Ask HN: How do you remain disciplined and be your best self?

I've been there and made it out. You're acknowledging you have a problem which is the most important step. Once you accept that you want to change -- deep down -- you've got the seed for change. Here's what I would do to make it grow:

Do you exercise? Even if you don't, do something that will just leave you completely physically exhausted. Run as far as you can, play a competitive game, ride a bike until you can't anymore. Just make sure you're so tired you fall asleep quickly tonight. You don't have to do this every day, but you need to go all out tonight. You're going to give your body a reset and mind a reboot this way.

The next day when you wake up remember that you made this decision the day before, and you have a whole new life in front of you. Say to yourself, "fuck yeah, this is awesome, I'm going to take control of my life again. I'm gonna be the person I know I'm meant to be."

After that, when it comes to work, set short goals and stick to them. Stay off social media. It could be "I'm working on this feature for an hour", and get it done. At minimum, try and get 1 thing done before lunch and one thing done after lunch.

When you get home for the day, I recommend another healthy dose of exercise just to get you to sleep again. After that it's basically wash, rinse, repeat except you start adding slightly bigger challenges and better habits into your life each day. Start adding healthier diet choices in, etc... Make sure you have a non-work hobby for pleasure to look forward to after work. If you really have to smoke (no judgment sometimes we need the escape from the rat race) then do it right after work (not before) and do some yoga or stretch or something instead of tv or video games. You'll feel rested, your body will exert some more energy, and you'll sleep better than if you smoked right before bed and you'll work better than if you smoked before work. As success piles up you'll lose the desire to smoke and you'll realize you don't need it.

The important thing to remember is you don't need to change everything at once, but if you need to break the cycle I've found that an intense physical use of the body is usually the best starting point for a reboot at any time in life.

You can change, you will change, you're still super young. I was in a similar boat at your age (31 now) and the post-college, starting workforce blues are a real thing. Took me some practice to get over it but it's worth it. Best of luck. Also this kind of post might be better for a reddit forum than HN, although generally the HN crowd gives better advice. :-)

Smoked on and off between 17 and 21. Took me about 8 months full of relapses to finally stop completely - psychological addiction was far harder to break than I first anticipated.

In my case, I realised I had been self medicating for some mild pervasive anxiety without explicitly acknowledging it. Although smoking calms anxiety temporarily - it tends to exasperate it in the the longer term - creating a vicious cycle of excessive smoking for me. Once I started to take action on this underlying issue, smoking became far easier to quit. So, find the underlying issue, why do you feel the need to smoke so much? Lack of alternative activities? Loneliness? Mental health issues?

Hope my anecdote can help you out - my life is FAR better after investing the effort in quitting. You'll wish you had done it sooner, but do not underestimate the willpower it will likely take.

Have you ever been tested for or considered that you may have ADHD? I had similar problems in the past, and cannabis also seemed to help me focus but made me lazy. Getting help for my ADHD was a game changer for me.

Ideas: Get some good headphones and listen to trance/edm/whatever music to get yourself in the zone. Get distractions like phones away from your desk and use a web blocker to zap crap sites like this one. Adrafanil or nicotine gum, maybe.

Yes, it explains how triggers are the ones that makes or breaks an habit. Good book.