From the projects you take on, the tasks you do, settings goals, routines, systems etc.
I find all this stuff difficult. With so many things I'd like to do and so much i need to improve about myself, I find it overwhelming and i'm curious how you all manage your lives and what tools / systems you use to help you navigate it all.
One thing I notice about others who ask such things as you do, is how they’re actually young people saying things like they’ve “tried everything “, and “for a long time “ and “nothing works”.
Dude, it takes [at least] ten adult years to sort out your life and get your game on. The ones who don’t are those who shrug it off or don’t try!
Just keep at it. Change comes over years not days or weeks, though you should get enough of an idea to reflect and improve over months.
Keep asserting yourself!
Productivity and self development is a long game, and everyone’s works a little differently.
You should try to:
1. Keep things simple. 2. Focus on what you need to do, not what would be nice to do. As someone said, those someday/maybe lists eventually become someday/never lists. 3. Take a hard look at all of those things that you need to improve about yourself, ask yourself what's realistic, and focus on the lowest-hanging fruit. Once that's out of the way, create a plan for tackling the more difficult items. 4. Block out a bit of time each day for what you want to do. Not what you'd like to do or (again) what would be nice to do. But things you feel strongly about. 5. Take some time to actually live your life. Step away from work, self improvement, productivity, all of that sort of thing. Enjoy yourself by doing something unproductive, by reading something that won't help you in your career or life. Or just do nothing. It'll make you happier and less stressed.
Remember that the tool or system isn't important. If you have too much on your list, that list will become overwhelming and a source of stress. No matter how many bells and whistles your tool or toolchain or system has.
I basically only use the daily log since I'm too lazy to aggregate stuff into weekly or index views. You can incorporate aspects like a habit tracker or mood tracker matrices into the journal to see how well you're performing against goals like exercise and how you're feeling over time. It might also be useful to track which activities make you feel energized vs fatigued, and use that to help determine what you enjoy doing.
As a side-effect, the bullet journal becomes a memento documenting what you experienced and did over a certain period of time, and can be useful for reflection and reprioritization. One tip: you'll quickly realize that you don't have enough time to do everything you want to do, so you end up having to prioritize ("focus") or cut scope ("downsize") ruthlessly.
I also write electronic notes in plaintext/markdown which I type up on my computer and put into a Github-wiki-like web interface. I check these into git for versioning and to be able to diff notes over time. These notes are either log-formatted (append-only dated entries of something that changes over time), or I might reprocess and refine them over time into https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Evergreen_notes which essentially becomes a personal knowledgebase.
One thing I've learned over the years is that making such a system modular is a really good way to keep it sustainable and interesting. These two are really important ingredients if you are looking for long-term solutions.
I end up just living in mediocrity and not doing much and not knowing what to do or what I should work on. I end up just stuck and getting older and browsing the internet all day.
Everytime I try and sit down to 'think' I just tend to get overwhelmed, go round in circles and get confused / lost / unhappy.
The only solution I ever arrive at in these moments, is usually just to give up and go do some things I know I should do. So it's interesting that you say that.
Second: focus on what is doable and will take x hours to accomplish, x being a finite and quantifiable number.
Third: get a significant other or family member. Are they complaining that you haven’t done x? That’s a good indication x really matters and is achievable.