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Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

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Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#31

Post by bheadmaster »

nordsieck wrote: post #24

One thing that no one's really mentioned yet: remove as many interesting things from your environment as possible. If your only choice is between boredom and doing what you're supposed to be doing, you're a lot more likely to be successful.

I agree.

It's hard to actually do it, and it's hard to be bored. Being bored is... well, boring. Your brain will have all sorts of impulses and drives to derive any kind of entertainment from anything.

But if you stick with it, it's one of the best strategies to make yourself do something.

Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#34

Post by naragon »

sparks1970 wrote: post #27

Try breaking it up into small steps. I procrastinate about doing my tax return all year but I "tricked" myself into doing it earlier this year by telling myself "I'm not doing the tax return now, all I'm doing is finding my employment records." Finding those records was easy, energized by that easy win I picked another easy task, "I'll get together my bank interest statements" and in a couple of hours I was done. May…

Exactly this. Do something small. Tell yourself I'm just going to do this one small thing and then I will allow myself a break. Rinse and Repeat.

Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#36

Post by trabant00 »

Do as much as you can and stop worrying so much about procrastination. Nobody is working as hard as they claim not even (or especially) the self help gurus. You are not a robot and even a robot breaks sooner if you ask 100% of it.

If you have problems that you think cause procrastination, because you mentioned sleep, definitely address those for your health. Maybe you will be more productive, maybe not, that's not the important part.

Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#37

Post by ravishi »

You just do it. Over and over, until you get used to it. (It being: doing stuff you don't want to).

At least this is what I've been trying for the past five years, specially after the pandemic (which sucked the last drops of motivation) and a child (which showed me that I can indeed do stuff that's required but not desired).

It sometimes works, it somestimes doesn't work. But sticking to it seems to be the whole point, so I'm trying. What could I lose, right?

Also take all the advice from this thread and experiment with it as tools: find the tools that work for you and keep them around. Reach for them in moments of need, but also accept you can't always use them all the time and it's OK.

Seeking an ADHD diagnosis/treatment might also help, but it won't magically solve everything. It's a tool just like the others.

Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#38

Post by hannob »

I mean you won't find the ultimate answer, but I found the writings of Oliver Burkeman on these kinds of topics interesting. He's a bit of an anti-productivity guru (aka recognizing that these are important issues, but being highly critical about the usual "read my book and everything will be fine" type of people).

See e.g. things like this: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/onething https://ckarchive.com/b/xmuph6hrzxwrd

Re: Ask HN: How to do that you need to do but not motivated at all?

#40

Post by mindvirus »

Discipline > Motivation.

I really enjoyed Atomic Habits by James Clear. He outlines both a philosophy for creating habits, as well as a toolbox of specific techniques to help you. I've found it enormously useful in my own struggles with motivation and focus.

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