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Comment by Kenji | Hacker News Reader

I said it before (and I got downvoted a lot), but I'll say it again:

Willpower is not about forcing yourself to do something, but to deliberately put yourself into a situation that forces you to do it.

This is how self-control really works. If you can't stop drinking, join the military or something. You'll sober up real quick.

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No matter what I can't motivate myself to work for my university first year degree. And going to the library doesn't help either, I seem to find myself just sitting and not doing much at all.

That may just be misplaced energy. If you can't study but you can sit there practicing guitar or working on a hobby coding project for hours, you are certainly capable in a physical sense. But your mind cannot say "I will do my homework with identical enthusiasm to my guitar practice" and just have it happen. That is where the mythical aspect of willpower manifests and people do all sorts of things to try to make it work like that, but most people, I think, end up finding a substance to use that blunts their thinking in a particular way that helps them stay on task. That could be caffeine, or alcohol, or pot, or Adderall. Other people try to build elaborate social obligations with study groups and use of office hours. But the biggest success tends to be from getting the intrinsic motivations in place, the "I want to know what happens next" factor and those are never easy to find. Sometimes you just have to start from zero and do something very simple and low energy like washing dishes before you can access a higher level of concentration, and then quickly use that moment of concentration to make a breakthrough.

Maybe you should study something different. And find a way to turn off the internet.

You might want to visit your university's advising office and maybe their psychology office as well. With their help, you could explore your motivations for wanting to attend university at this time or maybe other issues that are blocking you.

Attending university is not necessarily the right decision for everyone. A lot of people are pressured in to it by social expectations, families, and peer pressure. They don't have much internal motivation and may really prefer to do something else. Sometimes taking a year or more off to do something else (like travel or work) can be beneficial. Maybe you could come back to school after the break and finish your degree.

I really don't know you or your situation, though, so it's hard to comment without a lot more information. That's why a trip to the advisor's/psychology offices could help much more than a random person's advice on the internet.

"You don't need motivation, you need discipline."

Exercise really helps for this. Seriously. Can't stress it enough. Start jogging, or cycling, or anything that makes you sweat for at least a half-hour a day. I believe a big part of what makes it effective is practicing pushing yourself to continue even though your body is telling you in no uncertain terms to stop. After that, pushing yourself to study even though you kinda don't really feel like it suddenly feels real easy.

Are people not allowed to drink in the military?

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