111–120 of 143 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mhhh I always assumed school is the most delayed reward. 20 years to get a well paying job?
if you asked 16 years old me why are you studying so hard, the lie would be the whole story so i can do get into college get a job etc... truth would have been so i can look good and be admired
These posts come up often here, seemingly more so since the pandemic. The most successful people I know all learned at some point in their lives to take large goals, dreams, work duties, etc, break them down into manageable sized tasks and go through each one. Some tasks will become second nature, others won’t. This is not rocket science. Just do it. There’s no secret, shortcut, magic pill. Eat right, get good sleep,…
I think this is a little dismissive.
The most successful people I know all learned to be productive and to break apart tasks. I don't think it's unreasonable for people who don't have that skill/muscle for whatever reason to try and figure out how to build it. It is possible to get better at this.
And the "there's nothing to learn, just do it" argument that pops up so often in these kinds of threads to me ends up reading as a kind of moral/essentialist reduction of discipline and executive function. It's just super-unhelpful when going to someone and telling them "I don't know how to do X" to get a response back of "well you'd better learn." The whole point is that they don't know how.
> There’s no secret, shortcut, magic pill.
Highly agreed, but I think this is also part of the reason why "just do it" is such bad advice; it assumes that there is some kind of switch in someone's brain they can just flip to change their behavior. In reality, getting better at productivity is the result of a long, difficult, everyday effort to learn about yourself and to learn what strategies work and what strategies don't.
Most people can not decide to "just do it." They can't just make a resolution to not struggle with something. They have to instead take an inquisitive attitude about themselves and daily work on getting better little by little. And part of that process involves asking questions and getting tips. Even advice like exercise and sleep is not really useful if someone is struggling with getting the motivation to do that stuff in the first place.
> magic pill.
There is no universal magic pill, but medication in conjunction with therapy for some people does unlock additional strategies that would not be available otherwise. Half of the productivity strategies I use would not work if I was unmedicated. Keep a calendar so I don't miss events? The only reason I can do that is because I'm medicated.
Medication doesn't magically solve problems, it doesn't mean you don't have to care about the other stuff, but for some people, medication is an important part of the process. At its best, medication prompts a kind of spiral of success. If medication helps you eat/exercise more often, that gives you more willpower to do even more stuff. If it removes enough anxiety to get rid of insomnia, that can be a game-changer for motivation.
So not exactly a magic pill, but definitely occasionally a process that can kick-start other processes. Very individually dependent though.
> nobody else will look out for your well-being except you.
I guess as long as I'm quibbling; asking for help and taking proactive steps to better yourself is looking out for yourself.
You owe it to yourself and to the people around you to take your mental state seriously and to take your problems seriously, and if that means asking for help, then that's better than staying where you are and struggling to handle that entire process on your own.
Do what you have to do to better yourself, and let go of any ego about self-reliance. Don't let embarrassment about where you are prevent you from moving to a better place.
Of course there are people who will mention motivation related advise, set habits, discipline etc. but these things make a real difference only for very few people.
You might also want to try psychotropics nootropics amphetamines or whatever, but I wouldn't advise to that, just mentioning it.
These posts come up often here, seemingly more so since the pandemic. The most successful people I know all learned at some point in their lives to take large goals, dreams, work duties, etc, break them down into manageable sized tasks and go through each one. Some tasks will become second nature, others won’t. This is not rocket science. Just do it. There’s no secret, shortcut, magic pill. Eat right, get good sleep,…
These posts come up often here, seemingly more so since the pandemic. The most successful people I know all learned at some point in their lives to take large goals, dreams, work duties, etc, break them down into manageable sized tasks and go through each one. Some tasks will become second nature, others won’t. This is not rocket science. Just do it. There’s no secret, shortcut, magic pill. Eat right, get good sleep,…
> Just do it I think this is a little dismissive. The most successful people I know all learned to be productive and to break apart tasks. I don't think it's unreasonable for people who don't have that skill/muscle for whatever reason to try and figure out how to build it. It is possible to get better at this. And the "there's nothing to learn, just do it" argument that pops up so often in these kinds of threads to m…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have this suspicion that often people who thrive at "school" suck at doing things, their whole life they are getting programmed to: a) do things for an quick and clear reward b) always be in extremely well defined rules (when semester starts you see how people obsess over edge cases and their impact on grade with a professor) c) always do it for pleasing someone else and get their admiration (teachers, parents, pee…
Mhhh I always assumed school is the most delayed reward. 20 years to get a well paying job?
While the real reward is admission to a good college, you get the feeling that you are progressing towards that goal often.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mhhh I always assumed school is the most delayed reward. 20 years to get a well paying job?
School, at least in the US, gives you plenty of quick rewards. In my high school, we got report cards every other week. On top of that, you get homework and quiz results back quickly as well. While the real reward is admission to a good college, you get the feeling that you are progressing towards that goal often.
If you are stuck in a loop of: I need to do X, but you just nope out of doing it, then feel guilty, and it is a recurring pattern then watch these two vids: - Psychiatrist Explains Why You Feel Tired All The Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sppw7Zq35w - Why Don't You Want To Do Anything After Binging 4 Hours of Youtube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBgCRJluWTc
I don't know, I've seen both and they don't really offer any solutions. Plus Dr. K. spouts a lot of pseudoscience and at times even esoteric nonsense.
Alternatively you can read the "Procrastination" post on the Wait But Why blog about the same subject. That might be more scientifically accurate.
Habit. Stop looking for motivation to drive you. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. There's a pretty common saying that motivation is a result of doing stuff. You just do it whether you want to or not. I know that's simplistic but that's really all there is to it. Easy to understand but harder to implement. It helps me not to think too far into the future and break stuff down into daily goals so I don't get ov…
> Do you think superstar athletes like getting in the weight room and doing cardio everyday? Cardio eventually feels good. The physical response to working out is endorphines which make our monkey brains feel good after. Mentally exhausting work on the other hand is far more delayed than that. > "Oh I don't feel like getting firewood or hunting today" - Dead Caveman Both of those have both immediate and delayed rewar…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Just do it I think this is a little dismissive. The most successful people I know all learned to be productive and to break apart tasks. I don't think it's unreasonable for people who don't have that skill/muscle for whatever reason to try and figure out how to build it. It is possible to get better at this. And the "there's nothing to learn, just do it" argument that pops up so often in these kinds of threads to m…
You cannot better yourself :)
Most habits form gradually and it can be hard to see them taking effect, and that can be really demotivating. For me, being able to look back at photos of what my house used to look like and being able to go over some of my old sprint logs is sometimes a good way to combat these kinds of brain worms and to get a sense of the general direction I'm headed and what progress I've made.