Disclaimer: I am now medicated for ADHD, but I was unmedicated for most of my life. Most of these suggestions come from when I was unmedicated. In addition to medications I'm taking a multivitaminic / multimineral supplement to which I sometimes add more vitamin D (helps with depression) and magnesium (helps with energy).
I have similar phases - I'm personally trying to reduce this variability as it annoys me too (not only a problem with my job). I was feeling literally burned out after as little as a week of focus, and all the other aspects of my life tend to fail when I'm burned out.
What I find really helpful is having set routines that don't change easily or are easy to maintain - for example, eating at the same time everyday, going to sleep at roughly the same time. It can feel like jail starting to do this while unmedicated (and likely depressed)
For the routines, weekends are usually my bane as they are an interruption in most of them - I try to stick to my personal routines week-long.
If you can start work with a really low load - I ended up in sick leave for untreated ADHD and I'm currently ramping work hours little at a time, and it seems to help.
It also helps a lot to have set times for work and to drop work as soon as you are done with the hours - you won't be able to make up for lost time anyway, and it only adds to the stress. I'm planning to go to the gym every day after work, so that I cannot "slouch" back into working until late.
(This is with me medicated) To reduce the social media effect on me I time an hour from when I wake up to when I'm allowed to go to my phone and my PC - it's strangely effective, after a week I didn't feel the need to check social media anymore (this from being 8/9 hours a day on it). I got a lot of time and energy back from this. (If I check social media during the day I "get back" at when I was checking them all day long, feeling wise, but it's getting less and less difficult to do so).
When I was unmedicated I used various timers for social media (leechblock, for example) and they helped a bit. I also had a routine for studying that required a couple of hours before starting to study (gaming a bit / checking social media / convincing myself to start studying). I prefer having time in the morning before work to do roughly the same now.
I have similar phases - I'm personally trying to reduce this variability as it annoys me too (not only a problem with my job). I was feeling literally burned out after as little as a week of focus, and all the other aspects of my life tend to fail when I'm burned out.
What I find really helpful is having set routines that don't change easily or are easy to maintain - for example, eating at the same time everyday, going to sleep at roughly the same time. It can feel like jail starting to do this while unmedicated (and likely depressed)
For the routines, weekends are usually my bane as they are an interruption in most of them - I try to stick to my personal routines week-long.
If you can start work with a really low load - I ended up in sick leave for untreated ADHD and I'm currently ramping work hours little at a time, and it seems to help.
It also helps a lot to have set times for work and to drop work as soon as you are done with the hours - you won't be able to make up for lost time anyway, and it only adds to the stress. I'm planning to go to the gym every day after work, so that I cannot "slouch" back into working until late.
(This is with me medicated) To reduce the social media effect on me I time an hour from when I wake up to when I'm allowed to go to my phone and my PC - it's strangely effective, after a week I didn't feel the need to check social media anymore (this from being 8/9 hours a day on it). I got a lot of time and energy back from this. (If I check social media during the day I "get back" at when I was checking them all day long, feeling wise, but it's getting less and less difficult to do so). When I was unmedicated I used various timers for social media (leechblock, for example) and they helped a bit. I also had a routine for studying that required a couple of hours before starting to study (gaming a bit / checking social media / convincing myself to start studying). I prefer having time in the morning before work to do roughly the same now.