
How Do you Motivate Yourself and Stay Focused? - peterkchen
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/10/08/how-do-you-motivate-yourself-and-stay-focused
======
bfe
Elon Musk answered a similar question, and identified drive as the only
relevant factor:

"How do you stay focused, motivated, and maintain enthusiasm when things don't
go the way you'd hoped?

"I think my, sort of, drive to get it done is somewhat disconnected from hope,
enthusiasm, or anything else... I actually just don't care about hope, or
enthusiasm, motivation... I just give it everything I've got, irrespective of
what the circumstances may be... You just keep going, and get it done."

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOPgM7Sc2VQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOPgM7Sc2VQ)

~~~
runawaybottle
I love Elon Musk, but jesus christ, way to make the rest of us feel utterly
human.

~~~
phaus
I'm impressed by his scientific endeavors, but I have a hard time forgiving
him for Paypal.

~~~
unepipe
It seems you are trying to be cute/follow the meme that it's good to hate on
PayPal because of the account freezes and stuff as of late. However, before
PayPal it was so hard to make a payment or transfer money to someone. They
deserved the success they had for a groundbreaking product. Hating on Musk for
decisions the company has made more recently is pure folly.

~~~
phaus
>It seems you are trying to be cute/follow the meme...

Because no one that's capable of independent thought will come to a different
conclusion than you did right? There's no need to be condescending just
because you don't agree with me.

Paypal is a shitty company because it fails to support sellers in any
meaningful way. Part of this stems from the fact that it isn't a financial
institution, so it will always lose to industry standard financial
institutions if it tries to fight fraudulent charge backs. Unfortunately this
renders the service close to useless for anyone trying to sell anything that's
worth more than about $20.

It works great if you want to buy something, because you have a 100% chance of
getting your money back if the seller doesn't come through. Unfortunately,
people committing fraud against sellers also have a 100% chance of getting
their money back, because Paypal doesn't even attempt to investigate these
situations properly.

~~~
phaus
Instead of silently down-voting, why don't you counter with information that
supports the opposite? Perhaps you know someone who has a good experience as a
vendor that uses Paypal. Sadly, I myself know multiple dealers that shut their
accounts down after they got tired of losing money to thieves.

~~~
unepipe
Again... not Musk.

------
lifeformed
I feel like I'm facing the same problems but in a completely opposite context.
He's in a stressful situation every day, unsure what's going to come next, and
forced to imperfectly make decisions. His strategy for motivation comes from
keeping his eyes on the prize and going with the flow.

I'm in a completely stress free environment - every day blends in with the
next; I can just do nothing one day and tell myself I will do it tomorrow. I'm
financially stable enough to never be in a do-or-die situation. My passion for
my project temporarily died somewhere after 30k lines of code. Yet, it is my
dream to finish the project. I _have_ to finish it, it's my self-designated
job. But it's such a huge, abstract task, and I can just enjoy myself _right
now_ instead. There's literally no reward for working until after another year
of it. It's so hard to stay focused and motivated when nothing is at stake.

~~~
sunir
What if I gave you one hundred dollar bills and said this is all the money you
had to spend. Once it's spent, it's spent, and you can never get any more.

How much would you spend on movie ticket? A blissful escape, sure, but you
probably have other things to do with your life.

You're only going to live for maybe one hundred years at most, maybe many
less. _Spend_ your years wisely.

~~~
lifeformed
I agree, I would be super motivated if that was the case, because it would
give me a concrete deadline. But it's hard to simulate desperateness, because
I could always bail out (unless I gave all my money away, which isn't a good
idea). It's not like I'm rich or anything, I just saved up enough money to do
exactly this (work on this project full time) for a while, and yet here I am,
sitting around struggling to do it.

I _want_ to _want_ to work hard. I just really need to learn self-discipline.

~~~
neltnerb
It's extremely difficult to self-manage if you haven't been in a safe
situation to experiment with it.

Personally, I find that the only sensible and generally applicable solution is
to set short-term goals based on a formally written project plan to yourself.

You don't ever have to give that project plan to anyone else, but you should
write it as well as you possibly can. It should be clear on what kinds of
things are feasible to do, what is required, what you can do first to prove
the concepts, and so on.

I do this for every project I start, after struggling with the problem in
graduate school a bit. It takes about a week per proposal to put something
together of reasonably high quality, but by the end you actually probably have
a very good sense of the strongest argument you can make to do the project as
well as the weaknesses, as well as ideally a logical argument for why it might
work based on citable evidence. This would also include things like "this
experiment I can do" (translated to "this market idea I can test" in business)
will generate some result that is clear and helpful in moving towards your
medium term goal -- which is probably to either make enough money or be able
to raise enough money to pay yourself and enough staff to move to the next
medium term goal.

Then take that medium term goal and break it down not into time-based goals
but sensible sub-goals. If you want to build a web service, a first goal might
be "I think that people have a use for... I can test that by building... and
collect data using... if that works, then it's worth doing the second goal..."

Break it down as small as is sensible to do, but limit this kind of
strategizing so that you don't go really far down a road before putting it
aside to sit and let you get a fresh perspective. Bounce it off others to see
if they can poke holes in your strategy that you didn't think of. And so on.

Anyway, it's not so much self-discipline as it is realizing that big goals are
always changing and medium term goals are uncertain. You have to always be
able to change those goals based on the actual data you collect. But the short
term goals should be achievable. And it will take time to isolate what good
short term goals should be.

A good short term goal might be, to start, to make a good start on identifying
short term goals...

~~~
lifeformed
That's a good idea - even though I'm in the middle of the project, and the
project is big enough where a plan of the entire project wouldn't be feasible,
I can at least do it for the chunk I am working on right now. I think just
being explicit with my tasks would be a huge step. Right now everything is
vague and kind of just in this "idea soup" in the back of my mind. Every time
I pull out the next idea to work on, I realize I had all the wrong
expectations the whole time.

------
netmute
Staying motivated is simple: don't work on boring shit.

That may sound like a shallow phrase, but I've been there. You've convinced
yourself that you're working on the most awesome thing in the world. You keep
thinking that you're supposed to be motivated, because what you're doing is
great. But deep down, you know that you'd rather do something else.

At that point it usually boils down to rewards. Is the reward worth
continuing?

If the answer is yes, go on. Shouldn't be a problem. If the answer is no, you
know why you aren't motivated. Drop it, look for something else.

~~~
jotm
But it's not that simple. Not that simple to drop something when it's 70%
complete, not easy to find something new that won't also become boring at 70%,
and not easy to start from scratch.

Plus, with every failure, you lose a little bit of trust in yourself and
belief that you can get things done.

There's always a point where the motivation is just gone and you have to push
through somehow, and if you can't get this thing done, chances are that you
won't be able to do it the second or third time, either ...

------
6d0debc071
My attitude towards major decisions comes from an incident in my childhood. I
make them and then see whether they stand up to the lesser tests along the way
- reason and reality.

It's not willpower for me, it's not even trying to focus on something. It's
making a choice and meaning it - really meaning it: _I 'm gonna do this,
you'll have to kill me (or the idea as the case may be) to stop me._ Then I've
got something to work with. What that decision is at the time isn't the most
important part. Try to talk yourself out of that decision - depending on the
time and resources, try to get other people to talk you out of it - if you
fail then do the thing, if you succeed then don't. If it gets far enough,
throw the dice and accept what may come with the knowledge you gambled as well
as you were able.

The important thing for me is to make that initial choice. I find that works
much better than indulging in doubting a course of action that I can't really
define. Hesitation is often just another word for freezing, panicking or
running away.

...

Not that I think that my style of thinking is suitable for everyone. I wonder
whether the sort of choice making I'm talking about here is something that
everyone can do. For instance, lots of people seem to have the fear that if
they get attacked they're not going to act as they want to - which doesn't
really make sense if you have the experiences to know you can make a decision
and mean it.

~~~
pa5tabear
what was the incident?

------
warcher
I don't do too good with 'motivation' or willpower. I do good with habit. For
me, motivation dies and willpower fails. Most of the shit that worked out well
for me is stuff that I just kept with.

We had a real good day at the office, I wanna say, Tuesday? After a string of
really good days. And I had to physically stop everybody and go get a couple
beers from the corner store and HAND them to people to celebrate our rad
success. Because it was boring. It honestly was. We do what we do every day,
and sometimes we get the bear and sometimes the bear gets us, but if we work
hard enough we live another day, and eventually small stupid wins pile up.

~~~
Malician
I love your post. Not just because the Weeds reference made me laugh, but
because not all of us are living a lifestyle far and above everyone else.

Because some of us have trouble going on every day, but we have to give it
everything we have - or, at least, we know that's what we need to do to
progress beyond where we are - and it's motivational to know that even people
who aren't Success Factor Superhuman Outliers 10X Winner Ass-Kickers are out
there, too.

~~~
warcher
I could make an equally compelling argument for being both an ultra 10x super
ass kicker and a total loser. It depends on the day, really. I'm probably
having an ass kicker week this week. It's difficult to be certain, as keeping
the ups and downs from affecting you personally is a survival skill, and what
happened this week is a factor of a bunch of shit I did months ago, and what I
focus on today won't matter for months into the future. Because of this weird
time distortion, the only way I can function personally is just showing up and
going at a sustainable pace for a long, long time.

But it is very elon musk "don't believe in hope". If getting shit done was
contingent on things working out according to plan I'd have quit years ago.

------
vylan
If you're near the beach, try surfing, and especially at the end of a long day
of work. Not only is it great exercise, but also can be a very transformative
experience. Refreshing in both the physical and mental sense. This gives me
motivation and focus in other things I take on.

------
protez
I'm so tired of seeing motivation hacks, or similar stuff. If something
supposed to motivate you doesn't motivate you enough, that supposition is just
plain weak and has no deeper place within you. That's it. Be yourself. That's
the ultimate motivation. Nothing else can be motivating you more than that,
and shouldn't be, unless you want to be someone else, or as hollow as
possible.

------
vladmk
I'll take a crack at the problem. What motivated me to lose 10 pounds, was a
bet I made with my brother. I told him if I don't do Insanity (workout
program) everyday I'd take a picture with myself in a dress. Now he was
holding me responsible and I had this negativity driving me. I finished the
full program.

I just did a similar thing with my co-founder for my start up except with cold
calling. We've broken our sales record this week. Bottom line I think
negativity motivates me more personally than positivity. Lastly whatever it
is, try to make that a habit, so you have to force yourself to do it at the
exact same time and place. (my two cents).

------
mzarate06
I only work on projects I have a deep interest or passion for. Nothing kills
motivation more than non-interesting work. A close second is ensuring you're
on a great team.

I agree w/other comments that taking breaks helps, but I haven't found that to
be as important as those two (passion and team). You can take as many breaks
as you want throughout the day, but if you're stuck having to return to non-
interesting work or a team you'd rather not work with, you'll still find it
hard to get motivated and maintain focus.

------
proee
While staying focused in a startup is important, it's nice to have freedom to
explore new ideas and thought processes outside of the core product.

I've seen plenty of startups hyper-focus on one product and fail because they
couldn't position their product in the marketplace properly (seeing the
forrest-through-the-trees).

------
adamzerner
Like this: [http://www.collegeanswerz.com/discipline-and-
understanding](http://www.collegeanswerz.com/discipline-and-understanding).

------
knappador
The problem only exists if you have it. It doesn't really exists, but seems to
exist if you let it exist. Ostensibly this advice seems not helpful as it
doesn't solve the problem, but by not acknowledging it, the problem is solved.
You can of course choose to manifest this problem as another problem that is
solvable, which can mean mid-life crisis etc or whatever task you seek to be
productive at.

~~~
kyro
What does this even mean?

~~~
knappador
It's impossible to express or study something that is ineffable. It's like
extrapolating an underlying mechanism to quantum physics. You might get a
model. Your model might be consistent, but the model is never guaranteed to be
true or be anything better than lucky.

Study some Daoism, Socrates, decideability, and other such intellectual
resources regarding perception, conditional existence, and the possibility of
solutions.

I get a high state of spirit from attacking whatever is in front of me. My
progress begets progress. If I don't have progress, I start. Convolution of
the topic of motivation is basically procrastination unless what you're doing
is not leading you even on a meandering path to your goal, in which case you
need more goals and to be involved in activities with more potential. I work
on FOSS, maintain and develop FOSS, help users with the FOSS I work on, and
there's no doubt that it pays off, monetarily and in terms of potential.
Therefore, I am never in contact with this problem. I've worked dead-end jobs
to get into financial and skill position to work high-potential jobs. Any time
I'm not in such a position, I seek ways to get into such a position. The
problem of motivation is rhetorical. Expecting an answer might give you one,
but the existence of a problem or a solution to something that is axiomatic is
a dead-end unless you get lucky and something totally outside your perception
leads you to believe that you have a solution and a problem and that the two
together have given you motivation.

~~~
011011100
Starting off by saying a bunch of vague things and then mentioning quantum
mechanics is a really good way of turning away most readers. Do you want to
have a constructive conversation, where you communicate concrete and
meaningful things, or do you want to just give off the appearance of
sophistication?

~~~
knappador
Wah. While this was going on, I finished a re-write of the Android billing
APIv3 integration in Kivy. [https://github.com/knappador/billing-
example](https://github.com/knappador/billing-example) Please test the
provided binary and post logcats of failures. Interested in more devices and
Android versions.

~~~
011011100
You are super cool.

~~~
ehsanu1
Advanced markov chains?

Edit: Nevermind, Github username matches HN..

------
matwood
_When I rest I feel utterly lifeless except that my throat burns when I draw
breath...I can scarcely go on. No despair, no happiness, no anxiety. I have
not lost the mastery of my feelings, there are actually no more feelings. I
consist only of will._ \- Messner on the first solo ascent of Everest

There is no secret, it is willpower. Every person draws willpower from their
own unique place. Find yours.

------
zobzu
simple: i do other things. i take breaks. i work a healthy 35h a week or so
(of actual work, not of checking imgur/facebook/reddit/emails/coffee/what not)

i think its well covered elsewhere. if spend too much time focusing on work,
you'll lose that focus entirely.

------
mindcrime
How do I motivate myself? That's kinda hard to explain. It involves a lot of
inner demons and mindsets that date to my childhood growing up dirt-poor in
rural southeastern NC. But what it boils down to lately it this: I'm 40. I'm
not getting any younger. I haven't yet accomplished my most outlandish dreams.
And I have never been crazy about accepting mediocrity. I don't want to live
an average, boring, moderately successful life. "Go big or go home", whatever.

So, for the past two years or so, my mindset has been "I'm basically out of
'at bats'. I don't get any more chances to make my dreams come true. I do this
_now_ , or I load my car with booze, drive to Vegas, and pull a 'Leaving Las
Vegas' routine."

I just hope I can find a girl who looks like Elisabeth Shue. I <3 Elisabeth
Shue.

I also draw a lot of inspiration from music. Since Suster started the Eminem
references, here's one of my favorites:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xXYeNrW9k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1xXYeNrW9k)
('Till I Collapse - Eminem & Nate Dogg)

Along with stuff like this:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQQcOQsCFnw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQQcOQsCFnw)
(Keep Your Eye on the Money - Motley Crue)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gnJ-
fQ1uwA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gnJ-fQ1uwA) (Stick To Your Guns - Bon
Jovi)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZKm86wW88](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZKm86wW88)
(Never Say Die - Jon Bon Jovi)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MXiTeH_Pg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MXiTeH_Pg)
(Here I Go Again - Whitesnake)

Of course, you have to realize, I grew up in the 80's, in the era of the "80's
feel good movie" where the underdog hero has his back to the wall, all the
odds against him, and through hard work, dedication, (and a training montage,
of course) ultimately perseveres and triumphs over evil. Those are the kind of
metaphors that are pretty deeply lodged into my psyche.

It also helps that I simply enjoy the act of creating things, and right now,
my goal is to create this company that I have in my head. I see what we're
capable of building and where this can go, and I want to make that happen.

 _Even more difficult. You have an offer to sell your company. Should you? You
might net $1 million and that would change your life. But everybody is telling
you not to sell and instead to “go for it” and you don’t know whom to listen
to. One. Million. Dollars. I know it’s not what it used to be, but news flash
– it’s still a million dollars! How can you wake up every day and process that
decision. Five million? Ten?_

This reminds me of the (in)famous "An acquistion is always a failure"
discussion[1]. I said what I have to say[2] about this, in that thread.

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5483582](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5483582)

[2]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5483765](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5483765)

------
TausAmmer
You make up story or illusion. Else, living under bridge and staring at
running water gives the same satisfaction.

------
swayvil
Focus is brother to blindness, just saying.

------
andyl
This reads like a screen play. "One Million Dollars - would you take it?!?"
Indecent Proposal.
([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107211/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107211/))

