There could be a lot of solutions to your problem, depending on what personally motivates you. I personally develop internal motivation by putting myself in si

There could be a lot of solutions to your problem, depending on what personally motivates you. I personally develop internal motivation by putting myself in situations where I structurally do the correct thing. When I was living by myself, I'd cook a ton of healthy food on Sundays. That meant that it was always easier for me to eat healthy than it was to order out. I've also spent a lot of time asking myself what type of work I like to do. I like working on things that help people, and I managed to work at a company where working on the core business feels like the work I want to do. But I'm not you. You need to look inside first and ask yourself what causes you to act and when you avoid it. Going through this kind of list might help: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/questions-to-ask-yourself-before-starting-9813f617b3 https://www.indiehackers.com/post/questions-to-ask-yourself-... It sounds like you might be extrinsically motivated, based on your cooking example. You would need to find ways to continually hold yourself accountable. For instance, joining a Mastermind group (where you meet once a week and give your updates on your progress on something) would give you a reason to try to make progress every week. People who have gone to grad school can comment on any extrinsic motivation you might get from the program - I imagine your advisor would have some thoughts about that, but I don't know how involved advisors are. Maybe you prefer having a sense of progress. You could split your work into smaller milestones, and then work to achieve each of the milestones. You could also try the Jerry Seinfeld "Don't break the chain" method - https://www.writersstore.com/dont-break-the-chain-jerry-seinfeld/ https://www.writersstore.com/dont-break-the-chain-jerry-sein... has more info.