Can somebody stand behind me with a taser and tase me when I'm not productive.

I have been trying everything but can't get myself to get any work done. Which is stressing me out making it even harder to concentrate.

So I'm hoping the fear of being tasered can scare me into productivity.

The feeling of wanting to work but not being able to is one of the most annoying frustrating feelings in the world. And it's slowly destroying my business.

So anyone got some ideas, I just need to get like a week of work done. But been trying now for 2 months and got like a day of work done.

And has anyone build a fun to do list app yet that is complity gamified maybe I can trick myself in doing more.

Chunk your tasks down and start.

Chunk your tasks down till an individual task will take no more than 2/3 hours max.

Most important thing is to commit and work.

Reducing every possible distractions also help. No social media. No notifications. Silent phones. Etc.

And if you want some tips (or possibly inspiration), I am waiting my bus to office at 6am. I'll either return home with last bus around 8pm or sleep at office. And it has been my schedule for last few weeks already. Our actual office hours is 0900 to 1730. People might think I'm gonna get burn out and I'm working too much. I know I'm working more than other people. But I don't feel any burnout or unhappiness. I'm pretty happy with myself and proud of myself that I'm finishing my tasks. Oh and I use pomodoros and it probably help as well I guess.

And regarding to-do lists and gamification. I believe it's just bullshit. Best Todo list is to have Todo list. Any app is just medium. That said, I use Trello. But I regularly use a pencil and paper for sudden tasks that came to my desk instead of Trello.

If you are married or have a partner, discuss the gamification part with them. Maybe they will not feed you or sleep with you if you don't finish your daily quota of tasks 🤷‍♂️

@cursee single, and I doubt I could train my dog for rewards.

I have done all of the above, for years with much success. But had some financial troubles because of a client and taxes. Those are over now but ever since that moment I can't seem to get started anymore.

Made a planning for a month with all tasks split up and just 2 hours planned for every day. And even failed at that.

But yeah I could probably find ways to remove more distractions.

It's probably myself blocking myself right now because I'm expecting to fail at concentrating for work. But not sure how to convince myself again that I'm amazing and can do it all 😎

Edit: thanks for the advice

Sometimes, a small vacation helps. Even if just a weekend trip to the next town over, it will do wonders.

I had lot of concentration issues lately, due to life's stress.
You might be overwhelmed by your mind or stress suffered. Taking steps to reduce stress, such as meditating, writing in a journal, or reading a book might help you to bring back your focus (or at least part of it).

@nanl yeah its probably stress but reducing it is not really working.

Thanks for all the tips

@MisterArie if you think a vacation won't help you much, you probably just need a good push. My ugly list was the push in my case.

We know what we can do. We know what we should be doing. We just don't know how to do.

But it's actually a lie. Of course we know how to do. Just have to do.

So if you are not mentally or physically tired, just get a good sleep, get a good meal and try to finish one task as a start. I'm sure you will be back on your track in no time.

Come on buddy. You can do it.

Could the problem be that you're trying to do too many things in a short span of time? I've made the mistake of expecting too much from myself and end up in a pile of work all seemingly simple, just requiring time. But finding that time was a big deal.
Finally, I had a chat with my colleagues and figured out that some of these can be taken up by others. So, few of those are on my colleague's shoulders now.
Not that it solved the problem, just made it better.

@MisterArie TBH i have been through the same phase as well not long ago. And among the things that helped me out was i listen to motivational and inspirational speeches alot because i love the power of words. And i have a bigger goal i want to achieve so it gave me a push. But wasnt enough, my focus periods were intermittent. Then i got the chance to start working and learning devops which has been my goal in programming eversince i registered in programming at uni but unfortunatly the market i work in has 0 to -100 demand in devops they still live by the 1 man IT department. In all ways i got the chance to get tutored by a friend who is in the field abroad and learning new things and broadening my scope really gave me THE PUSH. Maybe of you find something you love and start learning or take a step forward in your tech. Maybe that would help. Best of luck.

@MisterArie one more thing that might help, but it's difficult and requires commitment: visit a shrink. You suffer from anxiety and seems to have depression. It's amazing what some pills with psychotherapy can do.
Feel free to write me if you want to talk about it.

@Nanos hey some people spend billion of money to buy such islands 😛

@mt3o I went to see a psychologist, had to wait 3 months for an appointment.

Had one session and she concluded that I was to complicated. And she could not help me. Got reffered to a specialist psychiatrist. But looks like I have to wait another 5 months.

But my company won't survive that long if I dont get productive before that.

At the moment there are 88.500 people on the waiting list for mental health in the netherlands. And since we only got 17 mil people living here. That's a lot.

@Nanos thanks, but I think I would prefer to do this in my native tongue.

@MisterArie NL? stay away from weed. Or embrace it. It affects anxiety, in both ways, depending on the human and cbd/thc proportions.
If you have access to stimulants, amphetamine, or even better cocaine, but in homeopathic (!) doses. Similar substance is used to manage adhd symptoms.
I can't believe im actually telling someone to use drugs.

Thing is, most of what is happening in our head is drived by chemistry. Serotonine and dopamine are the neurotransmitters that go into the game for most of the time. I don't know what weed exactly does, but amphetamine boosts levels of dopamine, which in the effect help people suffering from adhd. Its interesting, because they are overactive and we treat them with stimulant, but it's working.
If you are depressed, you need higher levels of serotonine, i don't know any ways of doing so without any proper medication.
If the therapist said you are to complicated, he might be right ;) pills are easier. Look for commercial visit, not for insurance.

@mt3o they gave me pills already, for serotonin and I got myself a stash of Ritalin on advice from the psychologist.

Stopped drinking since those are depressants. And I don't smoke since I got asthma and I do like to breath freely.

@Nanos Dutch, but the government just launched this website where you can check waiting lists for all ggd(offical mental health care) offices .

And I'm on the shortest list an hour travel away.

I'm just hoping I can break out of my own state of mind because that's like 50% of the problem right now. I already start the day with this feeling that I'm probably not getting anything done. And ofc when you think that it's probably going to be true.

So you are on the best way to get out of your condition.

+ for not touching any magical stuff.
Avoid alcohol too.

That serotonin pill, it takes about 2 weeks to fully kick in, but it should give some effects within two days.
After little over than a week you might experience a short negative moid swing for day or two, but it will go away rather quickly.

Ritalin kicks in just in a day. Just don't sit use it to much to feel better and better ;) keep at max 2x what doc perscribed. Getting off ritalin hurts. Compare it to amphetamine withdrawal, just easier.

Get yourself good sleep too!

Disclaimer: im living with depression for a long time, being somewhere near bipolar disorder. And have adhd. Diagnosed being adult :)

@mt3o yeah sleep is the biggest problem. Had to stop with the sleep pills from the doctor and now I really dont get enough sleep.

Currently 2 months on SSRI's and my overal mood is a bit better. But that could also be my new puppy ;) puppy is also great for getting a healthy routine and getting some fresh air since he still has to go out every 2 hours.

Ritalin helps but the problem is getting started. And I tried the method of just starting for 5 minutes, but I end up starring at the screen for 5 minutes. To much to do is freezing me up. Even when I know I just need to get started. And that gets me frustrated even more and I know that does not help as well. I already have every organised in small task. Most are like an hour big.

Well but compared to a month ago it's going better, improvement is slow. But it's there.

@MisterArie from my experience - its much easier to start if your working with someone. Just have some to be with you at the same desk, discussing what has to be done.

@MisterArie regarding sleeping pills - is common to be prescribed with
1) benzodiazepines, like relanium/valium/diazepam, or zolpidem/stilnox. They work like a charm but it's easy to get hooked on them. Try to avoid them for the long term.
2) antypsychotics, run away. I had ketrel/quetiapine. Horrible. Way to strong for me
3) more antidepressants. I had lerivon/mianserine and mirtazapine. They put to sleep very nicely :) downside is that it's hard to get up. And they boost apetite. I gained over 10kg on them, however I was underweight, after then it's a healthy weight.

If you had sleeping pills, but now you are off, I guess you had the first group.

Have you tried buying melatonine? Its cheap, natural and very tolerated. It makes falling asleep quite easy, however it doesn't help maintaining the sleep, so it's up to you to stay asleep.

@mt3o yeah I had pills in the pam family. I thought temazepam.

I tired melatonine but it does not really make a difference.

I'm already a disaster to get out of bed lately so not sure I should go with the 3rd group.

Thanks for all the info

@MisterArie temazepam is nice for a sleeping aid. But nothing more.
What's your antidep?

Regarding the melatonine, I had similar experience until was prescribed with valdoxan. Its mostly based on melatonine, little modified. Typical melatonine pill is 1 or 3 mg. Mine is almost 30mg. I'm not sure if it's safe to use 30mg of melatonine, but in short term 10mg is something that liver and kidneys can handle.