(Amazingly painless onboarding, kudos to the platform for that.)

So, what helped me wasn't any one thing on its own. It's a combination of strategies and tweaks that enable productivity for me. I'll try to be as concise as I can.

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First off, you need a regular circadian rhythm. Determine how much sleep you need per day, then make sure you get that most days in a regular cycle. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every night. There's a lot that goes into this, but the key points are as follows:

i) As soon as you wake up, make sure to receive some bright light into your eyes (light source should be higher than eye level and yes, it matters) for at least 10 minutes, preferably longer. The easiest way to do this is to go out straight from bed. Personally I can't do this reliably every day, so I use a medical light. The light is important as it sets the timing of when you start feeling sleepy in the evening.

ii) Get out of bed at the right time even if you still feel sleepy. Your rhythm will reset after you do this consistently for a couple days.

iii) Develop ways to wind down and get your system out of the flow state, and start doing those 1-2 hours before bedtime.

iv) I do yoga first thing in the morning, which helps my body wake up.

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Second: carb-rich diets really mess up my system. I have inattentive ADHD and I'm medicated nowadays, but before that I went on a ketogenic diet (lots of veggies, lots of fat, moderate protein and low carbs). As soon as I got fat adapted, there was a clear productivity hike, equal to a small dose of my meds. For this reason I I've been able to stay on a fairly low level wrt the meds.

I decided to try keto after I read that it's being used as a treatment for neurodiverse kids. The research so far is incomplete, but I believe some people are simply more carb intolerant, and the symptoms from this are similar to those or ADHD. It's worth giving it a try.

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Third, you'll need life and work management protocols that turn into routines so that your focus isn't being consumed by mundane stuff such as cooking, not losing your keys, maintaining a clean and uncluttered space, time management, etc.

I could write several books on that subject by now, but it might not be helpful to you specifically. We're all different. The key is to pay attention to why some things are hard, then come up with workarounds that make them easier or more infrequently occurring, or both. Then repeat those until they become second nature and you won't have to consciously focus on the anymore.

One example from my own journey: the ketogenic diet enabled me to go OMAD (eating only one meal a day) without any downsides (for example that I don't get hungry). This is a massive relief as I only have to think about cooking and cleaning the kitchen once a day. I've also rearranged my kitchen so that functioning in there is as minimally focus-draining as possible.

Another small but big example. I've taught my body this small piece of code: if you feel sharp, metallic objects in the hand (keys), do not let go of them until hand is in the inside pocket of your handbag. Additionally, I have a rule that I'm only allowed to have one handbag in use, not several like some other women have. I haven't lost my keys in years and I no longer have to think about it much, which lets me allocate my limited focus elsewhere.

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Fourth, there could be emotional reasons for why you can't engage in the work process, even when it's work that you enjoy. Therapy and self help are good practices to tackle that. ADHD makes this more complicated, as it's not necessarily just an emotional hangup, and sometimes it's hard to tell what's what.

One thing that increases my productivity is that I allow myself to procrastinate on a task by always having other tasks at hand that I can spontaneously do instead. That way I'm being productive even if not on the thing that I intended to do. Eventually I'll be procrastinating on some other thing and getting the original thing done..

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Things like that.