Ask HN: Motivation Anyone? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Motivation Anyone?

10 pointschunky19949 comments

Motivation's really important, isn't it? How do you get inspired/motivated? I didn't think I needed much, but recently I'm beginning to think otherwise. Frankly I've become less and less motivated through high school, my grades are slowly slipping. I think this isn't as much a personal problem as a generic one, most of the people in my school seem to be the same way. I had no problems till the 10th grade, then it just came about, I'm now in my senior year. I'm still interested in coding, and I've released an iphone app, but I just can't sit and hack anymore! Perhaps it's due to a need for a social life or some other unimportant thing like that, I've become very frayed by all this, any advice?

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One of the biggest challenges with our school system is that while you're immersed in it, it becomes difficult to imagine anything outside of that experience. You can't get a "big picture" view of your life and how your unique talents and interests can fit into the bigger world -- high school is your world.

You will eventually graduate and move on, and realize that most of the stuff that you did in high school was really not all that significant, in the big picture. Your lack of motivation is probably because you're starting to realize this as your time in school is almost finished and you (and your peers) begin to ask questions like "What comes next?" and "Why can't I get there already?"

Luckily the answers to these questions don't really matter all that much either. People take all kinds of paths through life, and there is no right next step, or important thing to work on. You can be forgiven for thinking this way, because school trains you to think this way by putting you into grades and preparing a curriculum that advances you forward towards an arbitrary finish line "graduation".

So what should you do? Do whatever interests you, as this is where your motivation will come from. If you're not motivated to code, don't code. Take a part time job, or exercise, or socialize, or take up a new hobby, or volunteer. All of these things will make you a better person (and a better coder). You'll meet people who are not coders, and it might remind you why you like programming so much - or you might find something that you like better.

However, be careful with the "Do whatever interests you" philosophy. You probably do have some standards that you want to hold yourself to, and you want to keep improving yourself, and you want to be a mostly free person (have money). So you probably shouldn't just sit around and smoke pot and play playstation because it interests you.

I believe that "adulthood" begins when a person consciously decides to do things because they are difficult to do and no longer decides to do things because they are easy to do.

I agree with most of what you're saying, I've definitely become disillusioned by the system of high school. I definitely want to go to college, because there's a lot of interesting stuff that I want to learn, for which I need good grades.

I'm sure I can procure them if I study enough, but if I go by the "whatever interests you" philosophy, I think I'd hardly study. I would do lots of productive work, but it wouldn't be of any use to me right away. I think the promise of rewards in the future aren't powerful enough to make me do stuff that's considered necessary.

So, I suppose I'm on the lookout for something that can provide me with more, lets say, experience, problem is I can't take up a part-time job yet, I'm still not old enough! As for socializing, I live in a very secluded friends circle, people whom I value, but people who are very, well...rare. Any ideas as to where people who are genuinely interesting (preferably either hackers like on HN, or people into sciences) reside? Also, I think this is what I need to ask, do you have any particularly interesting things that I can do, that would perhaps help me in college?

> Any ideas as to where people who are genuinely interesting (preferably either hackers like on HN, or people into sciences) reside?

Genuinely interesting people are everywhere..

> Also, I think this is what I need to ask, do you have any particularly interesting things that I can do, that would perhaps help me in college?

Learn to play an instrument, like guitar, or drums, or learn to DJ. It teaches your mind to work in more creative ways. And it will open doors to you that will let you meet genuinely interesting people. It will help you meet women too, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm being totally serious.

I dropped out of high school when I faced a slump like that. 10 years later, I'm still stymied by my lack of diploma. I've found ways around it, and I still get hired. However, from my experience, you must finish high school. I also had problems in grade 10, puberty combined with drugs and a general discontent at what I saw on the news led to a "tune in, turn on, drop out". I don't recommend this path. You have a long life ahead of you and the improvements you make in your life now will be worth much more years down the road.

There are a few things I do these days to increase my will-power. Working out at gym does wonders for my endorphins and dopamine, the neuro transmitters that get shit done. reddit.com/r/fitness has a great FAQ on how to get started with that. Eating healthy, and ensuring you get all the nutrients your body needs to grow and adapt. Eat lots of eggs, fish, fish oil, anything with choline in it. Get lots of good sleep (which should not be hard). You need more sleep at that age, 10 hours is good.

The key thing is to notice the disconnect between mind and body, and work on improving your body mechanics so that it is aligned with your minds purpose. A particular problem I struggled with for most of my post teenage years was what I would call "neophilia" an obsession with something new. I moved from thing to thing never being satisfied. Satisfaction from hard work has to be imprinted through experience. The sense of accomplishment you get from achieving your goals (you have some right?) is something you want to nurture.

Go and give money to a couple homeless people (choose wisely). This will help you in several ways. It's good karma, it gives you a sense of purpose and it will remind you of how lucky you are to have food and shelter. ;)

After that, you should go to a coffee shop and work or do some planning if you need to. You're so lucky you can code. I'm barely learning html and css. sigh

It sounds like you have a very unhealthy attitude toward interpersonal relationships. I'd suggest you dwell on the issue some more and embrace any changes that may be happening.

When I was in high school, I started paying more attention to others around that time to the detriment of some of my own interests. It's not the end of the world so long as you never forget who you are.

Your first burnout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology) . Time to take a vacation, let loose and release whatever is stressing you out. Go meet interesting people and connect.

By being around truly inspired/motivated people (peers especially). The attitude is contagious.

You're not in the real world yet, and coding an iphone app for fun and you're whining about being burned out? C'mon.

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