r/Procrastinationism

I’m not looking for advice. I’m trying to understand what actually goes through people’s minds when they end up scrolling for hours instead of doing what they planned.
Is it boredom? Lack of motivation? Habit? Stress? Something else?
I’d love to hear your personal experience.
Some questions I’m especially curious about:
What were you supposed to be doing instead?
What’s the first thought that usually leads you to pick up your phone?
Have you ever managed to break the habit for more than a few weeks? If so, what was different?
I’m doing personal research because I’m fascinated by why so many people (including me) struggle with wasting time on their phones. I’m not selling anything I just want to understand the psychology behind it.

For the most part of my life, I've never really had any hobbies,my excuse being putting school first,and so I never had much of a life. This didn't help at all,and I genuinely need to lock in cause I have mocks in August that I really want to excell in for once in my life. But I have a problem,I don't feel a sense of urgency,and I've heard that having other things to do subconsciously helps you like manage your time and so be more productive. How true is this and would it work for a burnt out/overwhelmed student??

Note: I'm really sorry if this is off topic for this sub Reddit,I just found it in order to ask this question

I’ve been thinking a lot about a problem that I feel in my own life, and I’m curious whether other people feel it too.

I’m not talking about “I need a better to-do app” or “I need to be more productive.”

I mean something deeper:

You know what matters to you — maybe your parents, spouse, kids, health, friendships, or even a personal goal — but somehow your weeks keep getting consumed by work, errands, stress, and random urgent things.

And then months go by.

You keep telling yourself things like:

• “I’ll visit my parents next month.”
• “I’ll call more often once work gets lighter.”
• “I’ll start taking my health seriously after this quarter.”
• “I’ll spend more quality time with my kid/partner when life calms down.”

But life doesn’t really calm down. It just keeps moving.

The idea I’m exploring is an app that doesn’t focus on generic productivity, but on life priorities.

For example, it would ask about:

• what matters most to you right now (family, health, partner, money, growth, etc.)
• who matters most to you
• how often you actually spend time on those people / goals
• what you feel you’re neglecting
• what you don’t want to regret 5–10 years from now

Then instead of giving you a giant task list, it would try to show you where your life is drifting and turn that into small, concrete weekly actions.

Examples:

• “You say family is your #1 priority, but only ~3% of your week goes there.”
• “You haven’t called your parents in 18 days.”
• “You want to improve your health, but you’ve had 0 movement sessions this week.”
• “You’ve postponed a meaningful catch-up with a close friend for 3 months.”

It could also do more emotionally concrete things like estimate opportunities based on current patterns, e.g.:

• how many visits you might realistically make to your parents over the next few years if your current routine doesn’t change
• how many weekends you’re likely to spend with your kids before they get older
• how much extra time you could create for relationships/health with one small recurring change

The goal wouldn’t be to scare people or become a “memento mori” app.
It would be more like a life-prioritization coach that helps turn values into actual recurring actions.

I’m trying to validate whether this is a real problem or just something that sounds good in theory, so I’d love honest feedback:

1. Do you feel this problem personally — where you know what matters, but your actual life doesn’t reflect it?
2. Would you ever use an app for this, or does it sound too heavy / emotional / intrusive?
3. What would make this genuinely useful rather than just another productivity app you stop opening after 3 days?
4. Which part feels most valuable:
   • identifying neglected priorities
   • nudging you to take action
   • weekly life review / reflection
   • relationship/family reminders
   • health / habit accountability
   • “limited opportunities left” type insights

Brutal honesty is welcome. I’m much more interested in hearing why this would not work than getting polite encouragement.

Does anyone else feel like you don't have enough time to study and even begin to consider cutting your sleep hours to make up for it. I've become interested in learning Chinese recently but a combination of work, Uni and other things makes it almost impossible to pursue.

It's really annoying because I absolutely love learning languages but it seems like I have no choice but to sacrifice a bit of my health for it work. Of course I could wait a few years until I have less on my shoulders but I think I'm too passionate to just give it up. I hate it when life makes you do this, but I guess I will have to waiver some of that precious sleep.

The dishes from breakfast was pilling up and now it past dinner time.

I wake up every day and take an oath that I will change myself, but I always end up wasting time. Every single time.

How do I get rid of my habit of procrastination?

Another important thing is that I'm 22, and I have a sudden urge to get into great shape and learn as many skills as possible public speaking, management, finance, and more. I also want to start studying philosophy again and watch YouTube videos about different people and ideas.

also one habbit is killing my team and my peraonality, im good overall but sometimes i feel lust full and end up master bating.. it is slowly turning into habit

The problem is that I feel like I can't start because I don't feel ready. I'm afraid of missing out on important knowledge, so I keep postponing everything instead of actually beginning.

i didn’t have the best home life growing up. definitely not the worst but my family is not the most positive and they’re not necessarily the hardest workers. it’s rather depressing. and i’ve grown up with a lot of mental health issues, but i do believe in God and he’s uplifted me always. and i try not to repeat cycles in my family. i’ve done pretty well. i’m 21 with no kids. which doesn’t really happen in my family. i take care of all my things myself. all my bills are paid. but i find myself just living to work, come home and smoke, watch tv and do it over again in the am. i go through times where im really fit and eating well and doing good with my habits. but i go through more times where I just don’t know what to do. feeling purposeless i guess. i sometimes find myself only getting better to look good or to be of use for someone else. like when talking to a guy, i want to get all my shit together so i dont look like im a mess. but when im not talking to anyone, like now, i dont care. i dont care for myself that way and i dont know why. there’s someone i want to be and im so far from her right now. it’s like i know what i should be doing and i just wont do it. i wont go to the gym. i wont eat right. i wont stop smoking. i feel mentally so much calmer and logically after but it makes me sluggish and i dont wanna do anything. i know who i want to be, but i wont commit to the habits long enough and i have not assumed the identity. i guess my question is how do i get up. what helped you move when you had no motivation/self discipline. and if you’ve been through the same, i do i walk away from marijuanna forever, or at least a controlled amount. i’m so tired of myself it’s sickening me. help?

recently i had stumbled upon dsa and am near linkedlsits adn it is fucking boring to watch kunal kushwahs lecture and making notes and i feel headache and body pains becuase i just gone for gym one day and after that i didnt go becuase my gym was free as of now now i dont feel like anything to do but i have to do help guys

I don’t know if this is a weird feeling, but sometimes it feels like I’m just… waiting.
Waiting until I have a better job.
Waiting until I’m more disciplined.
Waiting until I have more money.
Waiting until I finally “figure things out.”
The strange part is that life keeps moving while I’m waiting. Weeks become months, months become years, and I still feel like the real version of my life hasn’t started yet.
I’m trying to improve myself, but there’s always this feeling that I’m behind everyone else or that I’m stuck in some kind of transition phase that never ends.
Does anyone else feel this way?
If you used to feel like your life hadn’t really started yet, what changed? Was there a specific moment, or did it happen gradually?

I'm working on something SUPER important that LITTERALLY could change my life, but my damn brain keeps automatically going to my bookmarks and clicking youtube. I've been trying for about 10 months (I've had to start over due to me getting smarter and realising i was stupid and writing it in the wrong format, stuff like that) I have a blocker to block youtube and i dont bypass it that much but sometimes i do. That's not my issue. I will find anything to do thats not youtube, like even neal.fun for some reason. And i don't want to just put more blockers on more things because i always can remove it, I want to learn how to WANT to do this. I want to learn how I can realise "Wow! If i just stay focused on this for X amount of hours per day, I can have this! Maybe even that super rare guitar pedal i want!" But instead my brains like "🤔 Hmmm, me want money & guitar stuff, me find other ways to get money instead of doing what smart brain wants!" (Read that in a caveman voice) Anyways, I wish i thought of asking sooner because i've been struggling with this for a long time. By the way I'm (Reddit removed my post when i said my age so lets just say i can't drive but barely old enough to technically play fortnite.) I'm also medicated. I will be forever grateful for ANY help. Thank you so much.

I've been living with my boyfriend in another city for the past four months, and i feel completely stuck.

the plan was always for me to find a job, but I still haven't. i just send my resume online, and I've only gone out to hand it out in person once. i know i should be doing more, but my anxiety makes it feel impossible. the truth is... i don't even want a job. i know i need one, but i have no motivation.

for context, I've struggled with depression since i was a kid. I've been in therapy for two years and i have depression, anxiety, and bipolar II. not on medication because i can't afford it.

I've been having suicidal thoughts. i often feel like i don't want to be alive anymore. the only reason i'm still here is because i don't want to hurt my boyfriend and my family.

i keep thinking that if i can't find a job, i should at least take a course or study something, but nothing interests me anymore.

most days i stay home applying for jobs online or doing nothing. some days i barely get out of bed. i don't get dressed because i have nowhere to go, and i struggle with basic things like brushing my teeth, showering regularly, or keeping any kind of routine.

i feel guilty all the time because i know what i should be doing, but i just can't make myself do it. my therapist encourages me to build small habits, and my mom is starting to notice that i'm not doing well and that scares me so much, but nothing seems to get me moving.

i genuinely don't understand what's happening to me. has anyone else been through something similar? how did you get out of it?

​

For the past few months, I've been thinking about procrastination differently.

Instead of asking, "How do I become more motivated?" I'm asking, "What part of my system is failing?"

For example, procrastination could be caused by:

- Too much friction to start.

- Poor environment design.

- Decision fatigue.

- Unclear next actions.

- Reward loops from social media.

- Sleep, nutrition, or energy problems.

- Identity not matching the habits I'm trying to build.

I'm starting to think that discipline isn't a personality trait , it's an emergent property of a well-designed system.

I'm treating myself like an engineering project: identify bottlenecks, run small experiments, measure results, and iterate.

For people who've managed to become consistently disciplined for a year or more:

What system change had the biggest long-term impact? Not a motivational quote or productivity hack, but a structural change that permanently made consistency easier.

I'd love to learn from your experiences.

For the life of me, can someone please please help me understand how to get past a massive block that has been going on for more than six months?

I'm in a great spot with emotional regulation, sleep, nutrition, journaling, hobbies, and exercise. Have no children and work from home (maybe an issue).

I create digital guides for niche, highly specialized senior management roles in tech, and I have credibility and a strong industry background. I know there is demand.

In theory, I could also do consulting and probably make good money, but I struggle with the whole client-facing thing, so that's a no go.

The frustrating part is that this is not complicated. I know what to do. I need to finish and publish two or three guides, then reach out to qualified contacts to promote them. That’s it. I’m currently unemployed after a layoff (not looking for a job), so this is the main thing I should be working on. Realistically, even two focused hours a day would move this forward quickly.

But for the past 6 months, I’ve mostly been avoiding the work, and finding every possible excuse to do other things.

I don't use or plan to use meds for my ADHD. I’ve hired two coaches, worked with two psychologists, joined a community, studied the ADHD brain, and tried to understand what’s happening. But I’m honestly at my wit’s end.

How do I get myself to sit down for 2 hours a day and work on something that I enjoy, could be my livelihood, and help me earn the money I need to pay my bills?

I’m not looking for generic 'just be disciplined' advice because that hasn't worked, although I've been incredibly disciplined my whole life. I’d really appreciate practical strategies from people who have dealt with this kind of avoidance, paralysis, ADHD-related resistance, or solopreneur blocks.

when i’m bored or just feeling unmotivated, I always end up telling myself dumb shit like “i’ve got 20 minutes until I need to leave so i’ll just scroll a bit” or “i’ll just watch 5 videos then i’ll be productive”

Then I look up and it’s been 40 minutes and I don’t even remember the last 5 videos i watched

Do y’all do the same mental gymnastics or is it just me? what’s your go to excuse? and is it just me who lowkey feels guilty after it???

I’ve been chubby pretty much my whole life, and I’m honestly tired of it. I really want to get in shape before school starts in about two months so I can feel like a completely different person.
The biggest problem is consistency. I start working out and eating better, but after like 3 days I just stop. It’s not even because I don’t want to keep going. I just somehow forget or fall back into my old habits, and before I know it I’m back where I started.
I know getting in shape isn’t easy, but I feel stuck. I really want this, but I can’t seem to stick with anything long enough to see results.
Has anyone else been like this? What helped you finally stay consistent? Any tips or habits that actually worked for you would mean a lot.

How do i get out of my all or nothing mindset? it feels like it’s running my life I have all my days pretty much planned especially with my diet i have it so structured that if i miss any meal throughout the day i just consider the day a right off instead of trying to plan ways around it or just eat it at a different time i fall victim to myself and it impacts my gym days because with that shitty mindset i also think to myself “well if i didn’t eat good today i probably shouldn’t go to the gym either” and then it just makes me have a non productive day. Like i have pretty good habits and i know what i need to do but i feel restricted sometimes i just want to get rid of needing the perfect structure to make it through a day

i swear my attention span is so cooked. i literally try studying everything and i keep getting distracted or just flat out annoyed at myself and don’t do anything. idk i feel like such a chud who keeps scrolling ts is so bad. if you got any advice or motivation im lowk desperate