꒰ Saturday 07.16.23 ꒱

Over the course of the previous year I came to the realization... that I should probably get checked out for ADHD or something. One of the many reasons for my suspicion is my life-long struggle with procrastination. My tendency to put things off and subsequently languish over the volume of incomplete tasks piling up around me is probably up there in terms of my greatest flaws. Anyways, today I've come here not to complain about my lack of productivity, but document something miraculous thats happened throughout the last couple days. I found a way to remedy my procrastination! What's my secret to finally becoming productive?

Threatening myself with certain death.

Ok so I'm the kind of person thats not very superstitious, but I'm superstitious just enough to not want to take a risk. I'm not one to believe in ouija boards, but if you asked me to play with one, I wouldn't want to run the risk of being haunted. Those engagement-farming posts that tell you to repost or send to 5 friends or risk a year of bad luck work on me. As a kid, I was the one in the youtube comments section reposting those "send this to 5 people or a demon girl will appear at the foot of your bed" chain letters.
So my strategy is basically this: I make a promise to myself (and maybe to the grim reaper) saying "I will complete X by Y or I will die." Basically I now feel obligated to complete X task by the deadline I set or I'll risk death. So far it's been working like a charm! I've been finishing tons of homework and completing things I've put off for months. Feeling like I absolutely have to do something or die is a bit of a drag, but it's definitely an improvement over dreading an important task and spending days staring at the ceiling psyching myself up for it. Big thanks to me for holding myself at gunpoint so I can achieve things like remembering to wear my retainer.

On the topic of homework, today I was sitting out on my balcony and finishing up coursework. My contract with death for today included the terms of working for 30 minutes and then being allowed no more than a 10 minute break after each half-hour interval. I was feeling very productive and immersed in my work. And then a frog came out of nowhere and sat right next to me!! I dont know if I screamed before or after registering it was a frog, but it jumped on me, jumped onto a nearby chair, and then disappeared. It left frog juice everywhere... Hopefully the grim reaper didnt consider that a distraction from my homework.