

Ask HN: Need Advice Losing Focus and Motivation - throwsflet

Hey guys,<p>I thought I should post here and seek advice. I&#x27;m a 25 year old dev and I really lack motivation. On some days when things are going good, everything is great and I love what I&#x27;m doing but otherwise, and this is the norm, I&#x27;m disengaged, lacking focus and generally uninterested. What I would want to do on such days is seek novelty with respect to what I want to work on, for example today I wanted to go off on a tangent and try to learn more about type inference in compilers. Clearly something is going wrong here and I can&#x27;t really identify the problem or a possible solution. I would really love to hear from someone who&#x27;s gone through this or more experienced devs who can give me a different perspective on this.
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thatusertwo
Life is a series of cycles, there are ups and downs. Its normal to feel down
and uninterested in your work at times, just as it's normal to be excited at
other times.

If you find that you are disengaging more than anything else, then maybe you
need to find a new job where you could have more passion, being excited about
what you do could certainly help.

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Zezima
I've gone through this. The only difference is that I could point to what was
distracting me and taking my motivation: gaming.

Playing highly competitive games was an addiction for me (though I denied it
for a long time). I wanted to improve my skill, knowledge, and win rate in the
games I played, which consumed my attention, and drew me away from work.

As you've said, there isn't an identifiable internal or external stimulus
which is causing your distraction, so I'll have to be general and subjective
with what I am about to say.

Perhaps take a look at the actions you take when you are distracted. Do you
flock to a specific place or action when you lose interest? This can be the
internet, eating, running, driving, etc. If you find a pattern in your
distraction, analyzing the issue becomes easier.

There's always the possibility that you're doing something you don't like and
haven't realized it yet; perhaps a career change or dev change is in order.

Changing my environment helps significantly when I want to maintain focus.
Getting out of the house increases my productivity and inspires new ideas.

So reflect on yourself, your work, you happiness, and your interests and make
sure everything is in check. If it is, and you're still losing focus then an
Attention Deficit Disorder test could be an option (however many people are
over diagnosed for this disorder)

I hope some of this helped.

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andersthue
I struggled for many years of lack of motivation. One source of insight into
motivation is "Drive: The surprising truth..." [http://www.amazon.com/Drive-
Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates...](http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-
Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805)

The main takeaway is that you want internal motivation, not external!

I found my internal motivation through finding my "why", read "Start with why"
for an explanation [http://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-
Everyone/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-
Everyone/dp/1591846447)

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toothbrush
I feel you. It's not quite the same thing of course, but I'm supposed to be
starting to write my thesis manuscript now. The good news is I'll be able to
do something new and exciting afterwards, but for the 6 months or so it's
going to take, it's really an exercise in despondency. I feel as if the
interesting, innovative bit has already been done, and now I have to type up
the literature review, the proofs, etc. etc. I can hardly get up in the
mornings, but anyway, it's for the Greater Good...? Probably mild burn-out.

Anyway, this isn't very motivating, but if you're not tied down to your job
and you have a small amount of cash lying around, I would say: go and travel!
You should be able to get by, and at your (our!) age this should be easily
justifiable afterwards (i.e. "the hole in my CV was time off to travel and
figure out my priorities" \-- older users who are in a position to hire
people, is this realistic?).

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emurillo510
The war of art is a good book on resistance. It is a very motivating book. The
hardest part about tackling something you want to do is starting. Once you
start, it's easy to get locked in get into the rhythm. Have fun, enjoy the
moment, get a friend to help you; set small goals and make progress. You just
got to man up and fight it.

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TheAlchemist
I found this article quite interesting on the topic of motivation:
[http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-
need-...](http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-
discipline/)

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throwaway233
(throwaway)

Porn is disastrously distracting to focus and motivation.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/)

