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What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? It's convenient that th

What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? It's convenient that the OP is about higher maths education: I flunked my maths degree for various reasons. I managed to graduate, but not at the level I am capable of. In the intervening years, I've been tempted to get back in to it, however real life (and various other excuses) get in the way. It's a big mountain and climbing for the sake of it isn't overly inspirational... Small, achievable goals seem like a potential solution, but I'm at a loss when it comes to setting any and am blinded by lofty (futile?) ambition.

pizza234 13y ago
> What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? I'd first think about why I'd want "to go up in anything". Looks to me (I may be wrong of course), that you don't know what you really want/would like to do, so you're heading for the easy route(1), which is, to be successful in something for the sake of being successful. If this is the case, if you'd find something you really wanted, plenty of motivation would come by itself (of course, that wouldn't be everything, but it would be a good starting point). (1)=from an awareness perspective.
kerkeslager 13y ago
> What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? I was in a similar situation to you a few years ago; I actually still haven't graduated. However, I feel like I'm working hard and leveling up a lot over the past few years. This perception is validated by advancements in my career and social standing within the teams I've worked with. What it took for me was to to find a goal that I was intrinsically motivated to achieve. See here for info on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrinsic_motivation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrin... It's easy to judge yourself for not being motivated, but that doesn't actually fix the problem in any way. And it also fundamentally misunderstands the nature of motivation: you have no control over what motivates you. If you try to coerce your motivation into some arbitrary activity, it's not likely to work, and if it does work, it could work a lot better, and it's going to be very stressful in any case. So, a good place to start is by trying different things until you find something that intrinsically motivates you. Once you find that thing, a lot of things will fall into place (at least, this has been my experience). Tasks which were tedious when they were only extrinsically motivated become something you rush home to work on when they're intrinsically motivated.
agscala 13y ago
The OP made a point indirectly related to your issue. 6) Features of the sport that low-level swimmers find unpleasant, excellent swimmers enjoy. What others see as boring – swimming back and forth over a black line for two hours, say – the best swimmers find peaceful, even meditative, or challenging, or therapeutic. They enjoy hard practices, look forward to difficult competitions, and try to set difficult goals. You'll find motivation to master anything if you actually love it. When you truly enjoy learning something, it isn't a chore anymore. It sounds like you should contemplate why you want to get back into math. Do you actually want to do it or is there some alternate reason? Make sure you are honest with yourself.

pizza234 13y ago

> What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? I'd first think about why I'd want "to go up in anything". Looks to me (I may be wrong of course), that you don't know what you really want/would like to do, so you're heading for the easy route(1), which is, to be successful in something for the sake of being successful. If this is the case, if you'd find something you really wanted, plenty of motivation would come by itself (of course, that wouldn't be everything, but it would be a good starting point). (1)=from an awareness perspective.

kerkeslager 13y ago

> What advice does anyone have for someone who wants to go up levels, in anything, but lacks the self-motivation to actually get started? I was in a similar situation to you a few years ago; I actually still haven't graduated. However, I feel like I'm working hard and leveling up a lot over the past few years. This perception is validated by advancements in my career and social standing within the teams I've worked with. What it took for me was to to find a goal that I was intrinsically motivated to achieve. See here for info on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrinsic_motivation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrin... It's easy to judge yourself for not being motivated, but that doesn't actually fix the problem in any way. And it also fundamentally misunderstands the nature of motivation: you have no control over what motivates you. If you try to coerce your motivation into some arbitrary activity, it's not likely to work, and if it does work, it could work a lot better, and it's going to be very stressful in any case. So, a good place to start is by trying different things until you find something that intrinsically motivates you. Once you find that thing, a lot of things will fall into place (at least, this has been my experience). Tasks which were tedious when they were only extrinsically motivated become something you rush home to work on when they're intrinsically motivated.

agscala 13y ago

The OP made a point indirectly related to your issue. 6) Features of the sport that low-level swimmers find unpleasant, excellent swimmers enjoy. What others see as boring – swimming back and forth over a black line for two hours, say – the best swimmers find peaceful, even meditative, or challenging, or therapeutic. They enjoy hard practices, look forward to difficult competitions, and try to set difficult goals. You'll find motivation to master anything if you actually love it. When you truly enjoy learning something, it isn't a chore anymore. It sounds like you should contemplate why you want to get back into math. Do you actually want to do it or is there some alternate reason? Make sure you are honest with yourself.