Okay, it is not always like that. Sometimes a huge splash of motivation comes. So, start being productive. Write a lot, watch an anime start to finish, start playing a new game maybe start a new programming project. Build a nice momentum and continue it with passion. But, life changes, things happen and the ember of passion dies out. So go back to what's comfortable. Remember how you felt so fulfilled and full of purpose when you wrote or played that game. Squeeze yourself to last drop of your will to be able to write some. Eventually guilt builds-up. A single article in a month. Finished that game in 5 months. Brilliant. Tell yourself this wouldn't happen if not for having too much responsibilities. If you just had a little more time, if you could stare at the computer in peace a little longer, right? Then go back to your regular cycle...
If you read my articles regularly (thanks a lot btw) you will realise I had a massive drop in quantity (and perhaps quality?) of articles and you can see in the tables above. It really shows how much difference a spark of motivation makes . It also shows the dangers of being dependent on pure motivation to do anything. To put in perspective, before last month, I didn't read anything for probably good 6 months. The last time I played a video game was last month. I also attempted to seriously give myself to programming 3 times these year. First went down when my PC's memory had to wiped out, second when I gave it up for fully focus on my writing (did not work), and third got failed because there were exams to steal my attention. Even my Twitter usage went down quite sharply. It cam e to the point that it took an immense amount of energy to force myself to do anything, besides watching videos, re-watching videos, surfing for videos, checking my subscription page every hour or read Tvtropes pages instead, because why not?
It has gotten to a point that even my family got worried about this, they had a long talk with me about two weeks ago. I was upset at this intervention at first but they did help me even they complained a bit too much about it. I decided to cut YouTube and everything that renders me passive in front of PC (Twitter is nt one of them, surprisingly), promised myself to shave every 3-5 days at max and go outside a little more. And the first thing to do was, shave my beard, right there, the moment I have decided. If I want to change anything at al, I must be able to channel my will into something I don't really want but should have done ages ago (not the beard, I hate the beard, that's partially why I hate shaving too ironically.) One week later, what changed?
At first, it kinda felt empty. I was not addicted to YouTube, but I simply didn't know what to do without it. There were times I couldn't access to the site in the past, such as during visits to grandmother, but I have never been away from it this long and while it was so easy to access, this was a new experience to me. But, I had to something else eventually, and I did! I indeed shaved again this week. I have been able write two articles at once. I am regularly reading and studying programming again. Walking away from PC no longer feels painful. I wake up, make a rough plan of what I want to do that day, as long as I can reach time, I don't feel like I am wasting time. It actually feels pretty nice overall.
With my experiences and things I have been witnessed/heard from my friends, I learned such practices and rules to follow:
- If you decide do something right now or planned to do it at a certain time, give everything you can to do it. It can be very devastating to be able to not do it, I personally find very hard to muster same energy if I get deflated the first time.
- That's said, don't let it get to you too much if you can't do things you want because of unforeseen events. Things happen, that's life.
- Planning your activities is good. But do them daily or two or three days ahead at most. Working with certain minutes /hours might work for you, but personally it never does to me. I am too dreamy for that, I like small-scale but flexible goals like: "Today I will finish this article, read some then go shopping etc..."
- Do one thing at once. Some people can do two things at once well but usually takes years to get there. This includes things like "listening a video while working." That doesn't work for me at all. The most I can listen in the background are relaxing sounds and very specific tunes, stuff like YouTube videos and podcasts either 100% siphon my attention, or I can only actually understand them on re-watch/listen. But some people can listen even audiobooks just fine while they are busy. Find out what works for you and be honest to yourself.
- Also, don't do stuff like checking Twitter every minutes while writing. That slows down a lot. Concentrating is very hard for a lot of people and keeping stuff that gives notifications around doesn't help.
- If something is really, really on mind and it distracts you from doing something else, doing that instead is usually a better idea. People advise you on studying-almost-always when preparing for stuff like national exams, but that's so useless actually, just play that game you really want, just make sure you didn't develop an addiction towards that.
- Clean your room sometimes! Weekly or bi-weekly is nice. "A lion is understood by where it sleeps." says Turkish proverb, too-dirty rooms indeed just suck the energy out of you, not the mention dust is actually unhealthy. It doesn't entirely have to be orderly in a conventional way either, just make a living space that's actually convenient to you.
- Just because you are passionate about something, it doesn't mean you have to be motivated about it all the time. It's ok and often prudent to take a break from your regular habits. Make small changes in your life, like how I stopped YouTube for a week. For example, if you often find yourself to think "The games just don't feel good, like in general", then maybe don't play games for a while.
- Make sure you are able to stay away from stuff you regularly do/like to do for a while, it can very quietly turn into a obssession. You should be able to walk away when you no longer truly enjoy something.
- Passive activities can be good to decharge, but make sure most of your time is not passive. Even something like watching a video is much better when you are actively paying attention and thinking about it.
- On social media, learn to scroll down and let go of things. You don't have to think about or comment on every nonsense sentence a random person says. It's really better to block/mute a person when they make you uncomfortable, people aren't entitled to your attention. Not only it keeps you from doing literally anything that can be better for you, People who can't resist the temptation tend to complain about social media the most. If I may brag a little, I have become decent at this months ago and Twitter stays a nice experience for me, despite its large list of problems.
- Watch YouTube videos only when you are done for the day, unless it's for an actual educational purposes or occasional short video.
- Never surf on YouTube, never jump video to video. Look at your subscriptions or stuff that you heard is good and watch only them (1-3 videos mostly) Don't search for videos to watch.
- Don't subscribe to channels that out too much videos
- Let's Play channels are quite no no. Funny bits are occasionally fine and longplays are can be good for articles or when you actively want to watch a game, but don't sit down and watch an 20 part let's play series
- Don't put videos, podcasts and music in background (Chill streams are fine for low attention tasks.)
- In general, avoid anything that gives "tv ad" effect like a plague, that is stuff that has no engagement but just keeps you watch passively.
- When you watched what you planned to watch, close the tab and don't go back.
- Don't re watch videos, unless you planned to do so for a purpose
- No Tvtropes, or overly researching/listing about a certain stuff, If you find yourself in a state of over think, turn that into a side project.
- Write down stuff you daydream/over think about, however trivial they seem to be
- Set small goals, divide large projects into small parts, everything looks so much bigger otherwise
- Don't over devote yourself to a single task, it makes you tired of even things you love, like writing. 3 articles at most seem like a good number for both keeping a good pace and not get exhausted at the same time
- Break the mold every once in a while, do something you usually don't do. It's better if does not involve pc
- Never make your beard grow longer than 5 days
- Find a way to shave your legs at least once before winter
- Make studying Japanese into a habit
- Study programming by actually programming (again, little stuff, don't let it became scary)
- Don't forget to regularly check your loved ones
- Make space to play games and watch anime/movies, no matter how busy you might look otherwise
- Find a way to express your femininity for yourself without giving a clue. Surely you don't look too masculine if you don't see your hair.
- Prefer walking over busses when you have time and the weather is friendly.
- Watch the rain and the night sometimes.
- Reading books in park is a good idea.
- Mobile twitter is ok but use it mostly for checking in
- Give yourself time to become more active in some certain Discord channels
- Try to talk to people who you would like to know more
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Acelin, Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson and Spencer Gill.
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