
How did you bootstap your personal discipline? - kleer001
For commenters who get things done.<p>Were you just raised right? Was it an event? Did you read a particularly inspiring book? Podcast? Subliminal tape? Was it an uncle, an aunt, a teacher? A movie? A pop song? A undefinable thirst for try-fail cycles?<p>It&#x27;s most likely an ongoing process, but I thought I&#x27;d ask to help improve my own process.
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freedevbootcamp
Watch this motivational playlist on Youtube. It will get you back on your feet
and focused to change the world.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26U_seo0a1g&list=PLYzEWmEmHy...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26U_seo0a1g&list=PLYzEWmEmHyL-8LfXf5PkTzFiIggMWrDZD)

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galfarragem
GTD.

I can't understand why GTD is not anymore trendy (at least in HN) once it is
the most efficient system I ever used. Since I implemented it, my life changed
and I not even thought of going back. If you ever get curious about GTD,
besides reading the original book ( _Get Things Done_ by David Allen) you can
have a look at my implementation: [https://github.com/we-build-dreams/hamster-
gtd](https://github.com/we-build-dreams/hamster-gtd) , might be a good
starting point.

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kele
GTD isn't suited well for creative, deep work where you can't possibly
determine what the next action is.

If you'd like to read more about it:
[http://calnewport.com/blog/](http://calnewport.com/blog/)

That being said, whatever floats your boat ;-)

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galfarragem
I don't use GTD to take control of present moment actions (listing every small
action would be a waste of time that is better spent 'determining what the
next action is'), I use it mostly to not forget delayed important tasks. As I
grow old and grow in responsabilities I easily forget stuff and I don't want
to be worried about it.

I think GTD is a system that must be adapted to your particular work and
personality. You can't use it out-of-the-box, that's why I recomend my
implementation only as a starting point.

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rbrogan
Meditation, fasting, cleaning / organizing, exercise. Never intended to do it
old school, but that is how it turned out, interestingly enough.

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kleer001
Where did that path begin? What inspired you to do that? I assume you didn't
wake up one day with a plan to execute, 'de novo' as it were.

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anigbrowl
Having a short-term target to achieve a long-term goal, and not worrying too
much about what's in the middle. I decided I needed to do more (screen)
writing last year, I was annoyed that I had not written much in the previous
few years and was feeling age creeping up on me. But although I've written
several short and feature-length screenplays, it had always been an exhausting
all-or-nothing process rather than a steady sustainable output.

So I thought to myself that if I only wrote one page a day, I would have 365
pages at the end of a year, which was a lot of material even if it did not
assure any single project being complete. One page a day is not a scary
target, even if one is feeling creatively empty it's still possible to crank
out a page of something bad. So if I really had no ideas I'd pick some random
idea like 'car chase' and force myself to just start writing a bout a car
chase without worrying about why it was taking place - maybe I would be able
to recycle it later for some project that actually required a car chase, or if
not at least I would have some experience of how to write that. The key point
here was to do some work every day without necessarily having a grand overall
vision in one's head of what needs to be done - because you could wait ages
for that to come, and the longer you wait the less inspired you feel. So if
you're programming and you don't have an idea for your project, you can still
find things to do - comment one of your other projects although that's very
tedious, or implement quicksort in a language you haven't used before, or
whatever. If you're a painter and you don't have an idea for a picture, fill
up pages in your sketchbook with studies of your laundry basket or something.

(Incidentally, I also threw a few $ at a new piece of software that had fewer
features than my existing word processor but a nicer UI. Don't blame your
tools for your problems, but don't use tools you don't like.)

The key point here which took me years to learn, is not to worry about the
larger picture. Even if at the end of the year I had 365 one-page fragments
that didn't connect together, that in itself would be interesting. _Needing a
big idea to feel motivated is a trap._ You cannot coast along on a wave of
intellectual excitement all the time; all waves break and if you rely on the
wave then you're like a surfer who can't swim. So on days when you don't have
a good idea of what to do, do something shitty.

The first month was horrible. Agonizing. After a couple of weeks I started
adapting a short story I liked in order to get _some_ sense of progress and
offset the misery of staring into a creative void every time I sat down. That
helped, somewhat. Then one day I read something interesting (on HN in fact),
jotted down a single sentence about it because it sounded like it would make a
good story, and went off to play with the dog. 10 weeks alter, I have the 3rd
draft of a feature film. When I got stuck I'd work on the story adaptation I
mentioned earlier, and if I got really stuck I'd write commercials for
imaginary products and services (some of which will get recycled into a comedy
project). Accepting the need to just 'start over' every day has been a big
part of that. Even if I wrote 10 pages yesterday, I still have to crank one
out today and it might be crap. Oh well.

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rayalez
Hey, thank you very much for your post!! I'm struggling with the same problem,
I desperately want to write(funny short sci-fi stories), but my mind has been
blank for weeks.

I really needed to read something like this. I don't know if it will help, but
it is definitely the advice I needed to hear, maybe it will push me in the
right direction.

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anigbrowl
You're welcome! Drop me a line, by all means.

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Nadya
You won't get anywhere if you aren't moving your feet.

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kleer001
While that's good advice, it doesn't answer my lead or my explanatory text.

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Nadya
Apologies. I'll explain my quote some more.

It was a moment of clarity when realizing that I wouldn't get anywhere if I
wasn't moving.

My motivation for self-improvement and self-discipline comes from my desire to
move. When I am not happy or content with where I am, that's a sign I need to
get moving. If I don't move - I'll be stuck where I'm unhappy. Right?

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kleer001
Ah yes, that makes more sense. Thank you.

