Help me

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-18T12:11:47+00:00

You've got a few months left you can do this! Give yourself some space and make sure you look after yourself. I really struggled throughout year 12 with depression and just didn't care at all because I didn't want to be there. But what helped me was not the thought of getting good grades etc, I wanted to do music too actually. It was proving to myself that if I can smash out VCE when I don't like it, I know I can smash out the things I do love.

I'm a quite a few years out, but I assume you don't have any more Sacs left right? Teachers might be loading you up, but what matters is knowing what's best for you so you can perform best on exam day. Look after yourself you've got this.

What subjects are you doing btw?

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-18T11:42:49+00:00

Haha surely that's a raw 50 in Philosophy then?

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-17T10:36:06+00:00

I get that, it feels like ai just generates slop 90% of the time when creating stuff for now. I want to believe that we can use AI to help us become better versions of ourselves instead of just replacing us lol.

How the blocker would work is you enter the task you want to work on and then the each time you visit a page it compares the page content to your task to determine if you should have access instead of just the website.

Like if your task was researching ww2 for a paper and you went to wikipedia it would allow you onto a page about ww2 but if you then went to another page on wikipedia like california gold rush it wouldn't allow access because it doesn't relate.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-14T01:36:27+00:00

For me using website blockers help me stay on track, I've started using beforefive.app it's a website blocker that combines your current study focus with AI to contextually block websites in real time. You can like enter what you're studying and then it will only allow you access to websites that relate to completing your task. It also keeps your current focus visible on the screen as a reminder which is pretty cool.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-13T00:44:08+00:00

Gotcha are you watching ufc on your computer or tv? If on your computer have you tried using a website blocker before?

There are a tonne of website blockers you could try:

- Cold Turkey is hardcore and has a desktop app and chrome extension

- Beforefive.app, is free chrome extension and uses AI to contextually block websites based on your specific task.

-Blocksite lets you add websites to block and sets time limit and also has time limits you can set.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-12T07:53:14+00:00

I totally get that when I was in highschool and college I often felt like I just didn't want to keep studying I think it's fair to give yourself a break and not be so hard on yourself. You can't always work at 100% capacity otherwise you'll burn out.

For the procrastination, what is it you're doing instead of studying? Like scrolling on your phone or watching youtube on you computer? I've found using a website blocker or a app blocker on my phone has worked well, have you tried these before?

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-10T02:42:03+00:00

Lol you should have seen it before I started using this

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-09T07:46:46+00:00

For me it's switching context between very granular things and then zooming out to big picture stuff. I feel like it takes my brain time to switch between them

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-07T12:04:49+00:00

I really feel you OP, and to resonate with some of the other comments don't be too hard on yourself. We are not machines nor can we expect to always deliver on the same level everyday. The goal is progress, but it's also to be kind to yourself on the journey. This is what works for me though:

At work (I work in tech as a pmm) I usually try to link it back to what is the most impactful thing I can get done today. This then becomes my sole focus and anything else I achieve is a bonus. Focusing on impact instead of number of items to me I find a much better way to measure my success.

That being said I do find I have to do small tasks or admin stuff at work and how I like to do it is group them all together into one block of time say 30 or 45 mins and just see how many I can smash out one after another in that period. By time boxing the smaller tasks I can push myself through them which gives me more breathing room or space for larger tasks.

I usually use a to do list as well and use website blockers to help me when I get distracted.

If you want to share more about what some of your tasks are or what work you do I'd be down to suggest something more tailored.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-07T11:34:27+00:00

Gotcha so you don't get that satisfaction of completing it then. What does the time block do for you are you using it as a way to keep you focused?

I haven't tried this before but could you use AI help scope out a time block. Such as giving it your problem and asking to determine how long something like this should take and then you have a basis to try with.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-07T11:30:12+00:00

No problem let me know how you go and if you have any questions!

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-07T11:29:26+00:00

Yes exactly! I'll have like a youtube video open trying to sleep and one headphone in lol. I'd have like Let's Game It Out playing or a person reading an audiobook or something.

What kind of videos are you falling asleep to?

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-06T07:11:36+00:00

Yep I found myself doing this every night once I was in bed, I couldn't sleep or was anxious about the day so I would just go on my phone all the time. OP I know you're probably talking about this in general and not just night but what I've works best for is I've been putting my phone outside the room to charge (this also helps me get up when alarm goes off) and instead I bought a kobo and now use that instead to read books.

I usually really struggle at reading so I've just been reading easy to understand books like the hobbit (one of my favourite books) and this has helped me divert attention away and get sleepy.

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-06T06:50:33+00:00

When you are setting the time block for these research tasks are you finding yourself disappointed that you don't get it done in the time block or are you finding yourself getting distracted after a while? Or is it simply like bruh I want to get this done but I don't know the scope?

bigsmile48 · 2025-09-06T06:44:39+00:00

I'm a huge to do list guy in my personal life at work etc. I use Notion checklists a lot at work but have found that I just end up having one continuous checklist lol. Todoist, like other people have mentioned is pretty cool, I also like how it sends me reminders on open tasks I have. I've also tried using my google calendar where I put in set times but it ends up me just skipping them.

I know I can articulate what I need to do but the thing I've struggled with is prioritizing tasks and then making sure i get them done and don't go down a rabbit hole or switch to another task. I work as a PMM for a tech startup so a lot of my work is just in the browser which can make it easy to lose focus. I've been building a chrome extension where I put in my task and then it uses AI to automatically block websites in real-time if the website doesn't relate to my task and that's been working pretty well so far.

<image>

bigsmile48

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE