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I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

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Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#111

Post by foobarian »

md224 wrote: post #78
bane wrote: post #44

I'm going to say something that's a little tough but it's meant as advice coming from years of mistakes before I finally got my head on the right way: Part of growing up is learning to prioritize what you need to do, even if it isn't fun, over what you like to do. This is how the real world works, and it's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing. Learning to do it when you're young, when mistakes are smaller, w…

> Want to be a rock star? Spend years learning to play an instrument, playing in dive bars and making demo tapes. Get a break then play the same 4 hit songs for 20 years. Wait, what? Is this supposed to be inspirational? Suffering for "success" to find yourself "playing the same 4 hit songs for 20 years"? It feels like this actually undermines the rest of your argument, so I'm kind of confused what you were going for…

Is't more like the price you pay for getting to hook up with groupies the rest of your life.

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#113

Post by brianbarker »

I had a rough time getting through my Computer Science degree, despite loving software. I still find things I hate. Currently, I've done web apps for a few years and now I'm fucking sick of them. Time to move on to a new area of CS that challenges me. That's pretty much how it goes. You'll do stuff you hate, but you have to use that as a foundation to do the things you love.

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#114

Post by aaron695 »

People seem to be misreading your question.

You seem fully aware that the subjects you're studying are very important and you need to do well at them.

As someone once told me most motivational speakers just lend you motivation. Once you've left the room pumped you quickly go back to square one.

So it's hard to know what works, there's a lot of crap out there.

I've had moderate success with the Pomodoro Technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

But if it doesn't work for you, or as often happens it only works for a while, make sure you go on to something else.

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#115

Post by marktangotango »

dsuth wrote: post #81
bane wrote: post #44

I'm going to say something that's a little tough but it's meant as advice coming from years of mistakes before I finally got my head on the right way: Part of growing up is learning to prioritize what you need to do, even if it isn't fun, over what you like to do. This is how the real world works, and it's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing. Learning to do it when you're young, when mistakes are smaller, w…

I think this is key, and it's important to understand that the self-discipline you are required to learn to excel in school and university is a large part of the reason you're there in the first place. It's not just about learning what's being taught, or even 'learning to learn', it's about conditioning your brain to function while withholding rewards for significant amounts of time. I can spend hours and days progra…

I found studying the hjstory of mathematics gave a lot more depth about how things came about and why ie delta epsilon limit proofs and the centuries long journey to give a theoretical basis to calculus.

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#116

Post by ryandrake »

bane wrote: post #44

I'm going to say something that's a little tough but it's meant as advice coming from years of mistakes before I finally got my head on the right way: Part of growing up is learning to prioritize what you need to do, even if it isn't fun, over what you like to do. This is how the real world works, and it's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing. Learning to do it when you're young, when mistakes are smaller, w…

I had this long diatribe pounded out and ready to submit, but, why bother? It's going to fall on deaf ears. People have bought into the "hard work" lie so fully. I'll just leave it at this:

While there are notable exceptions, hard work is not a reliable predictor of success. Do you really think those multi-million dollar penthouses in Manhattan and those huge estates in the hills on the SF Bay peninsula are inhabited by people who simply "muscled through it"? Being (or knowing) the right people is a reliable predictor of success. By and large, those guys are the ones making it big.

My advice to someone going off to college would be: 1. Go to the most prestigious one you can afford/luck into and 2. Make friends with the richest/most well connected kids you meet.

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#117

Post by nemathode »

WizzleKake wrote: post #4
nemathode wrote: post #2

Aniracetam (or Oxiracetam, if Aniracetam doesn't work for you) + DMAE. Don't forget to balance your blood pressure, use venous or arterial drugs to enhance whole body blood flow (don't use drugs that work only locally). If you don't want to use blood-related drugs, then just exercise regularly (try to focus only on resistance-oriented exercises). Try to sleep on a hard bed without any pillows. Also, increase your met…

If we are suggesting drugs, may as well throw in a suggestion for amphetamines. But personally, I would recommend intense and sustained cardiovascular exercise.

Don't compare aniracetam or oxi to amphetamines (or ritalin) - the former is legal and safe enough, and the latter is much more dangerous and ineffective (in terms of concentration enhancing). I would never ever recommend amphetamines nor ritalin, cannabis or other "useful" drugs, that always make you want to take more of them. All what they can give is faster burnout of your brain and state of lack of energy (also, problems with your skin, thanks to amphetamine overdose).

What OP was talking about was not psychostimulation, but concentration enhancer, something that would just reduce effects of "mind wandering" and let him do tasks that he doesn't want to otherwise.

Aniracetam and oxi do greatly reduce effects of "mind wandering", large amounts of grains and fruits give your brain very much glucose, i.e. energy to use to, coffee increases your metabolism and blood flow, and gives a slight stimulation, so you can force yourself to do task more easily.

Don't overuse coffee, though, it's effects can last from 1 to 3 days (or even more).

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#118

Post by gqvijay »

Wow, you sound like me 20 years ago. And I am quiet surprised at "that's life, shape up" responses.

Knowing what I know now, I wish someone would've told me: - Try to get into top schools like Stanford, Harvard, etc. - If you don't have the financial means or the grades or whatever, don't get discouraged one bit! - Since you enjoy "programming or researching", stop stressing over colleges. In my humble opinion, most colleges are overrated. They are designed for drones and will suck the passion out of what you are majoring in. (note: may not be true for all) - In my opinion, typical educational institutions in our country is broken. - Instead, start interning. Do small projects that you can showcase on your passion. Join programming groups, meet ups that are related, etc. - In short, make a living in doing what you love (programming). When you find a job and love what you do, you are no longer "working".

Finally, watch this: http://new.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_ha...

Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?

#119

Post by banachtarski »

kenjackson wrote: post #110
banachtarski wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the gen x vs gen y philosophy at work here. Gen X is about putting the time in and reaping the rewards. Gen Y is about finding passion in the work itself and thus is more willing to "soul search" when it comes to doing work. It's certainly an interesting dynamic and recruiters/HR/managers have needed to shift their mindset to accommodate the new school approach to finding work.

The Gen Y approach doesn't apply to many professions,and fewer that pay well. Programming is one of the few, along with athletics and entertainment.

I don't have hard data to back it up, but beyond programming, I imagine there's a higher incidence rate of changing majors in undergrad, going back to do a masters in a field different than what you originally studied, and other such things going on. (going back for a law degree, mba, what have you).
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