Hello, I have a big problem that interferes with every aspect of my life. And I want to ask you all if you experience this too and/or you have any ideas on how to improve this behavior?

The Problem

When I do anything interesting, or anything that just isn’t completely boring, I can’t stop when it’s time to stop and start the doing the next thing. I always think, something like “Just five minutes more” and then I sometimes finish hours later than I had planned. This breaks all time-sensitive plans and also causes me to go to sleep far too late.

I don’t think that its simple procrastination, because what I feel when I do it, is not about not wanting to start the next thing, but about not wanting to stop the current thing.

List of things I already do / have already tried

  • Setting up alarms that remind me that I need to stop doing the current thing and start doing the next thing
  • Creating schedules
  • Configuring the Wifi Router to turn of at certain times: This is very effective (when I have taken out my SIM card before), but its only helping with cutting the wifi at the end of the day for bedtime, not other time sensitive tasks that are necessary to even enable me to sleep on time (like eating dinner early enough)
  • Buffer time: Most of the time I can’t get my self to view the buffer deadline as the actual deadline
  • Reading books about habits: I read some books about habits, but these books are mostly about starting an activity, or don’t starting an activity at all, but I need to do certain things, and stop doing them on time.
  • This list is probably incomplete
  • Remy@lemmy.todayOPEnglish
    1·
    23 hours ago

    When I can’t get off my phone, I switch the display from colour to greyscale, and about 15 minutes later it’s much easier to put the device down. NB make a shortcut so that it’s easy to change the colours without leaving the app you’re in.

    I enabled this has an automated feature, but most of the time, I turn it off manually without thinking much about it

    If an alarm is really important, I put the alarm clock on the other side of the room. Close enough that I can’t ignore it but far enough that I have to stand up and walk over to switch it off.

    This could work if I put the alarm in a difficult to reach position, so I realy need to stop the current thing to reach it, and then it may be easier to start the next thing?

    I combine activities to keep my brain sufficiently stimulated e.g. listen to a podcast or music while doing something repetitive. So when task switching, my 1st step is fun, deciding what I want to listen to.

    I think listening to music could be a good task switcher, especially if the music is motivating

    I try to avoid digital content that I identify as being addictive or very difficult to break out of. Natasha Dow Schüll defines what she calls the “ludic loop”, which is an activity that is solitary, doesn’t include natural breaks, doesn’t have a definite end, and has random rewards.

    This definition seems to match on almost all digital activities?