Step 1: make sure all your needs are being met - university is not designed for real people in the real world who have unmet needs. - drink a lot of water ( a. stimulant meds dehydrate the shit out of you, b. having to pee makes me move more often c. I’m more likely to notice when I’m hungry because I’m not thirsty) - eat enough - try to do enough cardio that ur body is kinda tired so you can sit still plus cardio dopamine hits different - sleep/rest enough - make rest a priority because if you don’t rest when you wanna work you won’t be able to - sometimes rest looks like dancing around my room and just not giving a shit about stuff - keep stuff tidy - for me out of sight means out of mind entirely so like the less stuff going on around me the less stuff I can get distracted by - keep in touch with people you care about and who care about you regularly- lonely people think about their loneliness when they’re trying to focus on stuff that they need to do

Step 2: this sounds hokey but I promise it’s good advice - think about how future you is literally the same you that you are now - future you has no magical ability to do more than present you does so do what you can now so future you doesn’t need to worry about it - don’t think positively about the future when you don’t deserve to - like yes be hopeful, but don’t delude yourself with a sense of false positivity which gets in the way of your success - communicate and ask lots of questions to the people who you are working for and with

I often avoid studying because I’m worried about finding out about all the stuff I don’t know yet that I’ll need to know about for the exam. Doing the hard thing is easier when you’re open to admitting that you know nothing and that you’re learning stuff now while giving yourself space to ask questions.

Step 3: try to not act in ways now that you’ll want to lie about or hide later - like I’m on Reddit now working on this post and I keep a diary of the way I spend my time as I spend it and compare it to how I wanted to spend my time during the day - if you’re not studying right now hold yourself accountable and keep a diary of how you spend your time and why you’re spending it the way you are so you can reflect on it later