DHH once gave a talk at Startup School. Watching that talk invariably pumps me up and leaves me motivated for hours. (Specifically, it gets me motivated to work on personal projects that make money online.) In general, reading about anyone's success is like a shot of motivation directly into my veins.
Is this talk available online?
Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
11–20 of 38 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#12Im motivated by my bills.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#13This is not very scientific, but it has worked for me. I have curated this list of YouTube videos some of which have helped me and some of my friends a lot in the last year. I watch 1-2 of these in the gym when I am doing my cardio (elliptical or treadmill) three times a week towards the end of my workout.
goo.gl/Xv4pwT
I am a very distracted person, and need constant reminders. I have designed my life in such a way to be constantly reminded of my priorities. Once, I decide I need to include an activity in my life (be it learning, workout, eating healthy), I set up a time and corresponding reminders/ alerts. This sort of planning and tracking helps tremendously stay focussed on only things that matter.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#14In general I stay motivated by reaching a base level of healthiness - physical, work, and social. The motivation comes naturally if I've met those needs.
I'm not a superhuman kettlebell-swinging crossfit soylent paleo junkie by any means, but I walk to work every day and bike a good amount using my city's bike-share. And I've started (over the course of 2 years, it's so tough!) to eat less-unhealthy food.
Being happy at work makes a big difference to my motivation, I'm able to channel some of that extra energy I get from feeling like I'm putting good effort in, into my side projects. I work 9-5 most days (as a programmer).
I find I'm more motivated when I keep in touch with people, and also when I work on projects that get me interacting with people who are excited about what I'm doing. For me at least, it's not as fun to work on a project if people I know don't think it's cool. That was a snippet from a Paul Graham essay I took to heart and I think it's true.
I also occasionally journal my thoughts down, which makes me feel calmer and more ready to approach a task.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#15Shane Parrish recently gave an excellent review on motivation, good food for thought--
Daniel Pink on Incentives and the Two Types of Motivation > https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/08/daniel-pink-two-typ...
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#16In general I stay motivated by reaching a base level of healthiness - physical, work, and social. The motivation comes naturally if I've met those needs. I'm not a superhuman kettlebell-swinging crossfit soylent paleo junkie by any means, but I walk to work every day and bike a good amount using my city's bike-share. And I've started (over the course of 2 years, it's so tough!) to eat less-unhealthy food. Being happy…
Also: sleep. If you find yourself staying up late at night trying to focus and instead reading Wikipedia articles about the Hapsburgs, stop. Get yourself on a sleep schedule. Download RainyMood[1] and Freedom[2] if it helps you.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#17The easiest for me is to just start doing something, even if it is a little thing. It may have been in the Power of Habit or another place. The person said if you wanted to get in the habit of flossing, just start with the front two teeth. Derek Sivers I think said something like do one pushup and what ends up happening is that you get to thinking, I am already down here why not do another one. This leads to a habit.…
I've converted the 5 minute journal into 2 Google Forms one for AM & PM and have put links to those in a calendar invite for my notifications/alarms to wake up and go to sleep. Keeps me on point every day without being too cumbersome. PM me if you'd like access to the template so you don't have to recreate yourself.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#18I think about the 24 hours in my day and see if the time I have spent/will spend expresses the priorities I have in my life. I create routines to ensure the decision-making is minimized as much as possible such that my habitual actions reflect my priorities. Lastly I consider the fact that will my future self think I am doing him a favor by the actions/systems I am putting in place. Motivation should be about putting yourself on the appropriate trajectory not just completing the individual action that leads to fleeting satisfaction.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#19It's very simple for me I just think that one day I'll be dead and that I just wasted my life and the only option to change that is to create something that has value to me and that motivates me.
But the more I think about it ... I guess it's fear, it's the fear of a meaningless life.
Eat, shit, fuck, breath, die ?
No thanks
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#20I have actually written about this a lot as it is one of those topics that I am fascinated with. The trick is not to try and motivate yourself but to build systems and processes to get things done regardless. For me, it boils down to 3 things. Pre-planning, habits and elimination. I have written about each separately on my blog http://www.new2code.com/2016/06/deep-work/ I plan a lot of stuff on my Google Calendar. My…
Thanks, I watched the video. I totally agree about avoiding news and being low information. Unfollowing all my Facebook friends so I have no feed has been great. I was until recently ignoring a lot of news but due to boredom have allowed myself to get sucked back in.