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by AOsborn 2272 days ago
I want to suggest building an effective daily routine and focusing on general health, fitness and wellbeing as the first step before you aim to solve anything else.

I dismissed the importance of many aspects of the above for many years before I saw the importance for myself.

In practical terms, what I mean is that unless you're physically healthy you won't be able to operate at anywhere near optimal mental capacity.

This can affect your focus, mood and motivation - for example you can work on your projects but don't manage to complete as much as you like. I was always dismissive because I thought "I don't have depression, I'm fine" and then neglected my health. My killer issue was sleep - I was fit, healthy, confident, successful, but operating on 3-4 hours sleep a night. Only in hindsight can I see how that affected so many years of my life. Correcting that did wonders in weeks.

Specific things to focus on:

- Get enough sleep (7-8 hours+)

- Get consistent sleep (Read up on sleep hygiene, you need consistency)

- Get to the gym and lift weights x3+ weekly (Especially as a male. Develop your body and your mind will follow. Heavy weights, compound lifts)

- Eat a healthy, whole foods based diet (If you're eating like crap, how can you expect to function well)

Maybe you have all this sorted already. But otherwise, take a few steps back and look at your priorities. Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do.

1 comments

Wow. 3-4 hours is little sleep indeed and I can definitely understand how that can be very detrimental to your health. Hope you are better now.

For me it isn't sleep per se, but rather my sleep schedule. Simply put, because during the last 3 years of my life I had classes during the evening, I not only tend to sleep later on, but it never seems like I have a regular schedule. One day I might go to sleep at 3 AM, the other day at 6 AM, etc..

Thanks for the advice, you are right when it comes down to everything else. I am facing the chicken and egg problem in regard to this, though, since it's a constant cycle of feeling like I'm not worth anything -> why even do exercise -> when I do exercise, I am going to fuck up again -> same cycle all over again. It's a self-destructive mindset.