11 ms·

The 24 Hour “Do Nothing” Challenge

138 points by dynm 4y ago

ujnproduct 4y ago
Have you heard of Vipassana meditation? They do something similar, but you are allowed to eat. It isn't for 1 day though, but for 10. Link here - https://www.dhamma.org/en/ https://www.dhamma.org/en/
- kritiko 4y ago
  I'd definitely recommend doing a 1 day retreat before diving into something longer - some people suffer psychotic breaks and other challenging meditation experiences.
  - andreareina 4y ago
    I've been to a ten-day retreat, reportedly days 3/4 are the most common ones for something to happen. The organisation linked by GP actually doesn't accept applications for the one-day retreats unless you've previously completed a ten-day one with them.
- goodpoint 4y ago
  Regular meditation instead of overdoing it is much healthier.
  - ujnproduct 4y ago
    Agreed.
moritonal 4y ago
I was about to be mean about how this was basically a waste of time, but as I read the results I was reminded of how my Quaker school would sit in utter silence for for 30 minutes every Thursday. This "quiet reflection" was seen to open our heads to all the thoughts we run from, or never have time for, and it seems OP experienced this with his slightly extra 24hr version. Whilst I think 24hr is a ridiculous amount of life to waste doing nothing, I think I'd now agree that the Quaker's were onto something when they simply stopped once a week to think about life.
- dfxm12 4y ago
  Maybe this is splitting hairs over definitions, but I don't think getting lost in trains of thought (like OP) or the "quiet reflection" that you did is doing nothing. When I think of doing nothing, I think of doing nothing. No catching up on thoughts we don't have time for, no chasing ideas, just nothing. It's really hard for a few minutes, let alone 30, let alone 24h! Part of this is that I think of quiet reflection as healthy, if not necessary, and thus, it is something.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    I think discussing this sort of thing one needs to be clear on the definition, so it's not splitting hairs. But with your definition, doesn't it devolve into a philosophical matter of whether it's even possible anyway? Could you ever know you were doing nothing, for as soon as you pondered it you wouldn't be?
    - mxmilkiib 4y ago
      The early Buddhist texts differentiate between levels of jhana. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism#The_r%C5%ABpa_jh%C4%81nas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism#The_r%C5%...
- mrcrumb1 4y ago
  Why are you assuming it's a waste of time?
- yoyohello13 4y ago
  I think what's really interesting is that the thought of spending 24hrs doing 'nothing' is so repulsive. Do you have an idea of why that is? Although, I would say it is impossible to really 'do nothing'. OP basically spent 24hrs letting his mind wander, which is something.
  - buffington 4y ago
    The blog post's title says "The 24 Hour “Do Nothing” Challenge", but further into the article I think the actual challenge is made crystal clear: > I wanted to see if I had the willpower to cut off all stimulation for an extended period of time. That's quite a bit different than doing nothing. I think the idea of doing nothing, or even trying to cut off all stimulation is, using your term, repulsive, because it's just so unnatural, and nearly impossible. The darkness of a dark room itself is a kind of stimulation, as much as the absence of sound or social interaction might be. As natural humans sitting in the dark at night, we'd be totally engaged and on hight alert the instant that the familiar sounds of the night stopped, because that might signal danger. To the human brain, nearly everything has meaning, and often does so when there's no actual stimulus in the first place (for better or for worse).
Supermancho 4y ago
Many of us have achieved this unintentionally when we have fallen ill. I have also done this many days (mid-20s), when saddled with crippling depression.
- capableweb 4y ago
  Unless you're on the verge of dying, with no one you know around you, don't you at least check your phone once or fall "asleep" with the TV on while sick? Or have some other person who checks in on you in one way or another?
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
    I spent many hot summer nights staring at a ceiling for ~8 hours because I couldn't sleep. Or laying in bed due to migraines. The only thing I would do was get up to use the bathroom. When I caught H1N1, I was too sick to leave my room for several days and no one was around for ~10 hours at a time.
  - now__what 4y ago
    Those of us with regular migraines are experienced with the "no external stimulation" rule. Checking a phone or hearing someone open the door to check on you just brings a fresh wave of pain. Unfortunately the pain even in quiet times is usually too distracting to get any good thinking done. Sleeping too much makes the headache worse, and anything you eat is unlikely to stay down. The boredom of a migraine day is unlike anything else I've experienced.
yakattak 4y ago
I like the notion of this idea but 24 hours is ridiculous. It just reminds me of times of being so depressed that I didn’t want to do anything. I feel like there’s a somewhat of a vilification of doing something for fun. Whether it’s video games, television, Reddit etc. We’re trained socially we need to be productive. We need to either be improving ourselves (mentally or physically) or making money. I’d argue though that these “dopamine hits” aren’t a bad thing if you’re reasonably successful in the rest of your life. People deserve time to veg out.
wseqyrku 4y ago
"challenge"
oytis 4y ago
Should be fun to do with kids.
- doubled112 4y ago
  I don't think I could get my kids to "Do Nothing" for 24 minutes.
  - oytis 4y ago
    I was rather thinking of doing nothing for 24 hours while having kids.
  - pjlegato 4y ago
    Start smaller. Set a timer for one minute, and get them to "do nothing for one minute." Build up from there.
warmwaffles 4y ago
I don't think I could do this for a full 24 hours, but I do try to take time everyday to disconnect and sit down and write or doodle on paper. Usually it's just throw away stuff but it is relaxing to me.
Yizahi 4y ago
"24 hours". Let's start with something realistic, like "5 minutes" challenge :) . I'll probably fail it.
tokai 4y ago
The whole discourse around dopamine fasting is a cross misunderstanding of how brain chemistry works. It is at best a worthless framing and at worst a counter productive meme.
- vmoore 4y ago
  Not really. Dopamine starving is something I've always done. I'm not sure about the science behind it, but it works wonders for me. All pleasure has a law of diminishing returns, you need some sort of build-up of dopamine in your brain for it to work properly again, otherwise you chase higher yielding dopamine activity (because of tolerance) and that's unhealthy. I've often found myself doom-scrolling, snacking too much, or vaping more than I should be. I've also found myself eating the same comfort food with no pleasure attached to it, it was just mindless snacking and my dopamine 'buildup' was diminished.
  - tokai 4y ago
    >I'm not sure about the science behind it The science says its bullshit. You are literally on the level of people swearing to homeopathy. Your anecdata of 1 is not wort anything.
tekla 4y ago
Wow, I know this is a blog, but some people need to touch a tree or something. Do something that requires effort that doesn't keep your hands free. Go camping or something in an area without cell reception for a few days. I promise you will be fine. Doing nothing for a few days is very easy.
- sneak 4y ago
  Camping isn't nothing. Outdoors can be very stimulating. This wasn't only "no phone"; he eschewed books and social contact and sound as well.
- randlet 4y ago
  I think you missed the entire point of the article? Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is the exact opposite of doing nothing.
  - krisoft 4y ago
    > I think you missed the entire point of the article? No. It is a frame challenge. The blogpost says "I’m hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology (in my case – Reddit, video games, phone messages, and having music or tv shows in the background)," The solution to that is not to do nothing. If you have this problem you precisely should do something. Hiking is a good idea. Or sitting down with friends and just chatting, without any of those distractions. Or working on a project where you concentrate on your tools (preferably physical tools) for days on end to achieve some results. > Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is the exact opposite of doing nothing. Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is also the exact opposite of being "hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology".
    - SamBam 4y ago
      Precisely. Everyone is telling you that camping wouldn't be in the rules of the challenge, but the point is that the challenge seemed like an odd solution to the problem. Obviously a person can just choose to challenge themselves with 24 hours of no stimulation, that's fine as a weird, maybe interesting experiment, and I'm glad the author wrote about it. It's just that the author seem to have a different reason in mind when he created the challenge. It's a little bit like the commonly-referenced XY problem in programming. Someone thinks that they really need to do Y in order to solve X, without having stepped back and confirm that Y really is necessary to solving x. Three days after the challenge, how is the author going up be different? Most likely they're never going to do that again. But a week-long "experiment" with getting outdoors more often might have turned into lasting change.
kibwen 4y ago
> I was actually annoyed at one point that I couldn’t write my ideas down because they were flowing so well. It seems like it would be well within the spirit of the experiment to leave a microphone recording the whole time.
- travisjungroth 4y ago
  That would be a very different experience. I record myself pretty often and it changes the experience in the moment because you have this direct line to the future. For example, you can list off 100 things that need to get done. Without microphone or pen and paper, you can only take forward what you remember.
LazyMans 4y ago
Sounds like prison, but the result was interesting. When I was laid off, and decided to take a month before looking. There were a lot of "life housekeeping" tasks that I decided to do. Looking back I'd recommend to anybody looking to change jobs to try your best to take some time between them, it gives you a different perspective on life when you don't have to worry about a job. It's like a short early retirement. I think you would need a minimum of 3 weeks to really realize the effect. Something else about those tasks they mentioned, this is how I procrastinate. When I'm really disengaged with something I really don't want to do, I end up mopping the floors, doing laundry, or some other mundane task I don't like doing. Only to feel bad about the procrastination later. When you're intentionally taking time away from something that consumes so much of your life like work, priorities rearrange pretty quickly. I stopped drinking as much on weekends, and my sleep schedule adjusted in a way where I was waking up much earlier because I wasn't staying up all night trying to squeeze as much "free time" before work the next day.
- coldpie 4y ago
  I took off 6 weeks between jobs recently. It was my first time switching jobs after 13 years with one employer, and the longest time I've spent not working or in school in my life. My goal was to get bored: do everything I could and then run out of things to do. I failed! I had so much more I wanted to do before my 6 weeks were up.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  This doesn't work for everyone. There is nothing that makes me worry more about a job than not having one. :)
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    That's why you have the other job lined up and the start date signed. It's the hang time while you're swinging between branches, it's not jumping off a tree to nowhere and thinking that'll be relaxing.
    - 4y ago
alkonaut 4y ago
I'm going to try this but start with say ten minutes.
Ancapistani 4y ago
As someone with ADHD... this sounds like literal torture.
- aidenn0 4y ago
  I have ADHD, and this sounds somewhat pleasant. I have an almost overwhelming amount of internal stimulus and being able to indulge it for 24 hours could be nice.
- capableweb 4y ago
  As another person with ADHD, doing something like this but on a way smaller scale, incrementally with longer period of times (I'm up to something like 20 minutes after years of doing this... Started with doing just 1 minute per time) helps me cope when I'm forced to do nothing, like waiting, which I absolutely hate doing. See it as an exercise, where you'll become stronger over time.
- eddieroger 4y ago
  I am neurotypical (or at least I think I am), and it sounds like literal torture. Like the author intentionally decided to cut off everything just ... because. I get letting the mind wander, but I am not built to be isolated for that long. I'm glad they learned something, but such rigid rules are the stuff of psychologists to test the boundaries of human ability, not a fun experiment.
- glonq 4y ago
  As someone without ADHD... this sounds like literal torture too.
  - MH15 4y ago
    I agree. All signs point to me not having ADHD, but I've had jobs in the past where there was so much downtime I dreaded coming in to work every day. I'd much rather be doing work I dislike than nothing at all. I'm not sure where this comes from, but I've been this way as long as I can remember.
- slothtrop 4y ago
1970-01-01 4y ago
This just sounds like a very terrible idea. Very likely that your problems have grown, and you've lost 24h of your exactly once life. If you need a mental break, go for a long walk. It's really that simple. Don't waste a day of your life doing literally nothing.
- idiotsecant 4y ago
  I think the benefits of idle time are not well appreciated. A period of focused work followed by a period of absolute lack of stimulation is often how the best ideas form, in my experience. When you aren't focused on something your brain is still working, it just frees up resources to consider problems outside the conscious part of your mind. I suspect epiphanies are not random - It feels to me like they are the result of intentional unfocusing.
  - CadmiumYellow 4y ago
    I could not agree more! I'm surprised at the resistance people have to this idea. I do my best thinking during idle downtime like showering, long drives, or aimlessly walking with my dog. I've always felt like ideas needed to percolate somewhere deep down in my mind, far away from the conscious parts, so that they could burst to the surface fully-formed when my mind had the resources to receive them. I think sitting in a room alone with my thoughts for 24h sounds fun! May give it a try.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - 1970-01-01 4y ago
      All of this is completely verboten for this challenge!
  - ilyt 4y ago
    That's very different than sitting on bed purposefully trying to not do anything
weird_user 4y ago
This is very easy before the Internet became a commodity. It's still easy for me today.
yurishimo 4y ago
I would have slept the entire time. The writer allowed sleeping but didn't sleep "extra" because they weren't tired. I have no such limitations! I'm sure I couldn't sleep 16 hours a day for a week, but I think I could easily squeeze 12-16 hours of sleep into a single 24 hour period. I'm a little inspired to try this for a couple of hours and see what things my brain wants to think about!
thenerdhead 4y ago
I haven’t done 24 hours with intention but only accident. But I do believe the brain’s neuroplasticity can show you different sides to yourself if you consciously tried these experiments more gradually. We have both a fast and slow thinking mode based on the challenges, experiences, and changes in our daily environment. It’s not until we actually experience the slow thinking side that we believe it could work for us as we’re too used to the fast one.
lambic 4y ago
[dead]
EmillyHughes 4y ago
I am a daily meditator and I recently tried to just disconnect for 1 hour per day, 24 hours would be torture for me. Like with most addictions I think it is better to taper off slowly than going cold turkey and then right back to where you left off. You see this with new years resolutions where people go balls to the wall with something and then just end up where they started because you can't just put years of mind-conditioning down overnight. It's better to make incremental small changes.
josefresco 4y ago
Not quite "nothing"... but I'm being pedantic. -- lying in bed just thinking pace around the room get lost in trains of thought play word games with myself recite the American presidents in order name the first 150 Pokémon -- Sounds similar to a "darkness" retreat.
jiveturkey42 4y ago
There was a term for this used in ancient times called 'Sabbath' and it was practiced weekly
- checkcircuits 4y ago
  Sabbath is more like a special case of this. The purpose of Sabbath was a built-in day of rest for people working essentially. The impetus was of course to use that time for religious reflection. However, at least in Christianity (and I believe Judaism) there's no need to be completely disconnected from any form of stimulus. You attend church, mingle among your congregation, read, enjoy time with family, etc. The author is practicing something more akin to the forced asceticism seen in eastern religions. Though you bring up a good point. Religion aside, I wonder what would happen to society if it was somehow compulsory to avoid technology for a day. I've found my life to be much more fulfilling avoiding computers these days. But perhaps that the ADHD talking. I am particularly vulnerable to the swaths of distractions available on a modern computer to the point that when I need to get work done I physically disconnect the ethernet cable from my PC unless I absolutely need it.
1970-01-01 4y ago
Sort of related is the man trapped in an elevator for 41h: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2239021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2239021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_bMhNI_TY8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_bMhNI_TY8
smm11 4y ago
It's really come to this?
nsxwolf 4y ago
This could be an interesting way to measure your true basal metabolic rate. A bathtub, an Arduino and some temperature sensors would get you a number much better than one of those online calculators.
voicedYoda 4y ago
Every week, my family goes offline for the Sabbath. Not just 24 hours of doing nothing, but 25 hours of no technology. If it's on, it's on. If it's off, it's off. We've been successfully doing this for 20 years. It was a hard transition initially, as neither my partner nor I grew up in that type of religious home. However we opted into this level of observancy because it helped us feel free, gain control of some aspects of our life, and not be bound to the 24/7 cycle. It's not always easy, and when there are holidays overlapping the Sabbath, making it 49 hours, that can sometimes be grating. That said, we find fulfillment in long walks, community meals, board games, books, sitting around and lazing about, etc. During these times, i do have amazing conversations (and arguments) with my family. And the space created for us is so rare these days. I can't imagine life with out our weekly ritual.
- silisili 4y ago
  Really like the idea. In fact, I hope there's more of a widespread movement to forgo technology, either for a period of time or more permanently. That said, can you explain this line - > If it's on, it's on. If it's off, it's off
  - groot2581 4y ago
    Not the parent, but this article might be instructive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator
    - voicedYoda 4y ago
      Er, kind of? People like to say the public transit system can be considered a horizonal elevator if you want to take the concept far enough. But even so, the idea is still there.
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    Not the commenter, but it may well be because even turning off an operational device counts as work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_Melakhot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_Melakhot
somenameforme 4y ago
There was a prop bet (proposition bet - basically all sorts of random wagers) between a couple of poker players on how long somebody could persist in a bathroom, in complete darkness, alone, with nothing else beside their typical living essentials. The bet was set for 30 days and $100,000. [1] The person who accepted the wager and started living in his bathroom in absolute darkness ultimately won the bet. The guy betting against him kept trying to offer him deals to get out of it until they agreed on a payout of $62k after 20 days. There's 0 doubt he could have made it all 30. Kind of interesting to compare and contrast the mindsets. [1] - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/10/rich-alati-poker-player-bet-dark-room-isolation https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/10/rich-alati-pok...
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  How did he manage to do that considering how cruel solitary confinement in prisons are? And won’t such a prolonged time in darkness affect your eyes?
  - LoganDark 4y ago
    > How did he manage to do that considering how cruel solitary confinement in prisons are? This is addressed in the article: > Young was relieved. He had come to a gradual realization that he hadn’t given enough weight to the fact that Alati was there by choice. “So if you’re in solitary confinement in prison, that’s a scary situation. You don’t know if you’re going to get out ever,” he said. “Here, if he lasts, he gets 100k, but these guys in solitary confinement get nothing – they have to do that.” > Kupers says that distinction – “remembering why he is there, that it is not permanent” – is crucial. “Prisoners in solitary confinement tell me they are afraid they will never be released and they will die in solitary.” > Alati, after his own taste of isolation, agrees. “[Prisoners in solitary] are not given a bathtub with sugar scrubs, and essential oil and food, and a yoga mat. They’re not given that stuff, so if I didn’t have that stuff, and I wasn’t actually free and I wasn’t being paid, that’s why [it would be a] punishment.” --- > And won’t such a prolonged time in darkness affect your eyes? This is also addressed in the article: > Alati was ready to leave the bathroom. He put on eclipse sunglasses, which blocked out any light, to protect his eyes. When he finally emerged, the noise and commotion was overwhelming.
daltont 4y ago
Sounds like Aaron Rodger's recent "darkness retreat": https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-darkness-retreat-packers-qb-solitary/nc0yd4gp2lnl98gy53htat3i https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-darkn...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
karaterobot 4y ago
So, he demonstrated that he has the ability to forego (or, since we're being ultra pedantic in this thread, minimize) external stimulation. That's a neat result. What I would like to know is whether he would modify the experiment and make it a practice. It sounded like there were benefits for him: are they worth the expense?
- jayavanth 4y ago
  From my experience, even a 30-60 minute do-nothing can help a lot. Also seems much less intimidating that an 24 hour one. Try it out for yourself
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    Thank you, I'm wondering about the author's conclusions.
avgcorrection 4y ago
> My goal was to do nothing for 24 hours. Like everyone in the modern world, I’m hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology (in my case – Reddit, video games, phone messages, and having music or tv shows in the background), so I wanted to see if I had the willpower to cut off all stimulation for an extended period of time. This dopamine bro-science is a menace.
- pfannkuchen 4y ago
  Actual science tends to be quite slow though. It is not always practical to wait for robust science to happen before taking any action, especially individual action. Unless, of course, existing actual science refutes the bro science. In this case I’m not sure it does though?
  - avgcorrection 4y ago
    See [1] and the parent comment. People who talk about neurotransmitters in phenomenological terms are philosophically confused. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28855296 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28855296
    - pfannkuchen 4y ago
      Oh I agree with this. I always read the casual use of the term “dopamine” as simply “happy chemicals”. If we ignore the technical terminology confusion, is the bro science about the human behavioral control system (which uses happy chemicals to steer behavior) still refuted in some way? Genuinely interested.
      - avgcorrection 4y ago
        I was using the casual sense of the term “bro science” to mean “sloppy thinking”.
        pfannkuchen 4y ago
geocrasher 4y ago
For me, this is what camping is about. Not Glamping. Music? Sure. Books? Heck yes! But connectivity? No. Connecting with nature? Yes. Staring into the sky or lake for hours? Yes. So transformative and refreshing.
kitsunesoba 4y ago
Having had a lot of "slow" time (much like the 24 hours described in the post) through my countryside childhood, I don't find it all that difficult to "do nothing" for stints like this. If I were to replicate the same experiment, I suspect that my issue would not be lack of willpower to abstain from "junk food" stimulation, but rather dealing with the nagging voice in the back of my head constantly reminding me that I'm fettering away the precious little time I have truly to myself — weekends and holidays are the only time when I have the privilege of pouring my full self into the things that I want to work on, rather than the lions' share going toward my job. I can't see "nothing" time becoming a part of my schedule without at least a four-day workweek, and it'd probably work best if I were to shift from full-time to part-time or move to contracting/consulting where I set my own hours. I've had a lot of luck with achieving some of the clarity of mind the writer mentions by simply habitually writing down ideas and preferring working to make these ideas reality in my spare time over scrolling through reddit and the like. Doing that has freed up mental bandwidth to a degree far greater than I ever thought it could.
_moof 4y ago
If you have a history of mental illness I strongly suggest not trying this.
buffington 4y ago
When I was much younger and a bit stupider I spent a weekend in jail for neglecting to fix a broken side view mirror on my car. That turned into a "failure to appear before the court," which put me in in jail for a weekend. What the author of the article describes is almost the same thing, but worse. At least in jail people were chatty and friendly (I know, right?). But there were times when you'd be in a cell by yourself for 6+ hours and that was not fun at all. I don't recommend that the OP do it the way I did it.
- 58x14 4y ago
  A weekend in jail for an equipment violation, or for the failure to appear? Either way, that’s absurd and really is emblematic of how inefficient the American justice system is.
  - buffington 4y ago
    The weekend in jail was officially for the failure to appear. I'd been pulled over because my vehicle's registration was expired. The officer didn't issue a ticket for that and just gave me a warning. But the car was also missing a front bumper and had no mirrors. I was issued a "fix-it" ticket for the lack of mirrors. The instructions in the citation for how to resolve the issue were crystal clear and provided a more than generous amount of time to do it. It would have been very easy to avoid ending up in jail, but me, being a freshly 18 year old kid with undiagnosed (at the time) ADHD just didn't get around to resolving the issue. I could have gone to any auto parts store and spent $20 on a single cheap generic mirror, gone to any police station with my "fix-it" ticket and shown that I'd fixed the issue, paid the $5.00 fee, and been done. But I didn't. I just forgot about it. When you do that, it's considered to be the same as ignoring court orders. A warrant was issued for my arrest. I was pulled over on a Friday night and spent the weekend waiting for my turn to explain to a judge on the following Monday morning why I ignored the citation. The initial citation and path to compliance was totally reasonable - maybe too reasonable considering it allowed me to continue driving around with no mirrors in one of the most car-dense metropolises in the world. I could have done the right thing and it wouldn't have gone on any record, or reported to my insurance company, or risked losing my license. Zero consequences except a safer car. I don't disagree that there are obvious flaws with the American justice system, but this example ranks very low on that list in my opinion. For what it's worth, the experience of spending a weekend in "adult" jail as an 18 year old changed my life in positive ways. I had lived my life not knowing I had ADHD, and this event was a catalyst in helping get diagnosed. That diagnosis helped make sense of the common refrain of "why are you failing your classes - you have so much potential", and helped me understand I wasn't stupid. Just different. I don't like to imagine how different my life would be today had I not had that experience and subsequent diagnosis.
mrtweetyhack 4y ago
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tardismechanic 4y ago
I'm reminded of the Malcolm in the Middle episode where Francis tries to study and not procrastinate: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TVs61JQv5GU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TVs61JQv5GU
Beaver117 4y ago
Everyone should take some time to do nothing. Even just 30 minutes a week helps. Just sit and think. Or go for a walk, don't bring your phone or anything. Don't go anywhere or talk to anyone, just walk and let your mind wander. You'll be suprised. And try shrooms :)
gabrielsroka 4y ago
From 2020
hammyhavoc 4y ago
Where my ADHD crew at? This shit is easy. It's getting started on things and not procrastinating that's hard.

138 points by dynm 4y ago

Have you heard of Vipassana meditation? They do something similar, but you are allowed to eat. It isn't for 1 day though, but for 10. Link here - https://www.dhamma.org/en/ https://www.dhamma.org/en/

kritiko 4y ago
I'd definitely recommend doing a 1 day retreat before diving into something longer - some people suffer psychotic breaks and other challenging meditation experiences.
- andreareina 4y ago
  I've been to a ten-day retreat, reportedly days 3/4 are the most common ones for something to happen. The organisation linked by GP actually doesn't accept applications for the one-day retreats unless you've previously completed a ten-day one with them.
goodpoint 4y ago
Regular meditation instead of overdoing it is much healthier.
- ujnproduct 4y ago
  Agreed.

moritonal 4y ago

I was about to be mean about how this was basically a waste of time, but as I read the results I was reminded of how my Quaker school would sit in utter silence for for 30 minutes every Thursday. This "quiet reflection" was seen to open our heads to all the thoughts we run from, or never have time for, and it seems OP experienced this with his slightly extra 24hr version. Whilst I think 24hr is a ridiculous amount of life to waste doing nothing, I think I'd now agree that the Quaker's were onto something when they simply stopped once a week to think about life.

dfxm12 4y ago
Maybe this is splitting hairs over definitions, but I don't think getting lost in trains of thought (like OP) or the "quiet reflection" that you did is doing nothing. When I think of doing nothing, I think of doing nothing. No catching up on thoughts we don't have time for, no chasing ideas, just nothing. It's really hard for a few minutes, let alone 30, let alone 24h! Part of this is that I think of quiet reflection as healthy, if not necessary, and thus, it is something.
- OJFord 4y ago
  I think discussing this sort of thing one needs to be clear on the definition, so it's not splitting hairs. But with your definition, doesn't it devolve into a philosophical matter of whether it's even possible anyway? Could you ever know you were doing nothing, for as soon as you pondered it you wouldn't be?
  - mxmilkiib 4y ago
    The early Buddhist texts differentiate between levels of jhana. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism#The_r%C5%ABpa_jh%C4%81nas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyana_in_Buddhism#The_r%C5%...
mrcrumb1 4y ago
Why are you assuming it's a waste of time?
yoyohello13 4y ago
I think what's really interesting is that the thought of spending 24hrs doing 'nothing' is so repulsive. Do you have an idea of why that is? Although, I would say it is impossible to really 'do nothing'. OP basically spent 24hrs letting his mind wander, which is something.
- buffington 4y ago
  The blog post's title says "The 24 Hour “Do Nothing” Challenge", but further into the article I think the actual challenge is made crystal clear: > I wanted to see if I had the willpower to cut off all stimulation for an extended period of time. That's quite a bit different than doing nothing. I think the idea of doing nothing, or even trying to cut off all stimulation is, using your term, repulsive, because it's just so unnatural, and nearly impossible. The darkness of a dark room itself is a kind of stimulation, as much as the absence of sound or social interaction might be. As natural humans sitting in the dark at night, we'd be totally engaged and on hight alert the instant that the familiar sounds of the night stopped, because that might signal danger. To the human brain, nearly everything has meaning, and often does so when there's no actual stimulus in the first place (for better or for worse).

Supermancho 4y ago

Many of us have achieved this unintentionally when we have fallen ill. I have also done this many days (mid-20s), when saddled with crippling depression.

capableweb 4y ago
Unless you're on the verge of dying, with no one you know around you, don't you at least check your phone once or fall "asleep" with the TV on while sick? Or have some other person who checks in on you in one way or another?
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  I spent many hot summer nights staring at a ceiling for ~8 hours because I couldn't sleep. Or laying in bed due to migraines. The only thing I would do was get up to use the bathroom. When I caught H1N1, I was too sick to leave my room for several days and no one was around for ~10 hours at a time.
- now__what 4y ago
  Those of us with regular migraines are experienced with the "no external stimulation" rule. Checking a phone or hearing someone open the door to check on you just brings a fresh wave of pain. Unfortunately the pain even in quiet times is usually too distracting to get any good thinking done. Sleeping too much makes the headache worse, and anything you eat is unlikely to stay down. The boredom of a migraine day is unlike anything else I've experienced.

yakattak 4y ago

I like the notion of this idea but 24 hours is ridiculous. It just reminds me of times of being so depressed that I didn’t want to do anything. I feel like there’s a somewhat of a vilification of doing something for fun. Whether it’s video games, television, Reddit etc. We’re trained socially we need to be productive. We need to either be improving ourselves (mentally or physically) or making money. I’d argue though that these “dopamine hits” aren’t a bad thing if you’re reasonably successful in the rest of your life. People deserve time to veg out.

wseqyrku 4y ago

"challenge"

oytis 4y ago

Should be fun to do with kids.

doubled112 4y ago
I don't think I could get my kids to "Do Nothing" for 24 minutes.
- oytis 4y ago
  I was rather thinking of doing nothing for 24 hours while having kids.
- pjlegato 4y ago
  Start smaller. Set a timer for one minute, and get them to "do nothing for one minute." Build up from there.

warmwaffles 4y ago

I don't think I could do this for a full 24 hours, but I do try to take time everyday to disconnect and sit down and write or doodle on paper. Usually it's just throw away stuff but it is relaxing to me.

Yizahi 4y ago

"24 hours". Let's start with something realistic, like "5 minutes" challenge :) . I'll probably fail it.

tokai 4y ago

The whole discourse around dopamine fasting is a cross misunderstanding of how brain chemistry works. It is at best a worthless framing and at worst a counter productive meme.

vmoore 4y ago
Not really. Dopamine starving is something I've always done. I'm not sure about the science behind it, but it works wonders for me. All pleasure has a law of diminishing returns, you need some sort of build-up of dopamine in your brain for it to work properly again, otherwise you chase higher yielding dopamine activity (because of tolerance) and that's unhealthy. I've often found myself doom-scrolling, snacking too much, or vaping more than I should be. I've also found myself eating the same comfort food with no pleasure attached to it, it was just mindless snacking and my dopamine 'buildup' was diminished.
- tokai 4y ago
  >I'm not sure about the science behind it The science says its bullshit. You are literally on the level of people swearing to homeopathy. Your anecdata of 1 is not wort anything.

tekla 4y ago

Wow, I know this is a blog, but some people need to touch a tree or something. Do something that requires effort that doesn't keep your hands free. Go camping or something in an area without cell reception for a few days. I promise you will be fine. Doing nothing for a few days is very easy.

sneak 4y ago
Camping isn't nothing. Outdoors can be very stimulating. This wasn't only "no phone"; he eschewed books and social contact and sound as well.
randlet 4y ago
I think you missed the entire point of the article? Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is the exact opposite of doing nothing.
- krisoft 4y ago
  > I think you missed the entire point of the article? No. It is a frame challenge. The blogpost says "I’m hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology (in my case – Reddit, video games, phone messages, and having music or tv shows in the background)," The solution to that is not to do nothing. If you have this problem you precisely should do something. Hiking is a good idea. Or sitting down with friends and just chatting, without any of those distractions. Or working on a project where you concentrate on your tools (preferably physical tools) for days on end to achieve some results. > Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is the exact opposite of doing nothing. Camping/hiking/exploring outdoors is also the exact opposite of being "hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology".
  - SamBam 4y ago
    Precisely. Everyone is telling you that camping wouldn't be in the rules of the challenge, but the point is that the challenge seemed like an odd solution to the problem. Obviously a person can just choose to challenge themselves with 24 hours of no stimulation, that's fine as a weird, maybe interesting experiment, and I'm glad the author wrote about it. It's just that the author seem to have a different reason in mind when he created the challenge. It's a little bit like the commonly-referenced XY problem in programming. Someone thinks that they really need to do Y in order to solve X, without having stepped back and confirm that Y really is necessary to solving x. Three days after the challenge, how is the author going up be different? Most likely they're never going to do that again. But a week-long "experiment" with getting outdoors more often might have turned into lasting change.

kibwen 4y ago

> I was actually annoyed at one point that I couldn’t write my ideas down because they were flowing so well. It seems like it would be well within the spirit of the experiment to leave a microphone recording the whole time.

travisjungroth 4y ago
That would be a very different experience. I record myself pretty often and it changes the experience in the moment because you have this direct line to the future. For example, you can list off 100 things that need to get done. Without microphone or pen and paper, you can only take forward what you remember.

LazyMans 4y ago

Sounds like prison, but the result was interesting. When I was laid off, and decided to take a month before looking. There were a lot of "life housekeeping" tasks that I decided to do. Looking back I'd recommend to anybody looking to change jobs to try your best to take some time between them, it gives you a different perspective on life when you don't have to worry about a job. It's like a short early retirement. I think you would need a minimum of 3 weeks to really realize the effect. Something else about those tasks they mentioned, this is how I procrastinate. When I'm really disengaged with something I really don't want to do, I end up mopping the floors, doing laundry, or some other mundane task I don't like doing. Only to feel bad about the procrastination later. When you're intentionally taking time away from something that consumes so much of your life like work, priorities rearrange pretty quickly. I stopped drinking as much on weekends, and my sleep schedule adjusted in a way where I was waking up much earlier because I wasn't staying up all night trying to squeeze as much "free time" before work the next day.

coldpie 4y ago
I took off 6 weeks between jobs recently. It was my first time switching jobs after 13 years with one employer, and the longest time I've spent not working or in school in my life. My goal was to get bored: do everything I could and then run out of things to do. I failed! I had so much more I wanted to do before my 6 weeks were up.
kayodelycaon 4y ago
This doesn't work for everyone. There is nothing that makes me worry more about a job than not having one. :)
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  That's why you have the other job lined up and the start date signed. It's the hang time while you're swinging between branches, it's not jumping off a tree to nowhere and thinking that'll be relaxing.
  - 4y ago

alkonaut 4y ago

I'm going to try this but start with say ten minutes.

Ancapistani 4y ago

As someone with ADHD... this sounds like literal torture.

aidenn0 4y ago
I have ADHD, and this sounds somewhat pleasant. I have an almost overwhelming amount of internal stimulus and being able to indulge it for 24 hours could be nice.
capableweb 4y ago
As another person with ADHD, doing something like this but on a way smaller scale, incrementally with longer period of times (I'm up to something like 20 minutes after years of doing this... Started with doing just 1 minute per time) helps me cope when I'm forced to do nothing, like waiting, which I absolutely hate doing. See it as an exercise, where you'll become stronger over time.
eddieroger 4y ago
I am neurotypical (or at least I think I am), and it sounds like literal torture. Like the author intentionally decided to cut off everything just ... because. I get letting the mind wander, but I am not built to be isolated for that long. I'm glad they learned something, but such rigid rules are the stuff of psychologists to test the boundaries of human ability, not a fun experiment.
glonq 4y ago
As someone without ADHD... this sounds like literal torture too.
- MH15 4y ago
  I agree. All signs point to me not having ADHD, but I've had jobs in the past where there was so much downtime I dreaded coming in to work every day. I'd much rather be doing work I dislike than nothing at all. I'm not sure where this comes from, but I've been this way as long as I can remember.
slothtrop 4y ago

1970-01-01 4y ago

This just sounds like a very terrible idea. Very likely that your problems have grown, and you've lost 24h of your exactly once life. If you need a mental break, go for a long walk. It's really that simple. Don't waste a day of your life doing literally nothing.

idiotsecant 4y ago
I think the benefits of idle time are not well appreciated. A period of focused work followed by a period of absolute lack of stimulation is often how the best ideas form, in my experience. When you aren't focused on something your brain is still working, it just frees up resources to consider problems outside the conscious part of your mind. I suspect epiphanies are not random - It feels to me like they are the result of intentional unfocusing.
- CadmiumYellow 4y ago
  I could not agree more! I'm surprised at the resistance people have to this idea. I do my best thinking during idle downtime like showering, long drives, or aimlessly walking with my dog. I've always felt like ideas needed to percolate somewhere deep down in my mind, far away from the conscious parts, so that they could burst to the surface fully-formed when my mind had the resources to receive them. I think sitting in a room alone with my thoughts for 24h sounds fun! May give it a try.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - 1970-01-01 4y ago
    All of this is completely verboten for this challenge!
- ilyt 4y ago
  That's very different than sitting on bed purposefully trying to not do anything

weird_user 4y ago

This is very easy before the Internet became a commodity. It's still easy for me today.

yurishimo 4y ago

I would have slept the entire time. The writer allowed sleeping but didn't sleep "extra" because they weren't tired. I have no such limitations! I'm sure I couldn't sleep 16 hours a day for a week, but I think I could easily squeeze 12-16 hours of sleep into a single 24 hour period. I'm a little inspired to try this for a couple of hours and see what things my brain wants to think about!

thenerdhead 4y ago

I haven’t done 24 hours with intention but only accident. But I do believe the brain’s neuroplasticity can show you different sides to yourself if you consciously tried these experiments more gradually. We have both a fast and slow thinking mode based on the challenges, experiences, and changes in our daily environment. It’s not until we actually experience the slow thinking side that we believe it could work for us as we’re too used to the fast one.

lambic 4y ago

[dead]

EmillyHughes 4y ago

I am a daily meditator and I recently tried to just disconnect for 1 hour per day, 24 hours would be torture for me. Like with most addictions I think it is better to taper off slowly than going cold turkey and then right back to where you left off. You see this with new years resolutions where people go balls to the wall with something and then just end up where they started because you can't just put years of mind-conditioning down overnight. It's better to make incremental small changes.

josefresco 4y ago

Not quite "nothing"... but I'm being pedantic. -- lying in bed just thinking pace around the room get lost in trains of thought play word games with myself recite the American presidents in order name the first 150 Pokémon -- Sounds similar to a "darkness" retreat.

jiveturkey42 4y ago

There was a term for this used in ancient times called 'Sabbath' and it was practiced weekly

checkcircuits 4y ago
Sabbath is more like a special case of this. The purpose of Sabbath was a built-in day of rest for people working essentially. The impetus was of course to use that time for religious reflection. However, at least in Christianity (and I believe Judaism) there's no need to be completely disconnected from any form of stimulus. You attend church, mingle among your congregation, read, enjoy time with family, etc. The author is practicing something more akin to the forced asceticism seen in eastern religions. Though you bring up a good point. Religion aside, I wonder what would happen to society if it was somehow compulsory to avoid technology for a day. I've found my life to be much more fulfilling avoiding computers these days. But perhaps that the ADHD talking. I am particularly vulnerable to the swaths of distractions available on a modern computer to the point that when I need to get work done I physically disconnect the ethernet cable from my PC unless I absolutely need it.

1970-01-01 4y ago

Sort of related is the man trapped in an elevator for 41h: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2239021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2239021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_bMhNI_TY8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_bMhNI_TY8

smm11 4y ago

It's really come to this?

nsxwolf 4y ago

This could be an interesting way to measure your true basal metabolic rate. A bathtub, an Arduino and some temperature sensors would get you a number much better than one of those online calculators.

voicedYoda 4y ago

Every week, my family goes offline for the Sabbath. Not just 24 hours of doing nothing, but 25 hours of no technology. If it's on, it's on. If it's off, it's off. We've been successfully doing this for 20 years. It was a hard transition initially, as neither my partner nor I grew up in that type of religious home. However we opted into this level of observancy because it helped us feel free, gain control of some aspects of our life, and not be bound to the 24/7 cycle. It's not always easy, and when there are holidays overlapping the Sabbath, making it 49 hours, that can sometimes be grating. That said, we find fulfillment in long walks, community meals, board games, books, sitting around and lazing about, etc. During these times, i do have amazing conversations (and arguments) with my family. And the space created for us is so rare these days. I can't imagine life with out our weekly ritual.

silisili 4y ago
Really like the idea. In fact, I hope there's more of a widespread movement to forgo technology, either for a period of time or more permanently. That said, can you explain this line - > If it's on, it's on. If it's off, it's off
- groot2581 4y ago
  Not the parent, but this article might be instructive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator
  - voicedYoda 4y ago
    Er, kind of? People like to say the public transit system can be considered a horizonal elevator if you want to take the concept far enough. But even so, the idea is still there.
- karaterobot 4y ago
  Not the commenter, but it may well be because even turning off an operational device counts as work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_Melakhot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/39_Melakhot

somenameforme 4y ago

There was a prop bet (proposition bet - basically all sorts of random wagers) between a couple of poker players on how long somebody could persist in a bathroom, in complete darkness, alone, with nothing else beside their typical living essentials. The bet was set for 30 days and $100,000. [1] The person who accepted the wager and started living in his bathroom in absolute darkness ultimately won the bet. The guy betting against him kept trying to offer him deals to get out of it until they agreed on a payout of $62k after 20 days. There's 0 doubt he could have made it all 30. Kind of interesting to compare and contrast the mindsets. [1] - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/10/rich-alati-poker-player-bet-dark-room-isolation https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/10/rich-alati-pok...

avgcorrection 4y ago
How did he manage to do that considering how cruel solitary confinement in prisons are? And won’t such a prolonged time in darkness affect your eyes?
- LoganDark 4y ago
  > How did he manage to do that considering how cruel solitary confinement in prisons are? This is addressed in the article: > Young was relieved. He had come to a gradual realization that he hadn’t given enough weight to the fact that Alati was there by choice. “So if you’re in solitary confinement in prison, that’s a scary situation. You don’t know if you’re going to get out ever,” he said. “Here, if he lasts, he gets 100k, but these guys in solitary confinement get nothing – they have to do that.” > Kupers says that distinction – “remembering why he is there, that it is not permanent” – is crucial. “Prisoners in solitary confinement tell me they are afraid they will never be released and they will die in solitary.” > Alati, after his own taste of isolation, agrees. “[Prisoners in solitary] are not given a bathtub with sugar scrubs, and essential oil and food, and a yoga mat. They’re not given that stuff, so if I didn’t have that stuff, and I wasn’t actually free and I wasn’t being paid, that’s why [it would be a] punishment.” --- > And won’t such a prolonged time in darkness affect your eyes? This is also addressed in the article: > Alati was ready to leave the bathroom. He put on eclipse sunglasses, which blocked out any light, to protect his eyes. When he finally emerged, the noise and commotion was overwhelming.

daltont 4y ago

Sounds like Aaron Rodger's recent "darkness retreat": https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-darkness-retreat-packers-qb-solitary/nc0yd4gp2lnl98gy53htat3i https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-darkn...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

karaterobot 4y ago

So, he demonstrated that he has the ability to forego (or, since we're being ultra pedantic in this thread, minimize) external stimulation. That's a neat result. What I would like to know is whether he would modify the experiment and make it a practice. It sounded like there were benefits for him: are they worth the expense?

jayavanth 4y ago
From my experience, even a 30-60 minute do-nothing can help a lot. Also seems much less intimidating that an 24 hour one. Try it out for yourself
- karaterobot 4y ago
  Thank you, I'm wondering about the author's conclusions.

avgcorrection 4y ago

> My goal was to do nothing for 24 hours. Like everyone in the modern world, I’m hopelessly addicted to little dopamine bursts provided by algorithmically optimized technology (in my case – Reddit, video games, phone messages, and having music or tv shows in the background), so I wanted to see if I had the willpower to cut off all stimulation for an extended period of time. This dopamine bro-science is a menace.

pfannkuchen 4y ago
Actual science tends to be quite slow though. It is not always practical to wait for robust science to happen before taking any action, especially individual action. Unless, of course, existing actual science refutes the bro science. In this case I’m not sure it does though?
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  See [1] and the parent comment. People who talk about neurotransmitters in phenomenological terms are philosophically confused. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28855296 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28855296
  - pfannkuchen 4y ago
    Oh I agree with this. I always read the casual use of the term “dopamine” as simply “happy chemicals”. If we ignore the technical terminology confusion, is the bro science about the human behavioral control system (which uses happy chemicals to steer behavior) still refuted in some way? Genuinely interested.
    - avgcorrection 4y ago
      I was using the casual sense of the term “bro science” to mean “sloppy thinking”.
      - pfannkuchen 4y ago

geocrasher 4y ago

For me, this is what camping is about. Not Glamping. Music? Sure. Books? Heck yes! But connectivity? No. Connecting with nature? Yes. Staring into the sky or lake for hours? Yes. So transformative and refreshing.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

Having had a lot of "slow" time (much like the 24 hours described in the post) through my countryside childhood, I don't find it all that difficult to "do nothing" for stints like this. If I were to replicate the same experiment, I suspect that my issue would not be lack of willpower to abstain from "junk food" stimulation, but rather dealing with the nagging voice in the back of my head constantly reminding me that I'm fettering away the precious little time I have truly to myself — weekends and holidays are the only time when I have the privilege of pouring my full self into the things that I want to work on, rather than the lions' share going toward my job. I can't see "nothing" time becoming a part of my schedule without at least a four-day workweek, and it'd probably work best if I were to shift from full-time to part-time or move to contracting/consulting where I set my own hours. I've had a lot of luck with achieving some of the clarity of mind the writer mentions by simply habitually writing down ideas and preferring working to make these ideas reality in my spare time over scrolling through reddit and the like. Doing that has freed up mental bandwidth to a degree far greater than I ever thought it could.

_moof 4y ago

If you have a history of mental illness I strongly suggest not trying this.

buffington 4y ago

When I was much younger and a bit stupider I spent a weekend in jail for neglecting to fix a broken side view mirror on my car. That turned into a "failure to appear before the court," which put me in in jail for a weekend. What the author of the article describes is almost the same thing, but worse. At least in jail people were chatty and friendly (I know, right?). But there were times when you'd be in a cell by yourself for 6+ hours and that was not fun at all. I don't recommend that the OP do it the way I did it.

58x14 4y ago
A weekend in jail for an equipment violation, or for the failure to appear? Either way, that’s absurd and really is emblematic of how inefficient the American justice system is.
- buffington 4y ago
  The weekend in jail was officially for the failure to appear. I'd been pulled over because my vehicle's registration was expired. The officer didn't issue a ticket for that and just gave me a warning. But the car was also missing a front bumper and had no mirrors. I was issued a "fix-it" ticket for the lack of mirrors. The instructions in the citation for how to resolve the issue were crystal clear and provided a more than generous amount of time to do it. It would have been very easy to avoid ending up in jail, but me, being a freshly 18 year old kid with undiagnosed (at the time) ADHD just didn't get around to resolving the issue. I could have gone to any auto parts store and spent $20 on a single cheap generic mirror, gone to any police station with my "fix-it" ticket and shown that I'd fixed the issue, paid the $5.00 fee, and been done. But I didn't. I just forgot about it. When you do that, it's considered to be the same as ignoring court orders. A warrant was issued for my arrest. I was pulled over on a Friday night and spent the weekend waiting for my turn to explain to a judge on the following Monday morning why I ignored the citation. The initial citation and path to compliance was totally reasonable - maybe too reasonable considering it allowed me to continue driving around with no mirrors in one of the most car-dense metropolises in the world. I could have done the right thing and it wouldn't have gone on any record, or reported to my insurance company, or risked losing my license. Zero consequences except a safer car. I don't disagree that there are obvious flaws with the American justice system, but this example ranks very low on that list in my opinion. For what it's worth, the experience of spending a weekend in "adult" jail as an 18 year old changed my life in positive ways. I had lived my life not knowing I had ADHD, and this event was a catalyst in helping get diagnosed. That diagnosis helped make sense of the common refrain of "why are you failing your classes - you have so much potential", and helped me understand I wasn't stupid. Just different. I don't like to imagine how different my life would be today had I not had that experience and subsequent diagnosis.

mrtweetyhack 4y ago

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tardismechanic 4y ago

I'm reminded of the Malcolm in the Middle episode where Francis tries to study and not procrastinate: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TVs61JQv5GU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TVs61JQv5GU

Beaver117 4y ago

Everyone should take some time to do nothing. Even just 30 minutes a week helps. Just sit and think. Or go for a walk, don't bring your phone or anything. Don't go anywhere or talk to anyone, just walk and let your mind wander. You'll be suprised. And try shrooms :)

gabrielsroka 4y ago

From 2020

hammyhavoc 4y ago

Where my ADHD crew at? This shit is easy. It's getting started on things and not procrastinating that's hard.