I have always marveled at the fact that I can’t, most of the times, form a habit. As annoying as it is, I just don’t seem to have the mind or memory for that. Even when it’s something beneficial, or that I really like, I always have to consciously think about doing it, and a lot of the times forget about it. It is almost as if the only habit I have is breathing, and well, I forget about doing that too. Lucky me that I continue doing it regardless.
So yeah, one of my favorite movies is Memento (as old as it is). I have sometimes thought about creating a system to follow, but I always seem to forget what it is, or even that I have one :).
A lot of my long time friends say that I’m just overloaded with work (or monotony, or just not stimulated enough), since I wasn’t always like this. I hope that this new job (first day is today) helps me on that. I also hope school starts loosening me up a bit since that could also be part of the combo.
I can relate, both to the feeling of finding it hard to create a habit and the kick-ass movie.
Your friends are probably right; a lack of stimuli (part of any monotonous environment) could have something to do with it. It seems that the deeper we get engulfed by a routinary lifestyle, the harder it is to step out of it.
If you have the patience, you could always try whatever the current productivity catchphrase or method is (GTD, the Seinfeld technique, etc.) and see if it helps. A safe time investment would be maintaining todo lists and calendars, but anything beyond that becomes unmanageable and tedious, or so I’ve found out. Organization is key, but don’t let it consume you to the point it gets to be a distraction.
As for motivation, a new job is always a kick-start. I’m sure you’ll get to do many interesting things at your new workplace that’ll keep you on your toes and away from monotony.
Good luck!
Yeah, working on implementing GTD, it’s a rather hard shift though.
Here keeping my desk clean and not distracting myself with my own life is keeping me on my toes at work.
Thanks for the advise.