I think it's helpful to do something on a project every day, no matter how minor. If I'm feeling unmotivated that could be as simple as renaming some files I've been meaning to rename, or fixing the simplest of warnings in my project. Usually by the time I've done that, I'm in the project and rolling into the next thing. Conversely, it's important to take a day or two off after more vigorous stretches of productivity.
Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
31–40 of 57 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#32Genuine interest and the ability to blacklist hackernews via /etc/hosts
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#33do great stuff
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#34My father dropped out of high school to help support his family. He served in the military and started his own business. Except for Sundays, he worked his ass off 12 hours every day of his life until he died. My mother could have been anything, but never got the chance. Instead, she raised us so that we could become what she never could. My grandmother had nothing. When she was 13, she had to drop out of school to ca…
That is an incredibly well defined "why". Everyone should find theirs and remember it often.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#35My father dropped out of high school to help support his family. He served in the military and started his own business. Except for Sundays, he worked his ass off 12 hours every day of his life until he died. My mother could have been anything, but never got the chance. Instead, she raised us so that we could become what she never could. My grandmother had nothing. When she was 13, she had to drop out of school to ca…
This really resonates with me. I've often said that its crazy how I have the ability to literally create something from nothing, something worth potentially millions if not billions of dollars, investing nothing more than time. And I have access to almost all of the information I need to be able to do it, for free. I can't think of any other profession where so much is possible; I just wish I could have an idea of what to do with it. I don't have an issue with being motivated - my problem is deciding what is worth putting my mind to.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#36Caffeine and Metallica (...and Justice For All > other albums)
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#37I have three things that motivate me:
1) I keep a photo on my desk as well as the back ground on my computer: http://austingwalters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/skyline...
It is an image I took at the Taste of Chicago. There was a crowd of roughly 10,000 people and directly above them there is a group of buildings, seemingly rising from the crowd. The picture always reminds me that humanity is the creature that can build ANYTHING. So, I find that motivational because I want to be one of the people to build something like a skyscraper making me worthy of calling myself human.
2) I read inspirational books, to me The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) and Time Enough for Love (Robert Heinlein) are always inspirational because they project characters that are considered "ideal" or at least worthy of aspiring to be. I also read a fair amount of history books and biographies about inspirational people, if find it helps me to maintain focus when I am attempting to be competitive (in work ethic) with the great people throughout history or characters with similar traits.
3) I go for walks and think. Nothing is better than pure and utter relaxation/boredom to stimulate your creativity and motivation. For example the average person can only do high quality mental processing (learning or creative thinking) about 4 hours a day and if you want to increase the that 4 hours to a longer period you must extend the relaxation time as well. In other words, its good to do stuff you enjoy and its good to be lazy for a while, it gets you motivated to do other things.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#38In my personal experience, motivation is secondary (but closely related) to passion.
Generally, when one has an issue with motivation, then he or she may not have discovered his or her true passion in life.
You have to find your passion.
If you do not find it, then it is likely that you will never be truly motivated.
However, once you have found your passion, then you will find that it is literally game on in your life. You will wake up earlier, because you have engaged passion in your life, which will bring motivation to your actions. You will be bringing the thunder. You will be firing on all 12 cylinders. You will not want to sleep more than is necessary, because you will know from deep within you, that you want to bring what is inside of you to others, and to the world.
Ask yourself:
1. "What am I truly passionate about?"
2. "How can I deliver what I am passionate about to others?"
Answer these questions, back the answers up with action, and you will see motivation unfold in your life.
I wish you every success.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#39My father dropped out of high school to help support his family. He served in the military and started his own business. Except for Sundays, he worked his ass off 12 hours every day of his life until he died. My mother could have been anything, but never got the chance. Instead, she raised us so that we could become what she never could. My grandmother had nothing. When she was 13, she had to drop out of school to ca…
The same set of circumstances could arguably destroy motivation as well.
Your life is already better than any of your ancestors, why stay past 5pm? You already make a lot of money, why bother with a side project or startup on nights and weekends?
Sometimes I think motivation is fairly disconnected from circumstances of life.
Re: Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself?
#40Adequate sleep, ensuring I get up with daylight. Okay so they aren't motivations per say, but without them I suffer, my creativity suffers and my ability to actually do work suffers greatly.
what time do you wake up?, how many hours do you sleep? any strategies for waking up?