u/Lonely-Eye-3317

I never really plan my day.

Sometimes I do, but most of the time I don’t. Why?

Because you can’t predict your mind 10–12 hours in advance.

You decide, “I’ll work for 2 hours,” and then your mom calls you for something. Now you couldn’t complete it, and instead of becoming a + point for your motivation, it becomes a - point.

So how should you start your day?

1. Plan the week, not the day

Write down the important things you need to get done this week.

Don’t plan every hour. You can’t control everything that happens.

Let your brain decide what to do first when the time comes. Don’t fight your own mind.

It sounds simple, but making it a routine isn’t easy.

2. Remove distractions

Your phone, Instagram, doomscrolling, movies, games, etc.

I see people using 10 different apps just to control their scrolling.

But if you don’t want Instagram, why keep it?

If you use it for friends, get their number.

If you’re an influencer, sure, Instagram might be part of your work.

Otherwise, delete it.

And don’t use scrolling as a pill whenever you’re sad, bored, or unmotivated. Your brain will start craving it every time you feel bad.

Use entertainment when you’re actually free, not when you’re trying to escape your emotions.

3. Do something outside of work

This is probably more important than the second point.

Go to the gym. Play a sport. Paint. Write. Read. Do anything that isn’t work, scrolling, or watching movies.

I’ve been going to the gym for almost 2 years without skipping unless it’s necessary.

These things make you realize that life has more to offer than your work and your phone.

Once you’ve experienced that, even going back to endless scrolling starts feeling shitty.

4. Train your brain to keep commitments

Decide small things and actually do them.

If you can’t commit to something, don’t decide it in the first place.

The problem isn’t breaking one commitment.

It’s training your brain that your own decisions don’t matter.

Start ridiculously small.

For example, I have a bike with both kick and button start. I decided I wouldn’t use the button for a week.

If I accidentally do it, I turn the engine off and start again with the kick.

Sounds stupidly small.

That’s exactly the point.

There are still a lot of things I experiment with in my life to figure out what actually works.

But for this post, I think that’s enough.

Hope this helps someone.

Comment if you have questions

Everybody who journals and has been doing it for a year, like me, I'm not that much older, but I've been journaling for the past year, has no idea how much data we can get from a simple 10-minute journal entry about our life.

To be clear, this is something I'm working on, and it's a realisation, not self-promotion. Just to let you guys know why we call journaling so important.

Let's take a simple journal entry:

"Missed my morning walk again, third day this week, that streak's officially broken. Had a weird dream about Rohan being mad at me, haven't spoken to him in 8 months, should text him. Shipped that feature at work, felt relieved more than happy. Ran into Aryan for chai, didn't plan it, actually needed that since I've been feeling kind of isolated lately."

Now here is what this text is hiding:

• Habit: morning walk streak broken (3rd day this week - a pattern, not a slip)
• Mood: relief (specifically distinguished from happiness - subtle but real emotional nuance)
• Dream: conflict dream involving Rohan, tied to a real dormant relationship
• People/relationships: Rohan (8 months no contact, unresolved), Aryan (spontaneous, positive)
• Social life signal: self-reported isolation, contradicted by an actual good interaction that day
• Memory/moment: the chai run-in, the shipped feature
• Latent intent: "should text him" - a nudge toward action buried in a casual thought, not a to-do list item

And much more from 100s of these kinds of entries, like your routines, what people matter to you, do you love your job, do you hate some decisions, what's pulling you behind, what makes you motivated, and a lot of stuff that matters to you.

That's why Fritjof Capra said: "Understanding of life begins with the understanding of patterns."

I'm not talking here about my product, but about this thing I noticed when I started working on my product. I kept getting new ideas: "Oh, I can get this, and also this, and also that." And that's how I understood the value of the journaling that I had been doing for the last year.

Initially, my plan wasn't about building something like that, but when I found out I needed these things - my patterns in life - I changed the whole idea, and now I'm polishing it.

That was my whole mindset, and I'm happy to counter any questions or ideas. More to it? Let me know what you think about this kind of journaling.

well i never plan my day, sometimes i do but not usually and why? because you can't define your mind state 10-12 hours ago. sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn't turn out well.

the reason for it is if you decided to work for 2 hours, your mom calls you in between (that usually happens) and now i regret it. so it never goes as a + point to my motivation, it goes into the (-) minus.

so how should you start the day?

well, I would say instead of planning the day, plan the week. and here you don't need to mention everything in detail. as i said, you can't control the situation. note down the top things you need to do this week, and let your brain find out what to do first, you don't need to struggle with your mind. it also goes to the minus in your motivation.

now it's basic that everybody knows. it looks simple but it's not easy to do in a routine.

Next thing is removing the distractions

now you have work to do but there is something that stops you and divides your focus. it can be your mom's tasks, your phone, doom scrolling, watching movies, playing games and stuff.

now how to manage distractions? here i'm not talking about personal distractions like family issues etc. we'll talk about the external factors.

so if you're a guy with less and mature friends, then this will be super easy for you.

so let's talk about social media.

here i see most people set a timer for scrolling and use 10 different apps just to keep these things controlled. you use 10 more apps just to delete the distraction.

i'm not saying you shouldn't, but if you don't want to use Instagram, why are you keeping it?

maybe you have a gf or some friends there. if you're an influencer, then spending time on Insta is worth it. else, use it as a little enjoy app whenever you're free.

note, i'm saying whenever you're free, not saying when you feel unmotivated, sad, and depressed.

because if you use Insta as a pill in this situation, your mind will crave for this whenever you hit any of these emotions.

so if you use it for reels, then delete the app.

if you use it for friends, ask them to give you their number or any other way of contact. if they can't do this, sorry, they are not your friends and you're wasting time there.

i know it's very hard, but just don't think twice and delete the app, whatever distracts you. then look at your work list and start working.

i want to explain this more but can't do it right now.

3rd thing: do something apart from your work and Insta or movies.

and trust me, the 2nd one is not so important. the 1st and 3rd parts are the pillars.

do extra activities. like i go to the gym and i haven't skipped my gym in the last 2 years unless it's necessary.

you don't need to go to the gym. you can play some sports (not video games), because they give you cheap dopamine or painting, writing, reading.

this is the time when you realise that your life is worth living and you never want to go back to that loop.

even if you go back to scrolling reels, you feel bad because you have tasted something that hits more.

Now the final thing, which is also important: how to train your brain to take action.

well, i'll explain it in a very short way.

decide and do little things, or if you can't, then don't decide.

if you decided that i'm going to be hungry today, then be hungry no matter when your friend is ordering or how much you feel the desire for the food. just don't.

the reason is if you break the commitment, your brain will be trained on breaking commitments and you'll break more. so this will push you even more back than you are now.

so don't break commitments.

start from little. you can take as little as possible.

if i give you an example of mine, i have a bike with kick and button start. i decided not to start my bike with the button for this week, and whenever i do this by mistake, i shut down the engine and start with the kick again.

that's it.

there is still a lot missing, the things i do in my life just to experiment with what works and what doesn't.

so for this post, i think it's enough.

hope this helps someone.

comment if you have any questions.

well i never plan my day, sometimes i do but not usually and why? because you can't define your mind state 10-12 hours ago. sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn't turn out well.

the reason for it is if you decided to work for 2 hours, your mom calls you in between (that usually happens) and now i regret it. so it never goes as a + point to my motivation, it goes into the (-) minus.

so how should you start the day?

well, I would say instead of planning the day, plan the week. and here you don't need to mention everything in detail. as i said, you can't control the situation. note down the top things you need to do this week, and let your brain find out what to do first, you don't need to struggle with your mind. it also goes to the minus in your motivation.

now it's basic that everybody knows. it looks simple but it's not easy to do in a routine.

Next thing is removing the distractions

now you have work to do but there is something that stops you and divides your focus. it can be your mom's tasks, your phone, doom scrolling, watching movies, playing games and stuff.

now how to manage distractions? here i'm not talking about personal distractions like family issues etc. we'll talk about the external factors.

so if you're a guy with less and mature friends, then this will be super easy for you.

so let's talk about social media.

here i see most people set a timer for scrolling and use 10 different apps just to keep these things controlled. you use 10 more apps just to delete the distraction.

i'm not saying you shouldn't, but if you don't want to use Instagram, why are you keeping it?

maybe you have a gf or some friends there. if you're an influencer, then spending time on Insta is worth it. else, use it as a little enjoy app whenever you're free.

note, i'm saying whenever you're free, not saying when you feel unmotivated, sad, and depressed.

because if you use Insta as a pill in this situation, your mind will crave for this whenever you hit any of these emotions.

so if you use it for reels, then delete the app.

if you use it for friends, ask them to give you their number or any other way of contact. if they can't do this, sorry, they are not your friends and you're wasting time there.

i know it's very hard, but just don't think twice and delete the app, whatever distracts you. then look at your work list and start working.

i want to explain this more but can't do it right now.

3rd thing: do something apart from your work and Insta or movies.

and trust me, the 2nd one is not so important. the 1st and 3rd parts are the pillars.

do extra activities. like i go to the gym and i haven't skipped my gym in the last 2 years unless it's necessary.

you don't need to go to the gym. you can play some sports (not video games), because they give you cheap dopamine or painting, writing, reading.

this is the time when you realise that your life is worth living and you never want to go back to that loop.

even if you go back to scrolling reels, you feel bad because you have tasted something that hits more.

Now the final thing, which is also important: how to train your brain to take action.

well, i'll explain it in a very short way.

decide and do little things, or if you can't, then don't decide.

if you decided that i'm going to be hungry today, then be hungry no matter when your friend is ordering or how much you feel the desire for the food. just don't.

the reason is if you break the commitment, your brain will be trained on breaking commitments and you'll break more. so this will push you even more back than you are now.

so don't break commitments.

start from little. you can take as little as possible.

if i give you an example of mine, i have a bike with kick and button start. i decided not to start my bike with the button for this week, and whenever i do this by mistake, i shut down the engine and start with the kick again.

that's it.

there is still a lot missing, the things i do in my life just to experiment with what works and what doesn't.

so for this post, i think it's enough.

hope this helps someone.

comment if you have any questions.

We’re all always looking for productivity apps, but finding the right one is the hard part.

Let’s help each other out. Share:

• What you use
• Why you pay for it
• What makes it different from other apps

Free tools are welcome too if they’re genuinely worth sharing.

For me, it’s Apple Music $6.99/month. Yeah, music counts as productivity for me. 😄

I tried tons of task tools, to-do apps, and other productivity apps like alarms, focus apps, etc.

But there is no app that I've used for even a week except the calendar, which I use for my meetings. 😂

I always feel like I'm wasting my time by using those apps. Why do you need so many fancy apps just to remind you that you have to do some task? We're humans, and our brain is our superpower.

Or, if there are so many tasks, I simply use a pen and a sticky note, and it works as hell. Yeah, my belief is: you don't need medicine, you need the habit to be healthy.

I would rather prefer dropping things that cause distraction, like doomscrolling, watching too many movies, going to parties, or having nonsense conversations.

That's my personal belief, and I found out these things through my own experience: no productivity app on this earth can make you productive. Some apps help, but they're not going to make you 100% hyper-focused.

And for 50% of my tasks that are repetitive work, where I just need to think a little bit, I use music in the background, and it keeps my mind in rhythm. For the other 50%, I get tired of music, so I want a quiet place to work. I stop the music, and my brain works even better in silence. It feels like it's breathing fresh air.

That's the simple thing I do almost every day and have been doing for years: 50% of my low-priority tasks with music, and the rest without.

And I'm not saying productivity apps are bad. I'm just raising a point about what works for me and what doesn't.

Anyone else feels the same?