Fighting My Brain
12/31 '25
Change the channel now, if you're not interested in my current thoughts on 'self help' for Yours Truly. I promise - I will not take offense. I can get pretty gag-tastic sometimes when others talk about it. I'm mostly writing this all out for myself.
The Problem
I'm 'driven to distraction' (just always liked that title). In my case, it feels more long tail than in the traditional sense. I follow a cycle of interest > disinterest > renewed interest > renewed disinterest even on things I really like.
It's when it gets difficult or frustrating that I have a knack for suddenly finding heaps of interest in something else. If I have related or connected interests, it makes it even easier to jump topics because working on one feels like working on the other.
With that in mind, I have interests in many different fantasy related genres, art, games, writing, and pretty much anything connected to any of those on some level.
If you're familiar with the concept of 80/20, I find that the real progress is actually made once you enter that difficult 20%. Or maybe it's better to say the progress that matters because anyone and everyone can do the 80% that only requires 20% of the effort.
But here's the thing - that first 80%? It's still a big part of the project du jour, so each time I come back, I find another part of that 'easy' 80%.
What does all this mean? Well, put simply: I spend a whole lot of time spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere.
Current 'Solution'
Solution is in quotes because there really is no solution. You can adapt to the way your brain works, but that doesn't change how it works. Maybe that's okay. I'm not here to argue for or against.
The Big Picture Planning has been an issue my whole life. It has arguably ended relationships and deeply tried others. I'm too 'in the moment' for almost my whole life. Doesn't seem wrong, to me per se, but it makes things challenging to say the least.
So how do you improve things without a big picture plan?
Habits. Eat the elephant with one small forkfull at a time if need be.
This isn't a new idea. There's tons of literature. One of my favorites is Atomic Habits, but that borders on cliche at this point. (It's also fresh on my mind because Mom got me the new Atomic Habits Workbook for Christmas after seeing an interview with James Clear.
In short: Atomic Habits does a great job of breaking down habits and how to work with them effectively in similar sense to the way James Clear did with To-Do items in Getting Things Done.
If I was to simplify both into one sentence? Break big things down into small (and manageable) bites and then do those little bites.
But that all requires planning. You have to look at the big picture and break it down. That's the very essence of planning, and I fail to do it every time.
So I'm Going to Skip the Planning. Okay, honestly, only sorta. I mean, I'm doing the big picture planning right now, I suppose - just not with a specific project in mind.
So the simple concept is this: Pick as few categories as possible. Health (mental and physical), Wealth, and Social? (Still working that out.) and select some habits (again - as few as possible) to work on to improve those areas. Small, simple, easily attainable habits. Then work like hell to make those small habits routine.
That's it for now. That's the whole shebang. It's why I recently mentioned getting back on Habitica.
Wish me luck. Or don't. I'm not the boss of you.
I was on Ritalin as a kid for a while. Worked briefly but I quickly grew a tolerance.
Fun fact: my desire to have a stimulant to allow me to focus is likely a huge factor in my fierce passion for coffee.