

Ask HN: Are there any drugs for motivation or ambition? - pmoriarty

Intelligence-enhancing, memory-enhancing, and mood-enhancing drugs have been popular for decades.  It is also well known that lack of motivation is a symptom of depression.  So anti-depressants, if they work, could help with motivation.  But are there any drugs that specifically target motivation or ambition?  Has there been any research in this area?
======
subrat_rout
The best natural drugs to keep motivation and ambition at a sustainable level
consistently are lots of exercise, balanced diet, enough sleep and some sort
of mind/mood/memory enhancing processes such as meditation, tai chi, Yoga or
some sorts of light martial arts training.

All those chemical drugs available on market have a saturation effect where
you take the drugs for few days or few months and then your brain gets either
used to it or saturated (by saturating the receptors in brains or by some
other still unknown mechanisms) and you begin looking for other alternatives.

There are also other ways to keeping yourself motivated. As per example,

1\. Surround yourself with people with positive attitude and have achieved
some great progress in which field you would like to excel.

2\. Read some books or listen to some podcast everyday and that will keep you
motivated to work towards your goal.

3\. Meet with people from different fields and try know what they are doing
and how they are achieving it.

4\. Last but not least keep a goal in your mind (not too absurd or very easy)
and try everyday a little to hammer it consistently. There is no drugs or
panacea available that will keep you motivated without a proper goal in your
mind.

However, these are my personal suggestions and reflections, not to be taken as
legal or health related opinion.

If you think you seriously need any drug then you should consult a physician
before popping up any Over The Counter pills by yourself. Those can backfire
in a serious and unthinkable way.

------
azinman2
I think social environment is the best way to do this, far better than any
drug could accomplish. Went I went from UCSD to MIT for grad school, the
increase of smart ambitious people around me drastically changed my own
expectations and that allowed me to pull myself to that level. If I had just
taken some kind of drug to motivate me, it still wouldn't allow me to see how
much higher my own bar could be, or influence how big my dreams should be.

I recently visited this leather maker who rents space in a larger co-working
space full of makers/doers. She talked a lot about 'the energy' of the
environment and how much that fueled her own creativity and ambitions. Drugs
in isolation couldn't do that, and aren't the answer (as far as I'm concerned)
should there not be some deeper isolated mental issue (like depression).

------
b6
Well, motivation/ambition seems like a very high-level target; I'm probably
not really shedding light on this subject, but just for completeness, I found
that Adderall helped me do a lot of work I might not have been able to do
without it.

Some work, I really just don't want to do. But there's a certain category of
work I really believe I want to do, but might not have been able to make
myself do without Adderall. Adderall seemed to give me the energy I needed to
tackle certain projects.

Doing work, solving problems, and being useful seem to be central to my self-
esteem. I went through a depression that lasted about 4 years, and I think
Adderall helped me stay motivated and slog through it.

~~~
jimkri
I totally agree with this. Right now I am on break from school and I haven't
taken my Adderall all break and I have had zero motivation to do anything.
Before break started I had so many projects that I wanted to do, I have not
started any of them.

Adderall really helps me, with everything. Helps me to get focused on
something it doesn't matter what, once I am started I cannot be stopped, its
awesome.

------
coralreef
Perhaps something to look into is the science of how intrigue is cultivated.
We like to work on puzzles, things that get our wheels turning. If you could
learn to be interested in a task, you wouldn't need "motivation", as problem
solving is motivating in itself.

------
l33tbro
Maybe do some research into nootropics. But, overall, motivation and ambition
are related to ypur own psychology. I find that honest self examination (keep
asking yourself why) resolves issues like these far more effectively than any
chemical or supplement

------
tokenrove
Testosterone has affects on ambition, as I understand it.

------
brudgers
Cocaine.

