Motivation

[svnfeetunderxcx]

smoke weed urday

[NeonSM]

quality post

quality bump

[Zapmeister]

if anyone has a lot of spare motivation lying around could you give me some. i'm really desperate (desperate enough to ask people on a fucking internet forum about an arrow smashing game)

i'm doing a masters degree that i've completely lost motivation for and some days i literally can't bring myself to stop staring at the ceiling in bed and start doing work and it's a real downer (this is in stark contrast to my undergrad, during which i was a WAAAAAAY too keen student). going to leave details out for now and include them at request

i'd be cool if someone could literally pin me up against a wall and yell at me a 300-style motivational speech peppered with winston churchill quotes, but more relevant to my situation. if anyone thinks they're good at this sort of thing let me know

[mrpreggers]

bitcoins will go over $1k each if you do what needs to be done

[Mahou]

Motivation comes to me when I cut off unnecessary activities like gaming and social media. Even though I don't have an addiction to these things, they do hinder how determined I am to get things done. For example, i kept track on how often i read my news feed. I would spend roughly 30 - 60 minutes a day looking at it. Add it all up, and thats approximately 7 hours a week at max.
However, what korny said, if the problem seems to be really bad, psychiatric medication can help but that will be ultimately up to you if you think you need it. I will say amphetamines don't fully give me motivation but it does help. You don't want to rely on this.

[Tidus810]

Originally Posted by Zapmeister

if anyone has a lot of spare motivation lying around could you give me some. i'm really desperate (desperate enough to ask people on a fucking internet forum about an arrow smashing game)

i'm doing a masters degree that i've completely lost motivation for and some days i literally can't bring myself to stop staring at the ceiling in bed and start doing work and it's a real downer (this is in stark contrast to my undergrad, during which i was a WAAAAAAY too keen student). going to leave details out for now and include them at request

i'd be cool if someone could literally pin me up against a wall and yell at me a 300-style motivational speech peppered with winston churchill quotes, but more relevant to my situation. if anyone thinks they're good at this sort of thing let me know

Is there any way for you to hold yourself accountable for getting things done? Everyone operates differently, but either of these may help: My first idea would be to tell a friend/friends about what you intend to accomplish on a given day or whatever, and ask them to follow through with you. "Hey, did you finish that essay you said you would work on this week?" or something like that. My other idea would be to instead ask a friend/friends if you can have a study group of some kind. Even if it just means meeting up at the local coffee shop or library, having somewhere to be and someone waiting on you can push you to get out of bed and start your day. That way it's less about "oh, I should get out of bed and do that boring crap I need to take care of..." and more about "oh, so-and-so is meeting me in the library in an hour, better get up and get ready for the day". I dunno, your mileage may vary.


It's actually really funny that this thread got started, because I was considering making a very similar one today or tomorrow. The trouble that I'm having, if anyone has some suggestions, is with focus. I'm in the midst of a long study period (3 weeks down, 4 more to go) where 6 days a week I have 6-8 hours worth of studying that I would ideally like to get done. Major test on the horizon. So I have all of my resources, and I have a general schedule that I'm trying to follow. I have a strong understanding of how much of an impact this test will have on my future, and thus how important these weeks are. What I'm trying to do is work for 2 hours or so, and then take a short break to relax before getting back into it. But it's way to easy for me to open an internet browser, maybe just to look something up, and then realize I've wasted 30 minutes (or worse). On top of that, while actively studying I'll even have difficulty just maintaining my current focus on the material in front of me. I sleep well and eat regularly, so I'm not sure what the cause is.

So yeah. I've enjoyed the posts so far on here guys, it's really cool seeing a useful discussion being had.

[Spenner]

I have pretty much 0 motivation because of existential futility and issues surrounding that. But, I realize the issue entirely, and how far away actually dealing with it is-- I have found a way to be demotivated regardless. This is an ever more complexifying situation for me, but interesting in the same way, how much the brain can make itself not want to do things. It feels natural especially if in a depressive mood swing (I very much am aware of these-- internalized thoughts are always to negative topics or have a dark undertone, I've learned to listen at the first hint of consistency). Being mindful of thinking negatively, and turning it around with obvious facts that could brighten you, is handy.

But sometimes you lack an ability to justify the bigger, more negative fact at hand. How do you deal with that, when you are irrefutably uneasy and demotivated? (apparently, that is. And since it is happening spontaneously perhaps... how does one convince themselves they are not a random and inevitably ending experience/drive themselves to dedicate time into a mindless task for little gain?).

This is kind of a reflection of my own mental health issues but also some deeper questions that many people will trip over at some point.

[awein999]

Originally Posted by Spenner

I have pretty much 0 motivation because of existential futility and issues surrounding that. But, I realize the issue entirely, and how far away actually dealing with it is-- I have found a way to be demotivated regardless. This is an ever more complexifying situation for me, but interesting in the same way, how much the brain can make itself not want to do things. It feels natural especially if in a depressive mood swing (I very much am aware of these-- internalized thoughts are always to negative topics or have a dark undertone, I've learned to listen at the first hint of consistency). Being mindful of thinking negatively, and turning it around with obvious facts that could brighten you, is handy.

But sometimes you lack an ability to justify the bigger, more negative fact at hand. How do you deal with that, when you are irrefutably uneasy and demotivated? (apparently, that is. And since it is happening spontaneously perhaps... how does one convince themselves they are not a random and inevitably ending experience/drive themselves to dedicate time into a mindless task for little gain?).

This is kind of a reflection of my own mental health issues but also some deeper questions that many people will trip over at some point.

I identify with some of your problems and when I regress I try to fight back to the simplest step, the earliest one - step 1 of a list I made: Choose to care enough about myself to identify a irrationally negative thought in a rationally positive way. Having this introspection armed with you is at least a method to fight the inner negativity that keeps naturally spreading. It's super hard because you always have to be introspecting at all times because at any time you are liable to be thinking negatively in an irrational way and it gets tiring to fight all the time. If it was easy it wouldn't have been such a problem in the first place so of course it's hard but at least it's fightable.

A mindless task doesn't have to be mindless, little gain isn't inherently little gain. Our experiences are happening now. We'll be dead later which isn't now. I think having a "live for the now" mentality is good. Find meaning in the now tasks that can easily be viewed as drudgery (like working some job that you don't consider your dream job).

Also surrounding yourself with upbeat people can help.

[DossarLX ODI]

Motivation could probably stem from issues of feeling bored or not finding much meaning in the work you are doing. There's another beast: being overwhelmed.

A few things I ask myself:
1.) Who has helped me get to where I am now?
2.) Do I have a way of tracking how long I've spent doing something? Do I have a planner?
3.) Why am I getting up at 7 AM every morning if my class doesn't start until later?
4.) If I face difficulties, do I have people to discuss this with that I can trust?

Going to each point, I'll state why I mention these.

1.) Who has helped me get to where I am now?

A lot of motivational issues relate to yourself. "I'm bored." "I don't like what I'm doing." "I <whatever>." Whenever it gets to this point, that's when I get the most frustrated. This society focuses way too much on the individual. There are many amazing people on this site that have helped me get to where I am now, and it's always good to remember them. Don't get so immersed with yourself that you constantly have just yourself on your mind -- think about the other people you know who also have their difficulties and realize you are not the only one that runs into problems.

2.) Do I have a way of tracking how long I've spent doing something? Do I have a planner?

Currently this semester has been totally different from what I've been used to. I excessively plan what to do every single day and I have an excel spreadsheet keeping track of how long I spent on whatever I did. I have a daily quota to meet. On weekdays it's 4-5 hours and on weekends it's 7-8 hours. If I don't make these daily quotas, I feel it anyways -- it's a benchmark to set to ensure that I am consistently reminding myself that if I don't continue my efforts, it will backfire very shortly and I feel myself fall behind.

3.) Why am I getting up at 7 AM every morning if my class doesn't start until later?

I get up at 6:15 AM every weekday even on the days I have class at 2 PM. If you find yourself sleeping in and waking up late, ask yourself why. Seriously -- consider why you are not getting up earlier. There's nothing worse than waking up to realize it's 10 AM, then you eat breakfast, shower, and get ready only to find it's already 11 AM and it feels like you just wasted half the day. Start your day early. Time is a resource nobody ever has enough of and once it's gone you are never getting it back. I get on campus at 8 AM and start doing my work then, just like as if it was a normal work day all the way until 5 PM with classes in between. Of course, nothing ever goes to plan since unexpected situations happen or something takes longer than expected -- the question is recovering from that.

4.) If I face difficulties, do I have people to discuss this with that I can trust?

I find that most of my issues don't stem from motivational issues, but rather just being overwhelmed. I have personal issues that worry me, and so do others. Fortunately I can speak with my professors if I have concerns about something in a course, which isn't something all students are able to do depending on their professor (could just be a jackass who wants to fail the students, etc. I have a friend that has a professor like that who's retiring after this semester). When you have nobody to talk to, it seems like everything is impossible and there's nothing that can be done to make a situation better.

Of course none of this is a one-size-fits-all situation. You might be an unlucky person that got stuck in a bad environment and you don't have motivational issues as much as just being overwhelmed by bad circumstances where everything feels impossible and too much. If you're doing something frequently, make sure it is something meaningful to you or you will be miserable. I find that I have a physical limit where if I work for too long my body just forces me to sleep; this has nothing to do with motivation, it's my body saying that I'm progressively getting worse and less productive and I need to continue later. This is why you also don't procrastinate or you will be miserable.

[Cavernio]

Arguing puts me in a just enough of a heightened state of arousal which is necessary for motivation, my default state of arousal is non-functional, hence why I enjoy arguing so much compared to so many other activities.

Still no add drugs but I'm on an antipsychotic among other things. Coffee is mandatory.