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Ask HN: How do you stay motivated?

• DoreenMichele 8y ago
  Take a break every hour and walk around. Have a snack and drink, possibly with caffeine. Clean your desk and keyboard to within an inch of its life. Work on your sleep hygiene and general health.
  • startupflix 8y ago
    Thank you, I generally takes smaller breaks, I drink lots of coffee too. I am also taking proper sleep. But the thing is that I am not able to concentrate. If I see some motivational videos, it helps me to stay motivated but when I try to write codes I start yawning and my mind shift to some other works.
    • gt2 8y ago
      Break down your work to the smallest action. Some people can go mad scientist/prolific hacker and work without a list, more power to them. You need a list. To start, Even smaller items than normal (open text editor, start server, open first file needed, add first interface item if UI, add first Model property, add first function). You are making progress with each item you knock off, that is a fact. There is no time for the mind to wander when you need to just knock off the next small item. You do it and then you can do what you want -- but your mind will probably want another dopamine hit of knocking something off. So you will do another item. Once you can do the extremely small items, add actual features (or parts of them) to the list. Because now you can handle the small stuff. Now you are where people work. They usually work in sprints of a small list of tasks. .. Your mind is probably wandering because of indecision. Take the decisions out of the process for now by breaking down the task. Important: items on the list should include real decisions to make (architectural, strategy of something, etc). The result of those tasks will probably result in adding new items to your list. Good luck!
    • DoreenMichele 8y ago
      I drink lots of coffee too. I don't drink coffee all that often. I typically drink tea and diet coke, which contain less caffeine. Perhaps you are overdoing the coffee as just one factor. Too much caffeine interferes with focus.
• inertiatic 8y ago
  I can occasionally procrastinate heavily. I will procrastinate when what I need to do is hard (requires too much effort), when it is too easy, or when there is too much uncertainty involved (worst out of the three). So personally instead of trying to combat the symptoms with techniques like forced breaks or powering through any urge to do something else, I try to address the causes by taking up appropriate tasks or breaking them down sufficiently.
  • startupflix 8y ago
    Due to this I am surrounded with lots of incomplete works. :(
    • ak39 8y ago
      Keep a book as your journal. I use a hardcover school exercise book to keep track of my projects with sub-items for features, bug fixes etc. It's also a doodle book. I note dates when I think of an idea, or when I begin coding them, the reasons for the choice of tools and of general progress. Whenever I feel exhausted/bored or completely disillusioned by anything I'm currently working on, I leave it, I walk away from it. But I make sure I write down my reasons for choosing to leave the work and, most importantly, my emotional state around that decision. I journal as I think. Many days later, sometimes years, I simply read my journal, paging though and recollecting my thoughts and emotional states. Many times I have found that things have changed in the intervening time such as my workload, improved skills, better understanding of the problem domain, or general state of energy. Many times I have resumed abandoned projects/features to completion. Good luck!
• gt2 8y ago
  By doing 1 task at a time until it's finished. And only doing tasks which are planned with visibility, which give them meaning to myself or someone else. Otherwise you are just playing around and may as well be playing the piano or working on your tan, or learning a new framework (some hobby, pick one that applies).
• protonimitate 8y ago
  Focus on discipline over motivation. Here's a quote from Jim Wendler (5/3/1 workout program) I like quite a bit "Discipline always trumps motivation. Motivation is about emotion and too many times, we rely on emotion to raise our performance. Unfortunately, this can quickly wear you down and if you aren't motivated, lead to lackluster or missed training sessions. Discipline doesn't care how you feel, what the weather is or if you've had a bad day. Discipline will carry the strong. Discipline will drive success. Discipline doesn't need a "hype" video or loud music." If you are having trouble, start small. I got into the habit of making my bed every single day before anything else. Once I built that habit I started applying that to other things, and now I hardly think about it at all. Take the emotion out of getting stuff done. Also keep hydrated and well rested. It's amazing what proper sleep and being hydrated will do for focus.
• mabynogy 8y ago
  How many hours hours of programming can you do? For me, it's aroud 4 hours (sometimes 6). Programming is hard and needs a huge amount of concentration.
• coffee-person 8y ago
  I recommend prioritizing mental health over productivity. Give yourself time to figure out your problems when possible. Take a lunch break outside the office if you're allowed. Sleep for 9 hours when you can. Be nice to others when they're struggling. You're always going to get unmotivated sometimes, just try again the next day.