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Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#11

Post by hentrep »

You alluded to this with mention of interest in a leadership position at work, but what are your near-term goals in life? Make a list, devise a strategy, and focus a portion of each day stepping toward those goals. Be careful and explicit in drafting these goals. For instance, "Become wealthy" isn't as clear and actionable as "Increase my income by $500 per month."

Are you focused too much on work? When is the last time you took a week or two off just to mentally reset? How is your social life? I was interested in a specific field a few years back, but I had zero friends or connections in said field. I started a meetup group around the topic, grew it to 1500 members in just over a year, learned a TON about the field in the process, and made invaluable and exclusive connections that would have been otherwise very difficult. It was a beautiful blend of social and professional advancement and I highly recommend something similar.

Last point: if you're considering grad school, be aware that this is much more accessible and palatable early in your career vs. late. If you have a shot at getting into an MIT or Stanford, why no give it a whirl? It isn't necessarily the degree that is of value, but the high-end network you'll obtain in the process.

Keep your head-up -- motivation will ebb and flow throughout your life. This is normal and a sign that change is in order.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#12

Post by webmaven »

First, if work is not challenging, you can make it challenging. For example, challenge yourself to automate every aspect of your job. It will give you something interesting to work on, you will learn a lot (and not all of the lessons will be technical), and you will have some tangible accomplishments to point to (whether that is efficiency, uptime, cost savings, ...) during you next conversation about being given more responsibility and authority.

Second, as you noted you can find challenges outside of work (particularly with all the free time your automation has given you. |-D

You could try for getting into MIT or Stanford, but you could also simply take the courses you are interested in. Learning something new if a great motivator, I've found.

Then again, so is crushing your enemies, seeing their men flee before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women.

But I digress.

Another possible creative outlet & source of inspiration is participating in open source, up to and including starting your own project (which might be part of your automation platform, or something completely different).

Or get a non-tech hobby. Drawing, painting, knitting, dancing, a sport, volunteering at an animal shelter, gourmet cooking, write a novel, learn a new language etc. I personally find gardening to be a great way to recharge my mental and emotional batteries.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#14

Post by rdtsc »

> Lately, I don't feel motivated about anything. Job is okay and I just switched about 8 months back.

I wonder why you mentioned "job" as your first driver for motivation and happiness. What about other parts of your life besides the job? Now I imagine since this is HN your probably only shared about that part, but I hope there is more to it - relationships with family, friends, significant other and so on. Hobbies (go to local meetups about your favorite technology), maybe other interests like sports. Someone mentioned other stuff like helping others: mentoring perhaps, a soup kitchen (I did that for a while, it really changes your perspective on a lot of things and challenges some assumptions).

> I need to find something with purpose,big money, and satisfaction.

That won't sit right with a lot of people. It is good you are honest though. But be prepared for people to focus on that. So you already make good money it seems but you feel you deserve big money? Why do you think you deserve to be in a leadership position and making big money?

> was hired for a position that has no decision making power at all. Everyone here seems dumb and working on a few useless things.

Now imagine if you made big money and still had no decision making power? What if you made less money but had decision making power? Which one would make you happier?

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#15

Post by j45 »

rampipod wrote: post #5
thestepafter wrote: post #2

Satisfaction isn't found in money. Focus on helping others and you will find true joy.

Hello, Thank you for the comment. I have tried being altruistic,but I ended up on the receiving end. I now presume that everyone is selfish and will not think for a second they get better deal. Hunt or be hunted - Frank Underwood

Altruism is doing things without expectation, recognition, reward, or return. It's possible by seeking a return, you are being a little selfish in your desire for a reward and attracting selfish people.

There's a big difference between thinking less about yourself, and thinking less of yourself, and it's up to you to learn the difference between being nice & dumb vs nice & smart.

Don't mean to be mean, just clear. No one's special or the center of the universe so it's up to all of us to find and add value before expecting anything back.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#18

Post by ebbv »

With how unhappy you are in your job the lack of motivation is no mystery. You should find another job or found a startup or if you think it will be useful to what you want to do, sure get a degree.

I would caution though that usually when people say "Everyone here is stupid" it's usually not everyone else that's really the problem. This goes for my younger self as well.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#19

Post by tudorconstantin »

rampipod wrote: post #5
thestepafter wrote: post #2

Satisfaction isn't found in money. Focus on helping others and you will find true joy.

Hello, Thank you for the comment. I have tried being altruistic,but I ended up on the receiving end. I now presume that everyone is selfish and will not think for a second they get better deal. Hunt or be hunted - Frank Underwood

Everybody being selfish is neither good, nor bad. It's just the way people are. How you perceive that is what affects you.

If you manage to constantly increase your utility for others and for your employers, it's this selishness that would make them wanting to give you more money...because, otherwise, some other selfish organization will come and give you the correct amount of money, correlated with your utility. Your duty (to yourself) is to increase your utility level to whatever you consider big money.

Altruism gives you something different than money: it gives you a sense of accomplishment. It makes other people happy so you can be inspired by their happiness. And I highly recommend being the source of someone's happiness at least once in a lifetime, although it can become addictive

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with loss of motivation?

#20

Post by delbel »

Its ok to feel unstatistifed some of the time, because it gives you the drive to be better or do better things with your time, and to find a way to challenge yourself to set higher goals. Its also ok to have loss of motivation some of the time, because it can make you more creative and let you step back and analyze different situations. But if you get stuck in a hole and need some advice, I'd say get rid of your comfort zone in life and take some risks and make life more exciting (for good or for worse) and just let things flow. Could be as easy as switching to cold showers, or selling everything and traveling in a van in the forest. That's why life is great, it's up to you!
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