How to force yourself to things you do not want to do

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I have to prepare source materials for my thesis, but I can not concentrate, I'd rather play SimCity or The Sims 3

How to force the brain to think about learning and not about fun

I try to do it in small parts. It's easier to commit to two sets of 30 minutes than it is to an hour, two hours, etc.

It's hardest for me to start work that I don't want to do. I'm more motivated to do all of my work if I've already done some of it.

Me too - I have to write my thesis this year.

A program that really helps is called "Write or Die". There is a free website version of it. Basically it is a simple typing space where you choose how many words and time you need to write and then you're typing and if you stop too long (you can choose if it's really fast or it gives u long time) it makes the screen red and makes bad noises (you can choose alarm clocks, baby crying, violin poorly played) so it gives a punishment (and because sensory overload, particularly so) if you don't write!

There is a paid version too, though it's quite expensive $20, so I avoided it but I saved up and bought it - yesterday actually. And that works even better because in addition to the bad noise, it puts a big scary spider onto the screen so now I write much more to avoid seeing it (cause you can make it full screen and "always in front" so you can't just alt tab out of it).

If that is too harsh, there's also incentive mode that plays kitten purring sounds or other nice things of your choice each time you type a certain ammount of words.

It is the only thing that worked on me so far, I have been putting off four days writing it and now because of that program I at least have 1300 words so it's a useful kick to get you started.

All the conventional suggestions like Pomodoro Technique, chunking it (I've read even just do 10 words every day so that it's low enough u definitely do it) just didn't work for me - but then again aside from Asperger's I have severe depression so my motivation is exceptionally low.

Do you have an outline or topic picked out? Doing that part seems a lot easier than diving right in, plus it makes the rest of the process more manageable.

If you don't get much exercise or eat a lot of simple carbs, you might want to change that. Those two things can put a dent in your concentration abilities. Maybe you could find an exercise group to keep you motivated.

How long have you been playing these games? What are they doing for you? Do you think you'll get tired of them at some point? It's kind of hard to tell you to stop doing something when you enjoy it that much.

I know people are going to tell you to dangle the carrot in front of yourself, but have you tried the stick? Sometimes it's the negativity that does it.