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Comment by ZpJuUuNaQ5 | Hacker News Reader

You don't. You need to have a goal and clear understanding about why you are doing what you are doing. This is the same with pretty much all activities that require significant effort - motivation is a brief blip that eventually withers away once you start struggling. What you need is discipline, planning, and regular routine. Plan (allocate some time each day/week) and do this regularly. Can't take it anymore? Make a coffee, take a walk, rest for a little while, take a nap, whatever, and then try again. Motivation is not something that you should be constantly chasing in the first place.

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Depression, lack of motivation, are functional. They kick in when you don't think your prospects are good, prompting you to step back and think. If you were sufficiently convinced grinding LeetCode was a good career move, you would be motivated. The fact that you're not suggests you should do some research rather than plowing ahead. What do employers really care about? What's the best way to convince them you've got it? Where do you fit in?

> If you were sufficiently convinced grinding LeetCode was a good career move, you would be motivated.

Motivation certainly doesn't work like that in my brain. Consistency in pursuing goals I know on paper are the right choice despite lack of motivation is the only way I've achieved anything.

If you can wed career goals with dopamine, that's wonderful! But I suspect you're extremely lucky.

It takes some competitiveness, and I'm not sure the level of neuroticism it brings (me) is worth it, but "Who are these assholes and what's so special about them" works for me most the time :D

Then there's "Oh jesus how terrifying and embarrassing would it be to not have a great answer" coupled with "The people I idolize the most work in theoretical CS".

This doesn’t work in Silicon Valley. He has to do leetcode.

It does if you're connected. I've seen many incompetent and under-skilled people given high-ranking positions in tech companies simply because they knew someone.

It’s not happening as an IC

Yep. This is the way. Even if you don't want to/are not able to have a daily routine and such, detaching as many activities as possible from volatile things like motivation,mood,etc is extremely useful. That is the most important part. Early on in life it is easy, since you have a clear set of objectively great things to do - do great in school, do great in exams, do great in college, get a great first job, don't screw up health in growing years. So you can force yourself to do those no matter what. Later on in life (post college) it gets harder, since you have to ensure you're not forcing yourself to do something counterproductive, especially in new fields like SWE, where there's no clear industry standard career path yet, or an industry standard anything really. Academia in contrast you can apply this strategy until a lot later.

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