force yourself to start working, and you have to find a way to avoid distractions once you've started working. Like Koumei suggests, the way you should do that is probably by doing work first and just not signing in to or opening any of your usual distraction sources until you are done with the day's work. I... have no real advice on top of that. You just... have to do it. If you find some super secret ninja technique, by all means, fucking share.

Beyond that, if you approach your tasks with the mentality "how much time can I procrastinate and still meet my deadlines," you are either outright setting yourself up to fail or walking a very dangerous line. It's easier said than done, but it's a lot more productive to just assign time out of your day to working on shit. If you find your to-do list growing, assign more time; if you find it shrinking, congratulations you found some leisure time. Be realistic about the assignment of such periods. Four two-hour blocks of work over four days is better than one eight-hour block of work on one day, because you are more likely to stick to it and less likely to burn yourself out.

TL;DR "how many hours can I work today?" is a fuckton better way to tackle things than "how many hours can I not work at all before I fuck myself over?"

[K]

If you want to get shit done, you need to sleep.

I know that in the modern world we tend to think of people as heroes if they don't sleep to get more work done, but not getting sleep ruins both motivation and productivity in such a dramatic fashion that you'd have been better off just sleeping. A lot of research about burnout and job fatigue has landed on sleep as a major factor in preventing it and recovering from it.

[Meikle641]

Sleep is a big deal, indeed. I never realised how much fatigue was messing with my ability to concentrate and think clearly til I actually started getting rested. Being sleep deprived is like being drunk, minus the fun.

[Koumei]

Yeah, if you find yourself having to stay up late cramming on the night before an exam, you have already lost. Ideally you should at that point be doing some light revision then getting a good night's sleep.

This of course means "getting it all figured out ages in advance". There are probably special pills that all the best Uni students take that helps with this, so you'll have to ask them. Or Frank, I guess. Possibly Ant could tell you, though ant and human biology are slightly different.

[TiaC]

There are probably special pills that all the best Uni students take that helps with this, so you'll have to ask them.

They're called amphetamines.

[radthemad4]

The short breaks are good, but make sure those short breaks are spent walking around, readjusting your vision and so on. Don't make a break involve doing anything at all on the Internet, otherwise it's not a short break, it's the end of all work for the day.

Yeah, five minutes of video gaming never happens.

Edit: I like how at the bottom of the article it has a link to Procrastination. From there I have opened another eight tabs, and will now be procrastinating most successfully. Just kidding, I'm at work, I don't have anything to actually put off doing.

I remember procrastinating by researching procrastination one time. I ended up choosing it as a topic for my term paper. Unfortunately, I ended up procrastinating differently once it became work and didn't learn a great deal about procrastination in the process.

Obviously, you have to find a way to force yourself to start working, and you have to find a way to avoid distractions once you've started working. Like Koumei suggests, the way you should do that is probably by doing work first and just not signing in to or opening any of your usual distraction sources until you are done with the day's work. I... have no real advice on top of that. You just... have to do it. If you find some super secret ninja technique, by all means, fucking share.

Beyond that, if you approach your tasks with the mentality "how much time can I procrastinate and still meet my deadlines," you are either outright setting yourself up to fail or walking a very dangerous line. It's easier said than done, but it's a lot more productive to just assign time out of your day to working on shit. If you find your to-do list growing, assign more time; if you find it shrinking, congratulations you found some leisure time. Be realistic about the assignment of such periods. Four two-hour blocks of work over four days is better than one eight-hour block of work on one day, because you are more likely to stick to it and less likely to burn yourself out.

TL;DR "how many hours can I work today?" is a fuckton better way to tackle things than "how many hours can I not work at all before I fuck myself over?"

Yeah, I really need to start doing shit first before goofing off.

If you want to get shit done, you need to sleep.

I know that in the modern world we tend to think of people as heroes if they don't sleep to get more work done, but not getting sleep ruins both motivation and productivity in such a dramatic fashion that you'd have been better off just sleeping. A lot of research about burnout and job fatigue has landed on sleep as a major factor is preventing it and recovering from it.

Sleep is a big deal, indeed. I never realised how much fatigue was messing with my ability to concentrate and think clearly til I actually started getting rested. Being sleep deprived is like being drunk, minus the fun.

Yeah, I really should get more sleep.

I was freaking out when I first started posting in this thread today and was having trouble sleeping. You know, one of those, 'what am I doing with my life' moments. I feel better now. Sort of at peace. Thanks guys.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

If you want to get shit done, you need to sleep.

I know that in the modern world we tend to think of people as heroes if they don't sleep to get more work done, but not getting sleep ruins both motivation and productivity in such a dramatic fashion that you'd have been better off just sleeping. A lot of research about burnout and job fatigue has landed on sleep as a major factor in preventing it and recovering from it.

I remember years ago when I was a turd herder working 16 hour days back to back for about 3 or 4 months and what a shit job I did... like basic lab testing that I could normally do in my sleep I couldn't do anymore.

And now that I'm not working two jobs with a full load of classes (and have kept it to 1 job for about three months), it's amazing how much clearer everything looks now that I can get 8-9 hours a night every nigh.

[Maj]

Get your ass to a doctor and start talking. You sound like Ess, who was recently diagnosed with Adult ADHD. Sleep is required. Talk to the doc about that, too.

If you'd like a little more perspective, take a look at WHO's ADHD assessment here {PDF}

Also, try drinking tea. Decaf, if need be. It helps calm you down.

[radthemad4]

Hmm, 3 shaded marks in section A, and a few in B. Probably a good idea to get a check up. I've wondered for a while whether I've had some sort of psychiatric disorder (it sometimes hurts my brain to half ass things even when that's the rational thing to do, often making me either spend way too much time on minute details or avoid doing them entirely).

I occasionally freelanced for a daycare center where I know a psychiatrist. I'll give her a call. Thanks Maj.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Lol, I think I DIDN'T check like 3 of those...

[Laertes]

Full support to you, rad. I had the same sort of thing when I was younger and it's horrible, especially the feeling of helplessness of watching myself as I ended up not working.

The two things that help the most are sleep and exercise. Unfortunately they're also the two hardest things to do.

The website Captain Awkward has a lot of excellent advice on this sort of thing.

[MisterDee]

My personal life hack for this is the to-do list - to which I've added a little tweak. I also put some leisure activities on it (like "play a five-year stretch on Europa Universalis IV")

It's a little more motivating working through the list when there's stuff that isn't work or tasks on it, and I usually manage to actually do most of the boring stuff before hitting the fun stuff because my brain wants to keep the list interesting and engaging.

For long projects, I also think it's important to put some granularity in your list - either break down your assignment into specific tasks, or if you can't put "work an hour on the assignment" on the list five times instead of just "do the assignment".

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Bah, my depression has become bad enough that I'm missing work. I guess I should get medicated. I don't like depression meds, they make me put on weight and make me sleepy. I've been doing very well about watching my diet lately and been losing weight, sucks that I have to take pills that reverse that to function...

[momothefiddler]

Bah, my depression has become bad enough that I'm missing work. I guess I should get medicated. I don't like depression meds, they make me put on weight and make me sleepy. I've been doing very well about watching my diet lately and been losing weight, sucks that I have to take pills that reverse that to function...

I feel that. I have to choose bipolar meds or treating my adhd and chronic pain, and the one that makes me not try to kill myself wins, of course. Best of luck