
Consistency and discipline over motivation - dwltz
http://blog.donnywals.com/consistency-and-discipline-over-motivation/
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andrewstuart2
One thing I've personally noticed is that being disciplined can quickly create
or renew motivation. Getting something finished even though I don't want to do
it feels great. That alone is often enough to jump start that positive
feedback loop and get me moving rapidly again.

~~~
unoti
Me too. This is also called "fake it till you make it". It sounds like empty
b.s. But there is a lot to it. The book Stop Worrying and Start Living
suggests that when your mood is bad, force yourself to smile and pretend
outwardly that everything is good. I've found this really helps, even though
it sounds dumb.

Also along the same lines is Picasso's famous quote: inspiration comes, but it
has to find us working.

~~~
louhike
You made a typo, it should be "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living".

~~~
unoti
Fixed, thanks, that's a funny one!

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ryanthejuggler
Suffering from HNDoS; read it at
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://blog.donnywals.com/consistency-
and-discipline-over-motivation/&strip=1)

Also links to [http://impossiblehq.com/get-disciplined-not-
motivated](http://impossiblehq.com/get-disciplined-not-motivated) and
[http://thereallimegreenandloki.tumblr.com/post/101385465984/...](http://thereallimegreenandloki.tumblr.com/post/101385465984/fuck-
motivation-its-a-fickle-and-and-unreliable)

~~~
dwltz
Thanks for putting up the cache link :) it's actually an outage on directVPS'
end so I hope they resolve this fast

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khorwitz
From the article: "When I look at more senior developers I notice...[they]
take multiple short breaks throughout the day and between those breaks _they
tend to be very focused on the tasks they have to complete_. They don’t have
their Slack open all the time and _they work on a single thing at a time_. And
they are consistent about that."

For help focusing on a single thing at a time, check out
[http://focusr.co](http://focusr.co)

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beaumartinez
Great read.

One of my favourite quotes is "motivation follows action". Often times I've
found myself loath to do something, but once I start "revving up" (at work, it
might be starting with something simple like a small refactor; at home, it
could be committing to simply washing one plate of the stack I have remaining)
I find I gain the motivation to keep going.

~~~
dwltz
I agree, waiting to get motivated can be really frustrating and it can fuel a
sense of guilt because you know you should be doing something. Just starting
do it triggers a rewarding feeling and spawns that precious feeling of
motivation i guess.

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davidshepherd7
I started taking fixed breaks every hour to (try to) reduce my rsi pains and
it does seem help my productivty. I used to check reddit/hn/feedly whenever I
got really frustrated with something but now I usually power through it
because I know I'll get a break soon anyway.

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heiro
I agree that motivation needs to be trained. But be careful with "being tough
with yourself". People tends to fail ah the beginning and then blame
themselves so much that they give up...

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0xdeadbeefbabe
> When I look at more senior developers I notice that many of them have a
> workflow similar to this.

Could it also be that they are good at getting you to notice this? I think
pretense is valued above consistency and discipline.

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kleer001
> I think pretense is valued above consistency and discipline.

And what has led you to that thought?

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0xdeadbeefbabe
Because the OP seems to suggest you overcome lack of motivation by pretending
you have motivation, but he calls this discipline and consistency. Also, the
comments about fake it till you make it support that interpretation.

I've also gone to meetings.

~~~
kstenerud
It's not about pretending you have motivation; it's about using discipline and
consistency (having a routine) to get you through the periods where your
motivation wanes.

Motivation comes and goes; discipline is as eternal as you will it to be.

~~~
kleer001
And discipline is a bit tricky to boot-strap. I think that's the part that's
being argued about here. Or maybe not.

