Any resources on understanding motivation?

[HMD]

Books, videos, and everything else. 

[Raze]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbAIQRHaE6M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfnUicHDNM8

[Ulax]

Book: What to say when you talk to yourself by Shad Helmstetter

[CARDOZZO]

Motivation's Neuroscience/Neurobiology.

[Ero]

There are two factors that have a much larger effect on your long-term life situation than motivation, namely your life purpose and discipline. Motivation is fleeting, whereas the latter two should be the baseline. I work 10h+ days and it’s not out of “motivation”.

[Joshe]

21 minutes ago, Ero said:

There are two factors that have a much larger effect on your long-term life situation than motivation, namely your life purpose and discipline. Motivation is fleeting, whereas the latter two should be the baseline. I work 10h+ days and it’s not out of “motivation”.

^ this. It's not very sustainable to rely on motivation. Eventually, you will have to "force" yourself to do things. Which can be done, but ideally, you would not force yourself to engage in something. Your energy stores will deplete relatively quickly compared to not forcing. When I was building my freelance business, I could work 14 hours days and never tire, day after day. Now, I get fatigued after 3 hours of client work but I can still be happy working 14 hours days when I'm doing my own projects. 

If I must force myself to do things I don't want, what helps me is to bring something I like into it, for example, efficiency. Efficient routines, processes, infrastructure, etc. I use that to make the drudgery more palatable. Save energy everywhere you can. Get shoes you don't have to tie. 😂 Minimalist environment. It really just all depends on everything about you, but the above were some strategies for me. 

[HMD]

@Ero I am getting a feeling that you're taking my use of the term motivation in the wrong way. Because technically, you cannot do anything without motivation. Motivation is "the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way." I think it is essential to understand your motivational systems and develop the ability to control them intrinsically if you want to go anywhere in life. Discipline and life purpose are important, but they are closely tied to motivation. 

 

@Joshe The reason why you can work for longer on your projects is because you have a stronger motivation to work on them. Forcing yourself is just another term for motivating yourself. 

[HMD]

@Raze @CARDOZZO @Ulax Thanks for sharing

[Ero]

1 hour ago, HMD said:

@Ero Because technically, you cannot do anything without motivation

False. I do shit even when I have absolutely no “motivation”. Some of it is because you just have to.

To be clear; I understand what you mean, but your framing of “motivation” is rather different than all the resources you would find and how people use the word in general. Reframing it as different than life purpose and discipline is what allows you to realise that even at your shittiest days, you can still work like it’s your best one.

Your life purpose gives you a drive far stronger than any gimmicky trick or visualisation technique could.
 

I mean it, when I dropped the need to be “motivated” is when I started excelling. I am a self-made millionaire studying in Ivy, who started from a shitty country and an exceptionally poor family. Not saying this to flex, but rather to show you that I am not just chatting shit.
 

Study Jocko Willing and David Goggins.

Edited September 27, 2024 by Ero

[UnbornTao]

You don't need motivation to act; you just need to do it, which is the same as intending to do it. If you depend on motivation to act, you're going to act sparingly. It would be as if a writer only wrote whenever inspiration stroke.

Contemplation exercise: 

Close your hand. 

Notice what had to occur in your experience for that to happen. 

An element of want might be necessary, yet what was the role of motivation? Was it needed? Did you feel like closing your hand? Can it be done whether you feel motivated to do it or not? What was required for the action to take place?

Now, produce a desire to close your hand but don't do it. Notice: desire suggests action but doesn't demand it. As a matter of fact, we say that we desire many things which we really have no intention to actualize.

Edited September 27, 2024 by UnbornTao

[HMD]

1 hour ago, Ero said:

Some of it is because you just have to.

There is a reason behind why "you just have to," and that is your motivation. There is a narrative you've concocted on why you have to do that thing; this might not produce a natural drive that propels you into action, but you only get up and do the thing based on that narrative. 

 

The reframing as a life purpose didn't really work for me. I have a much stronger drive to do something if I align what I am doing with Learning and excellence, two of my highest values. 

1 hour ago, Ero said:

Study Jocko Willing and David Goggins.

Congratulations on your success! And I have been studying these two for a while now. Thanks for the suggestion, though. 

[HMD]

@UnbornTao Wouldn't that make your intention the motivation? If I intend to close my fist, that intention acts as the motivation for me to close my fist, doesn't it?

[Ero]

17 minutes ago, HMD said:

The reframing as a life purpose didn't really work for me. I have a much stronger drive to do something if I align what I am doing with Learning and excellence, two of my highest values. 

I see now. This may be an indicator you have to revisit it some point later when you have more life experience, s.t. you can better pinpoint its form. It has been a slow crystallisation for me.

[HMD]

5 minutes ago, Ero said:

 s.t. you can better pinpoint its form. 

@Ero Can you explain that a little? 

[Ero]

47 minutes ago, HMD said:

@Ero Can you explain that a little? 

Your underlying psyche communicates in images/vision/intuition of things that are already familiar to you (Jung’s psychoanalysis). The goal of Leo’ s course is to clear them up through contemplation.
The thing is, your baseline experience influences greatly “the fidelity” of those visions. By going out and trying different things, you gain new “colors” to add to your larger vision that would have previously not been accessible.

For example, Learning is a baseline value for me as well. It started as a genuine interest in the world, especially physics and mathematics. By doing research for the first time in HS, I realised I want to be at the forefront of human knowledge. I learned through leading large-scale educational projects, however, that I also want to see its impact on the world. After moving to the US to study, I realised that as a highly risk-tolerant and hyper ambitious individual, employment at prestigious companies and/or NGOs is too restrictive and boring for me. From working on a startup, I realised that the only way to truly create something disruptive is to have a “moat” from a deeply technical field - hence full cycle back.

At each step, I gained better understanding of what my purpose entailed, none of which I take to be complete. Think of it as a process of exploration, where your experiences are the feedback you can use to “reverse-engineer” the source.

[UnbornTao]

7 hours ago, HMD said:

@UnbornTao Wouldn't that make your intention the motivation? If I intend to close my fist, that intention acts as the motivation for me to close my fist, doesn't it?

You keep assuming that being motivated is needed in order to act.

Intention arises at the same time as the action, and isn't emotionally-based; it's just doing what it (the intention) is about. Like I said, there's an element of want in that. Motivation is feeling emotionally compelled and moved to do something.

You might not be motivated to read a book, yet intent to (hence want and do), since your writing assignment is due tomorrow, for example.

Edited September 27, 2024 by UnbornTao

[Carl-Richard]

https://unconsciousagile.com/2023/05/21/motivation.html

Self-determination theory. I wrote my bachelor's thesis relying on this theory.

Edited September 27, 2024 by Carl-Richard

[Davino]

Motivation gets you started, discipline gets you finished.

[HMD]

@Ero I understand your point. 

On 9/27/2024 at 9:01 PM, UnbornTao said:

You might not be motivated to read a book, yet intent to (hence want and do), since your writing assignment is due tomorrow, for example.

@UnbornTao Wouldn't that just be an instance of introjected motivation, like in the Self-determination theory @Carl-Richard shared? 
 

 

[HMD]

@Davino The concept of discipline often receives a lot of attention, particularly because many of us in the developed world may lack a solid foundation in this area and therefore need to prioritize it (Undeveloped stage blue). However, it's important not to overlook the significance of motivation. Getting the right balance between discipline and motivation is crucial for achieving success.