90 days... and beyond

[Endeavors]

Day 0

In a pretty critical period right now. Currently writing a bachelor's thesis due a couple of days from now, and things just haven't been working during the past few weeks. I'm sorta on schedule with the thing, but procrastination and distractions make it hard to finish it up properly. My sleep schedule is completely wack at the moment, as I went to bed after 4 am last night/this morning watching gaming videos. Unfortunately, this isn't a one-off and it's causing me to perform sub-optimally.

Going to start slow and build a good foundation of habits that I can stick to.

Goals:

• Turn off ALL electronic devices and put phone away at 11 pm to wind down and prepare for bed
• No gaming content consumption (from YouTube, esports, and so on. Alternative? Hm, maybe Netflix as a start. There are probably better alternatives, but watching a movie I've been meaning to watch for some time is certainly better than mindlessly consuming gaming content. Also, I don't think I can spend nearly as much time on Netflix as I can on YouTube for instance)
• No YouTube shorts of any kind (I literally feel my brain shrinking when consuming so many short videos... but I do it anyway. No more)

I've set multiple phone alarms at around 10:55 pm to remind me of the first goal. Around this time I will perhaps write a reply to this post saying I'm turning off devices or something. Hopefully this keeps me accountable.

Anyway, I don't know if this is a "slow" start, but I think it's manageable.

Focus today is proceeding with the thesis. Also need to do some grocery shopping at some point. I'll work till no later than 8 pm, then reward myself by watching All Quiet on the Western Front (read the book a while ago, never got around to watching the movie).

Ah, this felt good. I've had these thoughts of making changes for a while, but writing it down makes it much more tangible and I feel a lot more committed. Going to be a good day!

[Endeavors]

Turning off devices now, time to catch some z's

[Endeavors]

Day 1

Succeeded with all goals yesterday, will try to do so again today.

Didn't finish watching the movie yesternight, so I can do that later today when my brain is fried. Otherwise need to continue working on the bachelor's thesis. Goal is to be done with all necessary parts today and use tomorrow to fine-tune the last bits.

 

Upd. 12:24 am: Turing off electronics now, a bit later than wanted. But had to get some stuff done on the thesis which took quite some time. Zzz

Edited June 4, 2023 by Endeavors

[Endeavors]

Day 2

Time to finish this thesis. I know that I won't be satisfied with the final product because of the time constraint. And that sucks. But I should have thought about that during the past few months with all the stupid decisions I've made and not prioritizing this project.

Anyways, not much to do about that now. Just gonna do my best today to finish it off properly, and hopefully end up with something half-decent.

[Endeavors]

Day 3

Turning off electronics now, will post more tomorrow.

[Endeavors]

Day 6

Whoops, missed a few days of posting here. Have spent some time with my family and mostly relaxed. Still no relapses into gaming content or short video consumption, but I haven't managed to stick to my sleep goal most days, which I think caused me to wake up with a headache this morning. Will try to do better and update here when I turn off devices at around 11 pm.

Anyways, today I need to begin preparing the defence of my thesis, which will take place in a week from now. Also need to do various other smaller tasks. I've set aside some time later in the day to have a 30 min. nap, as I didn't sleep that well this night. Welp, time to start the day and be productive or something, cya.

 

Upd. 11:59 pm: Turning off devices.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Endeavors

[Endeavors]

Day 7

Already got done a few things today. Need to have some lunch now, practice piano for a bit, and then go home to my parents to have dinner. Also watching the champions league final tonight.

 

Upd. 11:37 pm: Powering down.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Endeavors

[Endeavors]

Day 9

Wow, that was pretty bad.

So I woke up around 10 am, which was not optimal but not the end of the world either. Then I did part of my morning routine and ate breakfast while sitting with my laptop. I immediately got caught up in a programming problem I had started the night before. Spent around 2 hours investigating and solving the problem and completely neglected the rest of my morning routine. Not the worst way to spend time, since I learned a lot during these couple of hours and love solving programming problems. But the issue is that after solving the problem, I slowly transitioned into consuming various content on different websites while essentially completely turning off the logical and sensible part of my brain and going zombie mode. This went on for a little over 5 hours during which I barely ate or drank anything. Spent time on Youtube watching programming and sports videos, spent time on Facebook looking through images on a funny page I randomly found from a Google search, spent time on Reddit... and a couple of other random stuff. (I guess this is kind of a relapse, but I don't want to reset the count so I'll just let it slide lol)

Bawdr. Using so much time on something that adds little to no value is the worst feeling.

I think I know (at least partially) why I got so off-track. Not long after solving the programming problem, I received a call and a text message regarding a big decision I have to make concerning what I'll do after summer, which makes me quite anxious to think about since I'm unsure of what I want to do. This made me want to escape reality in some sense and get distracted with whatever content I could find online, exactly like many escape through video games.

I could write other thoughts, but this post is pretty long already, so I wanna focus on what I can do to prevent this escapism behavior. Some ideas:

• No devices during morning routine (~1 hour after waking up)
• Post here right after my morning routine and write down what I need to get done today
• Set short- and long-term goals
• Meditation/mindfulness

At least I spent time with my family after dinner, so not the entire day was wasted. Anyways, I still need to prevent cutting off from reality when things get just a little difficult.

Reminder: The obstacle is the way.

 

Upd. 11:58 pm: Turning off.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Endeavors

[Endeavors]

Day 12

Morning routine is done. Now time to pack some lunch, then head to the library to get some work done. Afterwards, I need to head out to my university and test the equipment so I'm ready for the thesis defense tomorrow.

[Faroe Islander]

Good luck on the thesis, hope it goes well.

[Endeavors]

Day 14

I defended my thesis yesterday, and it actually went really well! When I handed in my thesis a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't really satisfied with it, and it had some errors here and there. However, I pointed out most mistakes during the defense and corrected them, and apparently I answered their questions well enough to receive the best grade possible! I really didn't expect that since I feel like I wasn't disciplined enough throughout the project and could have produced something better than what I did if I had better focus. But hey, can't complain about the final verdict 😄 Glad this huge project is finally over.

Today I've mostly just chilled out. Need to get a little something to eat now, then clean my room a bit and afterwards I will head out to the local library and do some competitive programming just because I feel like it.

[Endeavors]

Day 18

Not much on the agenda today. Will probably head to the library and do some competitive programming, and later watch a video teaching regarding communication skills I've been putting off for some time. Also want to do a little bit of work-related stuff and perhaps clean my room if I have the energy towards the end of the day.

Will try to turn off devices at 11 pm so I can be in bed by midnight at the latest.