I don’t wait for motivation. I just tell myself, “You don’t have to want it, you just have to do it,” and then I do it. Usually.

Once I’m already doing something I tend to keep doing it, so it’s the transition that’s hardest. I find that if I start a task when I’m already transitioning from another activity, it’s a lot easier than getting up off the couch or putting down my phone.

It sucks, but you can’t really expect it not to suck.

Another insight that I adopted years ago was to do unpleasant tasks when I’m already unhappy. If I’m gonna be miserable anyway, might as well get something out of it, right?

Quite honestly the biggest game changer for me was understanding that you don’t have to feel like doing something in order to do it.

Force yourself to do it for five minutes, and 99% of the time you get in the groove and realise “Oh, this actually isn’t so bad” and before you know it, you’re done.

Every day I exercise (walking) and every single time it goes like this:

1. Don’t wanna do it
2. Start doing it anyway
3. It’s done
4. Feel good that I did it

I consume things that tend to motivate me - videogames, looking at other people’s art, and even listening to music can really get me motivated!

Change your perception of the task, instead of it being a ‘thing that you will be happy to have done’ look at it as a ‘thing that are happy doing’,

for example instead of ‘I will be happy to have learned to play the piano so I should force myself to practice’ think ‘I am happy while practicing the piano’ instead of ‘I have to do the dishes’ think ‘I am cleaning these dishes with perfection, and optimising their placement so that they will dry the quickest’

Basically, don’t do things for the end goal, do it for the action itself, live in the present, not in the future. There’s always enjoyment to get from any chore if you approach it from this mindset.

My partner look at me funny when I put my shirts to dry in ascending color order, and my socks all parrallel, but the truth is, I’m having fun doing it that way, the chore has become a meticulous game that I take pleasure from.

I try reframing whatever it is I need to do so that it’s not as intimidating/soul crushing/whatever. For me the way to make this actually work is to only reframe things in a way that is both true and nonjudgmental.

Original thought/feeling: my apartment looks like a wreck, I’m a shitty person for living like this, now I’m obligated to clean

Reframed thought: my apartment needs to be cleaned up, but that’s fixable and doesn’t mean anything about me as a person. I can use the time I spend cleaning to also listen to an audio book. Making my environment cleaner and more enjoyable will be a gift for my future self.

I have this mantra that I say to myself. I think it’s from Tibetan monks, but I heard it on an NPR interview.

"May we be victorious over our fears.

May we be happy without hope.

May we be of benefit to all."

The fear here is my fear of doing the thing. The lack of hope is what I feel because I will not just fucking do the thing. The benefit to all is what happens when I actually do the thing.

I know it sounds super depressing, but it helps me… sometimes.

I get really fuckin high and then become numb until I’m in the groove.

I feel like I should specify weed.

I take my meds and if i still cant do it i try again tomorrow

Get on the loop at any point. Often the best thing to do is just start doing it, 5 minutes in and you want to do more.

you dont. you force yourself to do just 15 minutes of solid effort. chances are you’ll just keep going. the first step is the hardest. cookies dont work for me because like, I can just go get the cookie now if you get what I mean here

I just think about how much worse I would feel later with this damn thing hanging over me. Alternately, I think back to how good I felt last time I actually got something done.

I often just fail until it gets embarrassingly or super inconveniently bad. My only strategy that was ever even a little helpful was breaking the task into tiny micro 5 minute tasks and writing them all down, and doing a few of those at a time. I had adhd though, and am hoping medication will help with that (so far it has a bit).

People think motivation comes before action, but it is actually the reverse. You have to decide (not be motivated) to act, and the motivation will follow.

deleted by creator

I don’t have the motivation to do the whole thing.

That being said, I only need the motivation to start the task. Once started, I don’t need motivation to continue doing the on-going task.

Soo, you may not need as much motivation as you think you need. Just push yourself to start one small bit of the task , and voila , before you know it, the task is over.