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Comment by vidyesh | Hacker News Reader

I am a victim of bursts of motivation and then suddenly I have zero energy to keep up with what I have been doing which was good for me. And then I slowly slip into the bad habits I thought I had gotten rid off and then motivation comes back and the vicious circle continues.

I read about how important energy is, how energy management is key to everything. And the best way I read is to manage energy and not crash by the end of the day which can give that balance you need to keep going everyday without wavering from your goal(s).

But I seldom read about how to replenish energy effectively or how to have enough energy that by the end of the day you don't crash but have enough energy to keep doing things you want to do.

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It's because it's complicated, your energy is the product of your physical, mental and social environment, including your body and mind. It's a resource that affected by your health as much as you perception and abilities, and in turn all of these affect each other, they are interconnected, and it's all a big jumble. Eat right, think right, move right is all you can do, but if you have an underlying condition, you were abused as a child, or simply just live in the 21st century with all of it's stresses it's not that easy.

At the end of the day you are just one flimsy person in this big pile of spaghetti, surviving the best you can, so you have to learn to let it go. Not entirely, not to the point of an accelerated decay, but to the point of not taking life and yourself too seriously. You have to be like water.

> simply just live in the 21st century with all of it's stresses

All the listicles which talk about ways to replenish your energy talk about various healthy habits, and mostly psychological things which isn't possible in anyone who is struggling in this century or rich enough to delegate tasks and pass on the stressors.

If we cannot effectively replenish energy or manage our energy, I wonder where does it leave us?

And it feels like with certain healthy habits you can maximize your energy levels per day and achieving that likely means you have improved your life but beyond that there isn't much you could do to make the most of it. So eventually you comprise with yourself at some point?

I think the key is delegation as you point out. Having to do things that are awful and have zero contribution should be avoided. For example calling a customer service line and jumping through 5 really stupid automated prompts to talk to a human being who you can barely understand is one of them.

Basically the 'Eisenhower Matrix', I tried it and really struggle with the Delegation and Elimination task.

I am too. The most interesting take I heard is that motivation is not the spark gets you going. It's one more impulse that a depressed impulsive person has. I give in to the impulse until I get all the dopamine I was gonna get out of it, then I impulsively abandon it just like I took it up.

So the intuitive idea that you start with a burst of motivation and then you maintain it with discipline is wrong. Motivation is exactly the kind of impulsive distraction that destroys discipline.

Starting with discipline means rejecting random motivation when it comes, just like you might want to reject candy or lighting up a joint. Starting with discipline means you make the commitment first, and you fight to stick to it without any of the motivational high.

From that lens, I started seeing "get my life together" thoughts at 1am to be as bad as the worst impulses I struggle with.

https://youtu.be/TImmiAS1USQ

Thanks for sharing the video. Very interesting points they bring up, our brain is efficient and resists change so it needs to be trained to thrive in adversity and the concept of seeking quick solutions than rather work for the change.

I also am very interested and very skeptical of the idea of limiting my action and not let it consume my energy. I thrive in flow state, so the idea of not giving into the flow state but instead cap it to few hours feels a little strange to me.

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