Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself? - e19293001
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tromple
In general I stay motivated by reaching a base level of healthiness -
physical, work, and social. The motivation comes naturally if I've met those
needs.

I'm not a superhuman kettlebell-swinging crossfit soylent paleo junkie by any
means, but I walk to work every day and bike a good amount using my city's
bike-share. And I've started (over the course of 2 years, it's so tough!) to
eat less-unhealthy food.

Being happy at work makes a big difference to my motivation, I'm able to
channel some of that extra energy I get from feeling like I'm putting good
effort in, into my side projects. I work 9-5 most days (as a programmer).

I find I'm more motivated when I keep in touch with people, and also when I
work on projects that get me interacting with people who are excited about
what I'm doing. For me at least, it's not as fun to work on a project if
people I know don't think it's cool. That was a snippet from a Paul Graham
essay I took to heart and I think it's true.

I also occasionally journal my thoughts down, which makes me feel calmer and
more ready to approach a task.

~~~
afarrell
Also: sleep. If you find yourself staying up late at night trying to focus and
instead reading Wikipedia articles about the Hapsburgs, stop. Get yourself on
a sleep schedule. Download RainyMood[1] and Freedom[2] if it helps you.

[1] [https://rainymood.com/](https://rainymood.com/) [2]
[https://freedom.to](https://freedom.to)

~~~
tedmiston
A similar app I've used is SimplyRain [0].

[0]: [https://rain.simplynoise.com](https://rain.simplynoise.com)

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williamkennedy
I have actually written about this a lot as it is one of those topics that I
am fascinated with. The trick is not to try and motivate yourself but to build
systems and processes to get things done regardless.

For me, it boils down to 3 things. Pre-planning, habits and elimination. I
have written about each separately on my blog
[http://www.new2code.com/2016/06/deep-
work/](http://www.new2code.com/2016/06/deep-work/)

I plan a lot of stuff on my Google Calendar. My whole days are planned in
advance including free time. When I am learning a new language, I set aside
time for study. If a friend asks me to hang out, I can just check to see if I
have prior commitments. I also have the regular gym slot and after 2+ years, I
am simply routine when it comes to exercising.

Next, learn how to build habits and routines. This saves a ton brain power.
There is a great video on habit building

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUJxjn-R8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUJxjn-R8)

Also, check out a book by Charles Duhigg called The Power of Habit.

Finally, cut out the news and as much information as possible. Not watching
the news added a ton of happiness to my life. This also cuts out distractions.
Check out something called the Low Information Diet which goes into more
detail as well as a book called Deep Work by Cal Newport

I also wrote a guest post on the blog Simple Programmer that goes into more
detail on the willpower.motivation side of things
[https://simpleprogrammer.com/2016/09/07/limited-
willpower/](https://simpleprogrammer.com/2016/09/07/limited-willpower/)

I hope that helps. Largely I don't believe in long-term motivation, it is more
to do with becoming routine.

~~~
cylinder
Thanks, I watched the video. I totally agree about avoiding news and being low
information. Unfollowing all my Facebook friends so I have no feed has been
great. I was until recently ignoring a lot of news but due to boredom have
allowed myself to get sucked back in.

~~~
williamkennedy
I have a Chrome Plugin called News Feed Eradicator for Facebook. *

I find it is a terrific solution for preventing you from browsing Facebook.
Now everytime, I got to Facebook out of habit, I end up leaving because my
news feed does not exist and I don't get sucked in.

Works for me anyway.

* [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg)

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sebg
"Discipline is remembering what you want" \- David Campbell, Founder of Saks
Fifth Avenue. So if you want to motivate yourself, then remember what you
want. Then if you find you are not doing what is necessary, it means that you
have to confront the fact that you may not actually want what you are telling
yourself you want.

~~~
tedmiston
Alternatively, it may mean confronting the fact that you've never really sat
down to examine your values and find out what it is that you _truly want_ in
the first place. :)

------
csallen
DHH once gave a talk at Startup School. Watching that talk invariably pumps me
up and leaves me motivated for hours. (Specifically, it gets me motivated to
work on personal projects that make money online.)

In general, reading about anyone's success is like a shot of motivation
directly into my veins.

~~~
tmaly
Is this talk available online?

~~~
joshux
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY)

------
tmaly
The easiest for me is to just start doing something, even if it is a little
thing. It may have been in the Power of Habit or another place. The person
said if you wanted to get in the habit of flossing, just start with the front
two teeth. Derek Sivers I think said something like do one pushup and what
ends up happening is that you get to thinking, I am already down here why not
do another one. This leads to a habit.

I approach this the same way when it comes to motivating myself to work on a
side project. Another good approach I picked up is the 5 minute journal. You
invariably end up reflecting on things you could have done better. This helps
you to focus yourself and pay attention to where you are not getting the most
out of life.

~~~
orky56
I've converted the 5 minute journal into 2 Google Forms one for AM & PM and
have put links to those in a calendar invite for my notifications/alarms to
wake up and go to sleep. Keeps me on point every day without being too
cumbersome. PM me if you'd like access to the template so you don't have to
recreate yourself.

------
avitzurel
I race bikes and train like crazy.

I wrote about it before here: [https://medium.com/@kensodev/how-bike-racing-
is-making-me-a-...](https://medium.com/@kensodev/how-bike-racing-is-making-me-
a-better-engineer-cd2870bdaa87#.kledyyrt6)

Racing bikes (and training for it) creates so much structure in life. What you
eat, how you sleep, when you recover. Even though I work most of the time from
home, it gives a clear order to the day.

------
ge96
Everything was handed to me in life. Not much but enough to get to middle
class if I had just followed the rules and stuck with it. But I didn't. I
failed out my physics/engineering program. I now work in a factory, and owe
around 50K which I barely make 19K a year.

My life sucks. But I'm also young. I watch movies, sci Fi movies/shows which
motivates me. I want that life. But then I try to program and I'm like "Holy
crap. I'm so far away..."

I hate going to work I perform the same tasks over 6,000 in a day. Everyday is
the same. I am wasting my life.

Motivation by fear isn't a good thing. Like the cliche, follow what you love.

Me I'm about trying to get out of my situation. Make money. I HAVE AN IDEA!!!

The problem is discipline. Sleep is a basic thing. Screw up your sleep
pattern. You end up wasting time being awake and trying to fall asleep/not
able to work.

Yeah discipline is the big thing. And true motivation from a desire/longing to
do whatever it is with an internal driving force.

~~~
SyneRyder
Argh. That must feel frustrating & demoralizing. Are you working full time at
the factory? Are you working on a project on the side to help lift yourself
out of the situation? How do you keep your spirits up? (If it were me, I think
that situation would weigh down my self esteem - hanging out with friends
would be very important to me to stay upbeat.)

I agree that motivation by fear isn't a good thing & doesn't work for
everyone. The times I was most fearful, I found the fear & anxiety paralyzing
and I wasn't productive at all.

Being young is good. Things can change quickly - you never know where you'll
be in 5 years, 2 years, even next year. I wish you good luck!

~~~
ge96
I'm not sure if I replied to you. I think I replied to myself. Also I'm new to
HN so I didn't know how to check for messages.

Yeah it sucks, but you know, I made the decisions to get here. Also I've
burned bridges too, which made me concerned like "How will I get a job without
references?" but factories you know, they'll hire just about anybody.

I work on web development (freelance) on my spare time, but I'm bad at
pricing/businessman and also I'm not that great (reinvent the wheel, use bad
code, etc...). I'm really into technology, aviation, robotics, programming, I
want to be one of those that I read about in the news. Space. AI, etc... it
just sucks being there. I'm trapped. I have this miserable look on my face all
the time. I feel bad that people see it. But I can't hide it too, I hate it.
But other people also hate this job, but they don't seem to make it other
people's problems.

So I just day dream while I lose myself cutting meat in the factory. I dream
of ideas, designs, etc... I fear I am delusional, if I make the money then I
must not be right? So far I haven't made any money so... not going very well
haha.

I was in a box, for the last two years, now it's a corner, hopefully it'll be
a room(box again)/house.

Yeah it's hard to keep sane. Sorry I ranted.

------
ohgh1ieD
It's very simple for me I just think that one day I'll be dead and that I just
wasted my life and the only option to change that is to create something that
has value to me and that motivates me.

But the more I think about it ... I guess it's fear, it's the fear of a
meaningless life.

Eat, shit, fuck, breath, die ?

No thanks

~~~
tedmiston
This is a popular stance especially among entrepreneurs. "We're here for such
a short period of time, might as well do something meaningful."

~~~
ohgh1ieD
And a very powerful one.

I'm actually a lazy fuck but that thought makes me run circles.

------
siscia
There is a popular comment somewhere in the internet (I would guess on quota,
but not sure) about this subject.

The point of this comment is that you don't need motivation you need
discipline.

Motivation comes and goes, discipline stick around which is what you need if
you want to build anything meaningful...

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0x54MUR41
I heard that inner motivation (motivation from the inside, in other word,
yourself) has more impact than outer motivation.

That was my problem too when I was preparing college entrance examination. My
teacher told me that you can get a motivation by categorizing what you love,
what you fear, and what you hate. Someone can get a motivation because he
hates something. So, write it down! Repeat what you've written regularly
before and after you're going to bed.

Side note: I would recommend James Clear's reading list for motivation [1].

[1]: [http://jamesclear.com/motivation](http://jamesclear.com/motivation)

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8611m
This is not very scientific, but it has worked for me. I have curated this
list of YouTube videos some of which have helped me and some of my friends a
lot in the last year. I watch 1-2 of these in the gym when I am doing my
cardio (elliptical or treadmill) three times a week towards the end of my
workout.

goo.gl/Xv4pwT

I am a very distracted person, and need constant reminders. I have designed my
life in such a way to be constantly reminded of my priorities. Once, I decide
I need to include an activity in my life (be it learning, workout, eating
healthy), I set up a time and corresponding reminders/ alerts. This sort of
planning and tracking helps tremendously stay focussed on only things that
matter.

~~~
riotvan
This is interesting because I think this is my problem as well. I've tried
TODO lists, writing things on paper, but I eventually forget about them. Do
you use todo lists? Do you write everything down in paper?

------
mattbgates
My motivation at my age: Make my primary job my second job and make enough
money in my startup so that it becomes my primary job.

How do I stay motivated to keep at it with my startup? Aside from enjoying
doing what I do, developing web apps, I write down the potential profit
involved that I could be making every month. Those are the numbers I want to
be making that I'm currently not making and that is what keeps me motivated.

Money isn't everything.. that is certainly true! But making enough money to
pay off my mortage, my credit card debt, my bills, and still have enough left
over to donate to a cause and have some peace of mind is the underlying
motivator.

~~~
ryanmccullagh
Hey Matt. What is your startup, if you don't mind me asking, of course.

~~~
mattbgates
Hey Ryan, although I'm still developing the projects, I began an umbrella
business which specializes in delivering affordable communication services to
companies and individuals.

------
orky56
I think about the 24 hours in my day and see if the time I have spent/will
spend expresses the priorities I have in my life. I create routines to ensure
the decision-making is minimized as much as possible such that my habitual
actions reflect my priorities. Lastly I consider the fact that will my future
self think I am doing him a favor by the actions/systems I am putting in
place. Motivation should be about putting yourself on the appropriate
trajectory not just completing the individual action that leads to fleeting
satisfaction.

------
just_observing
There is no one single unfailing way for me to do this.

Some days it will be closing X issues, or a cold beer, or a gaming session
with a friend, or tracking down that one annoying bug, or seeing that my
numbers are low and I need to up my game (which can conflict with long work to
find that bug of course), or reading a book, going for a bike ride.

There are other ways I do it but no single thing hits the spot for every day
and every situation. Having a stock of various methods works though and I'm
always happy to add another.

------
JSeymourATL
Shane Parrish recently gave an excellent review on motivation, good food for
thought--

Daniel Pink on Incentives and the Two Types of Motivation >
[https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/08/daniel-pink-two-
typ...](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/08/daniel-pink-two-types-of-
motivation/)

------
Cozumel
Eric Baker has some good insights [http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/01/how-to-
be-motivated/](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/01/how-to-be-motivated/)

I struggle to get motivated as well.

~~~
tedmiston
That was a great read. Here's my summary:

Note: For convenience it's also available with slightly more detail (and
formatting!) in my notes repo on GitHub at [1].

\---

\- Sometimes people don't feel motivated if they focus too much on the rewards
involved rather than the task itself

\- Instead of focusing on the reward, how can we motivate ourselves to care
about the task at hand? 3 ways: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose.

\- The progress principle: the most powerful motivator is making progress in
meaningful work (even just the perception of doing so)

\- From _The Progress Principle_ : "People’s inner work lives seemed to lift
or drag depending on whether or not their projects moved forward, even by
small increments. Small wins often had a surprisingly strong positive effect,
and small losses a surprisingly strong negative one."

\- If it's hard to see progress, focus on small accomplishments instead of big
goals. What is intrinsically motivating to you?

\- In a study by Barry Schwartz on West Point grads, intrinsically motivated
students performed better and were more satisfied than extrinsically motivated
and those with hybrid intrinsic/extrinsic motivation

\- From _Drive_ by Dan Pink: "So there is this kind of interesting zen-like
thing. The route to these rewards is not to be cognitive of the rewards."

\- Extra motivation from Neil deGrasse Tyson: "The problem, often not
discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like
love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under
a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create
their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own
motivation."

\---

[1]:
[https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/articles/How%...](https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/articles/How%20to%20Be%20Motivated.md)

------
recmend
Leaving the world a little better than I found it. Find opportunities where
you can and want to make a difference, then do your best.

------
gjolund
Im motivated by my bills.

