
Ways to get motivated when you don’t feel like working - thomascarney
http://plan.io/blog/post/146892730063/4-ways-to-get-motivated-when-you-dont-feel-like
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supersan
There is one more point that can really get you motivated. I call it the
cliff-hanger approach. I use it mostly for programming but you can use it for
other aspects too.

Anyway, it goes like this. Whenever you're leaving work, make sure to leave at
least one thing _nearly_ done.

Like one failing test which you know how to fix, a function that you've just
started writing but haven't completed.

This way you have a starting point the next day and it really helps to get the
ball rolling.

On a related note, another approach is to make things easier for yourself. I
think it's all about getting over the static friction (time before you get the
ball rolling). This approach is to prepare for the next day in advance. Like
have your running shoes and socks ready by your bed, have a glass of water and
a lemon (+knife) on your kitchen cabinet before going off to sleep.

~~~
svantana
I have a similar approach: don't sit down at the computer until you know what
you're going to do. It works well because sitting at the computer "feels like
work" and is also a source of distractions. A lot of times I end up pacing
back and forth until I figure it out (which may be a social issue for those of
you who are employed).

~~~
djfm
Not a social issue at my company - I often go out for a walk to get some
inspiration and don't even need to pretend to be going to a meeting :)

EDIT: phrasing.

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nucleardog
There's a difference between going outside for a walk and pacing back and
forth up an open office. We have a guy that does the latter and it's
definitely a huge social issue.

~~~
cema
I do it all the time, no social issues. Good coworkers?

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sockopen
Personally, I break things down into the tiniest possible steps and then feel
guilty for being too lazy to do that and usually end up doing it.

Example with doing the dishes: \- Stand up. \- Walk towards sink. \- etc...

I usually cannot justify being too lazy to stand up... or walk towards a
sink... etc... if I leave it as one "large" task, I have a hundred excuses.

~~~
swah
This works for me in some kinds of tasks. Sometimes when I don't feel like
changing the plastic bags in the bathroom tray [1], thinking "ok, let me just
remove this bag. I can put a new one (2nd half of the task) later." puts me in
motion and I usually do the complete (rather stupid) task easily.

[1] Its a brazilian thing, we can't throw our shit paper in the toilet.

~~~
johnchristopher
> [1] Its a brazilian thing, we can't throw our shit paper in the toilet.

Why ? Is it cultural or technical ?

~~~
ZenoArrow
I've found it in quite a few countries. AFAIK it's a technical thing, the
toilet paper can cause problems with pipes and/or water processing.

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GoToRO
For me it's one of the following:

1\. Good sleep. Note I didn't say "enough" sleep but good sleep. To wake up
fresh in the morning you have to sleep well and you do that by going to bed
early. Also, eating in the morning will teach your body that the morning is
the period with lots of energy available so it will wake up in the morning.

2\. Exercise. Periodic, daily exercise helps to clean your brain. Literally.
Caveats: biking does not count plus cold air can give you a slight brain
inflammation which leads to "don't feel like working". Every time you brain is
not in top shape, you will feel like not working. I recommend moderate weight
lifting.

3\. Eat properly. Plenty of advice on internet. Your brain works with the food
you eat, so if you eat garbage your brain will run on garbage.

4\. Daily rest. Plan each day a proper rest. For your brain. I.e. when you do
physical work, you rest by staying still. When you use your brain to work, you
rest by going in the park and not thinking at all if possible :). Caveats:
documentaries, games and other things that make you think do not count. Sorry
:)

I include here plans to do things that you really would like to do a.k.a "live
your life". This change of scenery helps a lot when you go back to work. You
will feel very motivated.

Each time I don't feel like working I just think about what I did in the last
days or week and see which one I skipped.

Usually people recommend 1-3 but I was doing that and still no results. Once I
implemented 4 I was really productive.

~~~
minikomi
Curious as to why "biking does not count" ?

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GoToRO
For me, it will give me a slight inflammation to my head, which translates
into procrastination.

Also a bike is a really eficient way to travel, so if you are like me you
either will not do much effort or you get an inflammation. I've noticed that
walking to do some shopping is better. Plus you kill two birds with one stone.

Sometimes I do bike slowly to a park but I don't count it as physical effort.
It's just travel.

Edit: It might count for you. The takeaway should be: listen to your body.
When you procrastinate something is not good with your brain. Look back in
time and see what you did that might be the cause. When you are in "the zone"
do the same: look back in time and see what you did and do more of that :).

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dominotw
I am not a big fan of chopping up the huge and complex problem of human
existence into pieces and dealing with them individually. We have been
conditioned socially and biologically to see everything in problem/solution
format. We can't seem to make sense of anything unless it fits into that
format.

categorizing motivation into 'external'/internal' is just silly at best. The
problem of fulfillment needs to be understood as a whole. There is no escape
from fulfillment, you can only escape one form of fulfillment into another but
you can never rid yourself of it. And once you are seeking fulfillment of any
sort you are setting yourself up for internal conflict, disappointment and all
of human suffering that has been going on for thousands of years. The problem
has to be understood as a whole not chopped up into pieces that you can free
yourself from. Freedom from something is no freedom at all.Freedom can only be
achieved through love, not ambition. Ambition is always ugly. Always!!.

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bbayles
I read something once that had a real effect on me in these situations. It was
"who says you have to feel like doing something to do it?"

(Is it magic? Of course not. Will it work for everyone? Of course not.)

~~~
swah
This kinda works. But again only for starting..

~~~
dean
Starting is the hard part. Once I get started, it's actually easier to keep
going than to stop. Inertia works both ways.

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ams6110
The "pregame routine" is why I find it so much easier to work _at work_ than
at home.

The pregame routine is simply getting up, showering, dressing, driving to the
office. It's not anything I even deliberately created, but by the time I get
to the office I'm generally in the frame of mind to begin the work day.

When I work from home I might not shower right away, I might putter around
doing other chores, etc. and generally I have a hard time getting in the frame
of mind to work.

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riolou
This is why I have a photo of my wife and kids at work, they're the source of
a lot of my motivation.

Like Homer and his photos of Maggie, DO IT FOR HER.

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jansh
Key takeaway: Don't obsess about getting motivated. If you're not, let it go.
But prepare a routine for next time.

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omginternets
I wonder to what extent motivation is the culprit. I, for one, have
experienced intense motivation and intense procrastination at the same time.

I have every reason, internal and external, to get the thing done, but I
sometimes have trouble starting. This is particularly true of tasks where
premature optimisation is possible, as I quite enjoy the analytical/planning
part of the work. It's just that it takes on a life of it's own and the
actual/quali-mechanical act of starting keeps getting pushed further back.

Surely I'm not alone...

~~~
ZenoArrow
On the "intense motivation and intense procrastination at the same time"
thing, I've found it's possible to turn that to your own advantage, especially
when you're not working towards tight deadlines.

What I find is there's often something "I know" I have to do, as well as other
things that interest me at the time. So long as the thing you know you have to
do doesn't have an imminent deadline, you can find other things to "distract"
yourself with that end up working out for the best in the long run. For
example, I've had times when I was finding it hard to concentrate on a piece
of work, but found something technical (like a programming language) that I
wanted to explore. By going with it, you end up improving your skills, and if
you can chip away at the "must do" task on the side, you find that when you're
ready to look at it again you've already laid the ground work.

That's one of the approaches that works for me. Have you experienced something
similar?

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gdubs
Just finished reading "The Power of Habit" [1], which was eye-opening. It
makes a strong case that we're really a collection of habits. We can't
eliminate habits from our brains, but we _can_ override them with new ones
over time. There are also Keystone Habits which tend to positively impact all
areas of peoples' lives – exercise tends to be one, for example. In the
corporate setting, he uses the example of Alcoa focusing on worker safety, and
how that became a keystone habit that completely transformed all aspects of
the business.

Also, say you have a habit of opening Facebook (or Hacker News :) when you're
at your computer instead of opening up your IDE. By figuring out what reward
you get out of those diversions, and being able to identify the trigger, you
may be able over time to replace that 'bad' habit with a 'good' one – perhaps
stretching, or talking a 5 min walk. The result might be a less fragmented
day.

I really buy into this theory, in part because anecdotally it seems to align
with examples of successful people; they have good work habits. Great writers,
for instance, talk about simply sitting down at the typewriter every day. Same
with comedians, painters, etc. Procrastination is a hard thing to crack,
because so often we're fighting against deeply ingrained habits – by becoming
mindful of them, we can potentially reshape them into habits that make us feel
accomplished.

1: [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12609433-the-power-of-
hab...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12609433-the-power-of-habit)

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waterphone
I'm never motivated to work. All these "tricks" work once or twice and then I
go back to zero motivation.

~~~
joe563323
Thought exercise. What will you do if you are financially independent ? i.e
not have to work for money.

~~~
omginternets
A certain quote from Office Space comes readily to mind...

[https://youtu.be/4lmW2tZP2kU](https://youtu.be/4lmW2tZP2kU)

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fridek
I've found my best chance at tricking myself into working is using my
procrastination as a tool. Whenever I feel like not coding I go and write some
documentation, work on some design or groom tickets. This is my equivalent of
students cleaning their dorms instead of learning for exams.

I've seen this technique somewhere exploited even further, by tricking
yourself into working in "forced mode" on something completely secondary,
while resting when working on the important stuff.

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ollifi
I have sometimes used a method where I start working in the morning and when I
find myself losing focus I have a rule to stop and go home. It keeps me
constantly underachieving and wasting time. After a while I actually just
really want to get stuff done and the runs get longer. Obviously this does not
work very well when working in teams or for someone else.

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dgreensp
Motivation comes from having (personal) goals.

The rest is confronting your fear, boredom, and anxiety; managing your time
and energy; developing good habits and process; and knowing when to ask for
help or study up. You have to be an expert at getting unstuck.

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lllorddino
Give yourself a goal to accomplish within a specific amount of time. It's easy
to procrastinate when you have all the time in the world. It's hard when
there's a due date.

~~~
virmundi
I think many people need an external factor beyond the calendar. You need a
what if and a force to apply it.

What if I miss this date? Have I setup an auto pay to a political group I
don't like? Is there some public mockery coming my way? Will a significant
person tell me how ashamed they are by my complete lack of determination?

~~~
lllorddino
Yes external factors will definitely get you off your butt or whatever.

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bobsil1
1\. Work on something you really like.

