Rule #2 in Jordan Paterson's book 12 Rules of Life:
>Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping
I suggest OP reads the book if he hasn't already.
1- Arrume um emprego - vai conhecer pessoas, ganhar seu salario, e conhecer mais de si mesmo sobre que tipo de trabalho você quer fazer pro resto da sua vida ou não. Se não gostou do que trabalhou, mude. Ou, se não gosta mas paga bem e é algo suportável, fique. Essa história de trabalho dos sonhos é utopia. Você não precisa necessariamente amar seu trabalho, você pode gostar bastante do salário deste trabalho e as coisas que este salário te proporciona fazer, como viagens etc... Basta não ser um trabalho que te deixe louco por você odiá-lo.
2- Vá pra uma academia e cuide de sua aparência - vai melhorar sua auto estima
3- Faça algum esporte que goste ou tem interesse em fazer - outra boa forma de conhecer pessoas e criar amizades
Enfim, foque no seu desenvolvimento pessoal e social, não tem como você conhecer pessoas, ter amigos, conhecer potenciais namoradas sem sair de casa.
Also, leia este livro: https://www.amazon.com.br/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021 Veja os vídeos dele, é um psicólogo professor da universidade de toronto e um cara muito foda que ja me esclareceu muita coisa. Acredito que falta pouco tempo pra chegar o traduzido.
Boken släpps inte förens den 23 och är nu på förbeställning. Jag vet inte när den kommer till svenska återförsäljare men kan rekommendera att du beställer den från Amazon. Den blir att kosta ungefär 200-250 kr inkl. frakt i bundet format. Inget dåligt pris enligt mig, handlar alla mina böcker från Amazon i princip. Leveranstiden kan vara rätt lång dock, uppemot 4 veckor. Jag vet inte om den kommer släppas i Sverige tidigare än det så den avvägningen får du göra själv. Jag bifogar en länk också, https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
Don't try to overpower yourself--learn to work together. Be a boss you'd want to work for. What makes you feel "well-paid"?
A year or so ago, I learned that I hated myself, and would have left my self a long time ago if I could have. I never celebrated successes, always put the desires of others before my own, almost never stood up for myself. I owed myself a huge apology for being a horrible boss for twenty five years, and I needed to ask myself for forgiveness, reintroduced me to myself and spent some time getting to know who I was.
We're on much better terms. It's not perfect, like any relationship, but we work together a lot better, now.
I highly recommend reading "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" (https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021/ref=nodl_), Chapters 1 and 2 in particular.
Curious, where did you get the link from? Unless I'm mistaken, there's a referral in the un-shortened link. I don't mind if it was from Peterson himself, but it's otherwise a dick move of whomever is trying to cash in by using a referral link without being affiliated.
Here's one without it and also Amazon donates a portion of your purchase to a charity of your choice: https://smile.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
We can't negotiate with our own weakness until we accept that it's there, and we won't negotiate with that part of ourselves if we treat it with contempt. Exploring these feelings with the right therapist can be very beneficial.
If you want to explore them on your own, I found 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos to help me grow as a person and negotiate with that part of me that constantly felt inadequate. It does take plenty of practice and daily conscious decisions, but there is no reason you can't change your mentality.
Unironically, this might be helpful for you and help explain why the whole anti-natalist movement is so regarded
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
Especially since you seem to be going about trying to create friendships the wrong way - a friendship shouldn't be based on hating something (especially not when that something is the future of humanity itself) but on common interests and goals. Maybe join a sports club or something, do blacksmithing or woodworking (both fun, and both have a good mix of ages of people involved). Be a part of the community - and maybe then you'll also realize that a family is the tightest and most meaningful community you can be a part of - especially when it's your own. There's no one who will care about you (or who you will ever care about) in the same way as your own children.
Probably going to have an even longer comment timeout after this one (last one was half hour lol) so I'll just leave it with - I sincerely hope you find something meaningful to be a part of that can fill the void the lack of a family has left in your life. Maybe one day you'll understand and still have time to bring your own family into the world.
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
Well I tried saying goodbye, and I clearly got under your skin, so here we are. To be honest, my kink is having someone be obsessed with me. So please keep responding to me as sign that you crave my attention. I promise that from here on all out, you'll only get the link from me. Let's see who gets tired first LMAO
I'm actually trying to help you. Is this projection? Bc I'm getting strong "unable to leave without the last word" vibes from you. Here I'll say it so you don't have to. Goodbye stranger, have a good one. Feel free to NOT respond since this interaction is over. Ignore it or don't, this link will help you with what you're going through.
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
I was in a similar position a few years ago. Quit my job with no security of finding another , but I just could not take it any more. Took a month of to rethink a little and read '12 Rules For Life - An Antidote for Chaos'. It changed my life, and i highly recommend it. Might be useful for you.
All the best mate. I t will get better.
I’m sorry to hear that. That must be difficult. I hope you can get either better professional treatment or any professional treatment at all. In the mean time, I can only tell you what helped me. 12 Rules for Life - An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson. Reading that book was like drinking cold water from an Oasis in the desert.
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: Peterson, Jordan B was really good. But some of it was a little preachy.
Maybe not about taking responsibility mainly. I also thought "How to win friends and influence people" was really good.
Good question.
Gee, if only some psychologist had spent years of his life studying just that subject, studied many different psychologists and philosophers, as well as authors and mythologies, and then written some kind of, oh I don't know, maybe a book to follow that lays out how you can at least improve your life in some small way.
Sorry for the sarcasm, but I can't tell if you're being serious here. I mean, if you know anything about Peterson or about people who are helped by his lectures and ideas, I'm sure you can already guess they are going to suggest 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.
In the words of Joe Biden, "Come on, man."
> Jordan Peterson appears very profound and has convinced many people to take him seriously. Yet he has almost nothing of value to say.
Then....
> His <em>12 Rules for Life</em> is the #1 most-read book on Amazon, where it has a perfect 5-star rating.
Remind me who in this scenario has nothing of value to say?!..
12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson is another good one. I know there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the author, but the book is legitimately a good resource. There's a reason it's sold millions of copies and has been translated into dozens of languages.
I never said he was hated on because his wife has cancer. I said the sub was trashing a man who went through a terrible ordeal while still claiming moral superiority. For some people the "Are we the baddies?" moment never comes.
You are throwing insults at a stranger on the internet while failing at basic text comprehension. Here you go.
Nah mate, Peterson"s book is nothing like what thus cunt believes.
Unfortunately Libertarians think he's a Libertarian prick like them
You should read it. You'll be surprised.
Read it in public too. Youll be surprised by the book and even more surprised by the dirty looks You'll get.
This book...
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
Well done for taking your life back. God bless you in your future endeavors. Are you by chance familiar with the work of Dr. Jordan B Peterson? If not, I think from what you've shared that you would dig his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Onward and upward.
Gospel and Church service are not cheat-codes to life. It is a pathway to illumination.
And gospel and church service is not the only tool you have. "when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." You need to identify which law you need to understand and obey to get the end result you are looking for.
There are things you can control and things you cannot control. For example, you cannot control your IQ, but you can control what you read, do with your time, and discipline, etc... You can't control your genetics, but you can control what you eat, how you get exercise, hygiene, and style, etc...
As you note, the world is not evenly distributed. But it does follow a rhythm.
You also might enjoy: https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
>I took his most recent and obviously most extreme example as to why he's horrid.
He's made it clear that his comment about enforced monogamy was talking about enforcing it in terms of enforcing a social norm. When you're married and in a monogamous relationship, you keep the commitment you make to your partner. If one of your parents is having an affair, are you going to encourage that? You don't betray your partner's trust. You're right, I do believe it was a "hit piece", only because I took the time to do some research and try to understand what point he was trying to make, and found out that the context was much different--I urge you do to the same :).
>...dismiss the horrible shit they say about minorities, women and the LGBTQ community...
I'd gladly take any evidence that supports this statement.
>...just because they ramble right wing post modernist pseudo intellectual bullshit that gives you the squishy feels.
He's not right wing; he's a centrist.
>Incels are flocking to him for a reason.
It's much more than incels. It's mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters. Take a peek at some of the comments on his YouTube videos, or look at the reviews left on the amazon page for his book 12 Rules. The link to his amazon page is below, so you have no reason not to take a quick glance.
Watch a few of his lectures on the YouTube. I promise you, he's not the monster you think he is :).
ah its a user. Basically her core theory is that masculine behaviour earns you "tokens" you can trade in for vulnerable behaviour. I def agree with it but think there's a lot more latitude than the general RP description in terms of how masculine behaviour manifests. Honestly if you're in a rough spot I'd almost look at Jordan Peterson's work before RP. I'd almost say having a handle on that type of stuff is a prerequisite to be able to interpret a lot of RP related Gender stuff in a healthy way. I know I fuckin wish I'd found it before RP.
Good luck & have fun dude.
I just started listening to Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules For Life. My only complaint is it's read in his own nerdy voice. As an atheist I find his bible references are not overbearing or proselytizing but brought up in a form of basic moral truths and therefore palatable when referenced
Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to ask honest questions and start conversation. It benefits everyone when we’re able to discuss openly without the vitriol and condescension often found in other places online.
I want to start by stating that I don’t consider /r/JordanPeterson to be a right wing sub. I consider myself fairly left, though more of a centrist than most of my friends. Example: I voted for Hillary in the last election, have mixed thoughts on gun control, dislike the identity politics that have lately become more prevalent on the internet/campuses lately, am pro-choice, and have been openly gay for about 12 years now. I’m more interested in the message that Jordan Peterson promotes than the politics sometimes discussed here. Jordan Peterson all types, so you sometimes get that "lol leftist cucks" garbage every now and then but it's not the spirit of the sub as a whole.
That said, let me try to answer your questions as honestly as I can:
Question #1
I don’t consider universities to be dominated by radical leftists. I consider universities to be places where people can openly discuss their views, learn new ideas, and have their ideas challenged in environments that encourage growth and understanding (and based on your tone and style, I feel we agree on this). However, I disagree with your equating departments like economics, engineering, and law with social sciences like gender studies or social justice largely because the approach to the ideology is very, very different. My understanding is that the objection to social sciences doesn’t stem from the fact that they’re more liberal/left, but that they are more interested in silencing and shaming people who disagree with them than other typical college departments.
Let me give you an example. Imagine a context where a left leaning economics student disagreed with a professor’s take on financial policy, or a visiting speaker’s approach to the foreign exchange market. An objection voiced in class, office hours, or during the Q&A portion of a speaking event would likely spark meaningful conversation where multiple viewpoints are presented. Outside of people rolling their eyes at each other in class, it’s unlikely that fellow economics majors would call for professor resignations, disrupt a speaking event, or openly shame each other for disagreeing.
Generally speaking, Engineering, Business, Economics, and Law majors would not sabotage a speaking event they disagree with, or vandalize campus property in an attempt to disrupt an idea they didn’t like, or barricade a door and imply physical harm to their opponents.
My point is this: the objection is not that the social sciences are left; the objection is that generally speaking, they are more likely to shut down an opponent than listen to them, which is the start of fascism (this is not hyperbole - the forcible repression of opposition is literally one of the tenants of fascism).
Remember above when I said that universities are places where people can openly discuss their views, learn new ideas, and have their ideas challenged in environments that encourage growth and understanding? Social sciences often (not always) stand in stark contrast to this by presenting their ideas with the caveat “agree with me, or else.”
You wouldn’t see this behavior from Engineering, Business, Economics, and Law majors.
Question 2
I mostly answered this in my answer to your first question, but my main objection is that the majority of social science classes actively discourage debate. The links I provided above are a small sample, and I could easily put together a larger list.
Again, you would not see this behavior in Engineering, Business, Economics, and Law classes.
Question 3 >You always seem to be championing traditional social hierarchies/relationships and also the primacy of the individual. But traditional social arrangements placed women in a socially subservient position with greatly diminished options for individual fulfillment relative to males. How do you reconcile this contradiction?
I haven’t seen anyone in this sub champion traditional social hierarchies, nor do I remember any comments from Jordan Peterson in his recent book suggest this. JP talks a great deal about how it’s the responsibility of the individual for self-improvement, but I’ve never heard him suggest that social repression of women was women’s fault. Assuming I haven’t misunderstood your question, is it possible you’ve mis-inferred this somewhere?
>Do you really presume to tell women they'd have more individual fulfillment if they gave up their autonomy and submitted to a backwards social relationship?
God, no. I have yet to see any posts from this sub or concepts presented by JP that would imply women would be happier in a subservient social role. In fact there are plenty of places in his last book that would say otherwise (that subservience isn’t a useful trait). Where are you getting this?
>Likewise with racial minorities.
Nope. No one is suggesting this.
Question 4
>You're always advancing this notion that leftists are gonna impose totalitarian oppression on society any day.
Are we? Where?
>Do you really think that rad-fems are at the cusp of seizing absolute power?
No, but it’s disheartening to see radical feminists discourage conversation, or assume that disagreeing with them is some moral sin that makes me a monster.
Question 5
I disagree with most Evangelicals I meet, and I do consider many of the practices of the religious right to be totalitarian.
Question 6
I have a lot of concern for the group-think of churches, especially ones that tell their followers how to vote and yet don’t pay any taxes. It’s appalling.
One question for you - have you read any of Peterson’s books? I’ll totally buy you a copy of 12 Rules if you’re interested.
His book is #4 on Amazon. He’s dealing with it just fine, and his message is winning.
Hello mate, I am also from the North of England, heres my advice:Forget retraining, forget courses, get in at the ground level and learn on the job.(You may need to get your CSCS card: https://www.cscs.uk.com/)
Good luck!
Well, you might want to start with the famous Cathy Newman interview which got a lot of attention. Then, you can get to many of his debates from here. If you are interested to learn more about the ideas Dr. Peterson defends, you can see some videos on his youtube channel. There are also cuts from his lectures all over youtube. A random clip from a lecture. He recently published a book 12 rules for life. And this quora segment pretty much sums up all the basic stuff: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-valuable-things-everyone-should-know
EDIT: typos
Yes, from his new book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Interesting, I specifically asked you to be specific. I am maybe a tenth through this article, which is incredibly long and full of problems in journalistic writing, and it hasn't said anything that Ethan has done specifically. I do not hold anyone responsible for what other people do, and so far that is the only accusation this article has leveled against Ethan. He 'associates' with accounts that say bad things... which, from glancing below this person isn't against showing embedded tweets, but chooses not to embed the tweets of Ethan associating with people saying bad things. But even if it were showing him associating with those people, he isn't saying anything bad. He isn't responsible for other people. And I don't like people who witch hunt others based on who they talk to on twitter... as though people go through the entire history of the people they interact with and vet them like a politician would - it's ridiculous.
Now I am a little further in and I have some more thoughts, like this person, for the length of this article, didn't do a lot of research. An example is when this person states that "Van Sciver illustrated the cover of Peterson’s latest book, 12 Rules for Life,..." Say what you will about the books contents or the books author, Ethan didn't illustrate the cover. He created illustrations for the chapters - THERE ISN'T EVEN AN ILLUSTRATION ON THE COVER.
Later on the author brings up when Ethan offered Darryl Ayo a platform to talk to John Malin, because they were having a disagreement. He invited Darryl Ayo on, even though Darryl had called Ethan a Nazi, multiple times - to which Ethan takes offence. It seems to me that Ethan is honorable here, taking the opportunity to talk rather than to continue flaming on twitter, but the authors slant appears to be toward Darryl. Darrly claimed that "People should call for Ethan to lose his job because of the creepy stunt that he tried to pull." This was Darryl's response to an offer to TALK. Go check out the other interviews Ethan did on his channel, they are the most tame content he does, and way less cringey than his Star Wars videos.
This article continues to appear hold Ethan responsible for what other people do and say on Twitter, which he is not responsible for. He never calls for anyone to harass Darryl, or anyone else - which if he had I doubt expect this article would have quoted.
I stopped about 2/3 through this article. Do you seriously think this is evidence of Ethans misbehavior or racism or bigotry or whatever you think he is? I said be specific, you sent an article must be well over 3000 words long, of which I read of a portion that was about 2500 words. I also read the embedded tweets and the screenshots, and not one thing in there is something Ethan did wrong.
So you can either get specific, or you can send another long rambling article with no evidence. It's up to you, but I won't read another one. It shouldn't be that hard to find something evil he said. I can find plenty of evil things that people on the left have said. And I think seriously calling someone who isn't a Nazi, A Nazi, is pretty evil - and there is an abundant supply of that on twitter from the people who think themselves Ethans enemy.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Omg it's you that's crazy. Do you do anything else? Is this your life? Trolling?
​
Here are the last two things I bought off of amazon, the price I paid, and the google shopping images:
Maybe it tends to be the case for whatever you tend to buy, but it's certainly not the case for me. Plus I essentially also have 3% off of amazon prices as compared to other retailers as my credit card gives me 5% cash back rather than 2%.
The first rule in JBP's 12 Rules for Life is:
Clean Your Room!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Jordan Peterson puts a lot of emphasis on taking as much responsibility as you can.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
5000+ days under my belt OP and I haven’t been to a meeting in many many years. I hate AA.
Can I recommend the book 12 Rules For Life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
> but i need approval from a parent/guardian and that is a bit of an issue sience my parents dont believe in mental illnesses
It's a common issue around here.
>The only main problem is my lack of motivation, i have goals in my mind i even tried to write them down but i forget about them the next day and never stick to them, so that is my main problem currently.
The depression makes that worse. I'll add motivation advice as well. So the lack of motivation makes the depression worse and the depression causes more motivation issues. It's a self reinforcing negative spiral of doom that you need to break out of (and then stay out of).
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
I'll add motivation advice to it.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Then you probably are not burnt out. I'm pretty sure the two go hand in hand. You can take that test to verify.
Just motivational issues then, I assume.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Here are a few tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and then I'll give you specific advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you.
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
The short link in the submission resolves to the following:
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345816021/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_YEVnzb8JDRMA2
That "ref=..." part is indeed an optional part of the URL, but as far as I know it is not part of an Amazon Affilate system (where someone is getting a few pennies if you purchase through their links). It just shows Amazon where are you coming from, like you clicked it in a promo email, or as a part of this or that ad campaign, etc.
Dr. Peterson used the link amzn.to/2senVC5 in his tweet, which resolves to the following:
That's another ref, plus it shows - among other things - that he searched for "12 Rules for life" and got it that way :)
But https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345816021 is indeed the "clean" URL to the book. But not all people are as precise with these things - or as nitpicking :) - as us.
Here’s an Amazon link. I’ve only just started it myself, but man each chapter has sent chills down my spine.
He has a bunch of books and publications -- and a youtube channel with his lectures (he was a professor before he got fired for taking a stand against Canada's law making it illegal to use wrong gender pronouns) most of which are about religion But I found him through a Joe Rogan podcast which was a bit less dry then the youtube videos and highlights a lot of his beliefs without sitting through a lecture.
Then I read a few of his books (his most recent one was a best seller on Amazon for weeks. It's a little wordy, but no worse then the engineering textbooks I was forced to read.
I really like his "clean your room" bit.
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345816021/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SsGDFbJYD055E
This book helped me a lot.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Don't start a business from scratch yourself (without partners) and be married or have kids. If you have those, you should just have a job or a business with partners to share the load. No way could I have started my business having a wife and kids, otherwise I'd be in your spot.
Instead what happened to me was I ended up marrying way later after the business was built up. So now I'm old with Kids by most standards, but that is the trade off.
All that said, I don't think 2 yrs is that long, and I would not expect a thriving business from scratch in under 5 yrs at earliest, 10yrs more realistic. I'm going on 13 yrs, and only the last 5 have been very good.
As for another comment where you explained your situation with your wife. It cannot be all her fault or yours.
Its worth it to note that for the most part, you have created your own life, and are the most responsible for it. I would recommend this book for both you and your wife. Its life changing if the wisdom in it is understood.
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
Yeah. This happens to a lot of people taking a gap year. Don't forget it. If in 15 years you lose your job for some reason, you're going to be dealing with it again. A lot of people can't deal with lack of being busy. They become depressed.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but he's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things. Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
Also, this is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, it's better to address those first. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issue will derail you. Here are a few test that will diagnose the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 2 to 3 minutes to complete, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you specific advice on how to address that first, before you work on your motivation.
How to start the communication (This is the easy part)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
(cont.)
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break more high level tasks down into their actionable items and then set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though. Current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them all. One a day at MOST, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is the hard part)
Past you has been telling current you to do all sorts of stuff, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, then there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up flat out ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I was not able to find a test for this, but I did find this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article (This is more likely apply if you didn't score very high/low on the tests above).
Some people need a little extra push. For them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans, there are also tools out there that will help tracking and also have functionality that can replace the (simple but functional) alarm clock reminders. These are free (with premium features) and have a website, as well as a phone and desktop application component:
Join these subreddits:
I suggest you bookmark this page or print it, so you can come back here later and make sure you've followed through correctly.
Here's how to improve your self esteem:
If you are still not sure if you really have self esteem issues, then here's a page of 10 warning signs that you have low self esteem. Read it and you can confirm yourself if the below advice applies to you or not.
Read the reviews and decide which one you like most, order the book and just start working through it.
Sleep: How Sleep Impacts Your Self-Esteem, a second source: How to Boost Your Self-esteem by Sleeping More. If you can't fall sleep, try taking melatonin one hour before going to bed. It's cheap, OTC and is scientifically proven to help regulate your sleep pattern. Also, rule out sleep apnea. Up to 6% of people have this, but not everyone knows. If you find yourself often awake at night, start counting. Don't grab your phone, don't look at the clock, don't do anything interesting. We're trying to bore you to sleep, not keep you entertained - sometimes it might feel like you've done it for hours and hours, but often it's really not all that long. Anytime your mind wanders away from the numbers and starts thinking, start over at 1. count at the speed of either your heartbeat or your breathing, whatever you prefer. If that still doesn't work and you really want to sleep, buy a dodow
Exercise: Self Esteem and exercise, a second source: How Does Exercise Affect Your Self-Esteem? If you have access to a gym, then start lifting weights. If you don't have access to a gym (or you don't like lifting), start running. If you can't run, then start walking. Just start small. 10 minutes three times a week is fine. You don't have to run fast, just run and then slowly build it up over time.
There exist a large amount of self help articles out there, but many will try to sell you their self help books. Here are a few that don't do that:
Here is some information on what causes self esteem issues, in case you're wondering how you ended up with it.
The most popular videos on improving your self esteem:
> It’s been 3 months since my ex left me for someone else and I just feel paralyzed.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivated in life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Friend admits she lost feelings
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> When I arrive home I feel like I have no energy and motivation to do anything. I feel crap, dont know what to do, i dont even have anything in my life that i enjoy, even the things that i used to enjoy.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Hi guys, I (26m) need some advice here in how to be disciplined in life.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate myself again?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Anyone have any advice to stay motivated with life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Is there any way to get my motivation back?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I stay motivated to keep working towards a future that is one of two things: Me with my kids and her.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Lack of motivation (how to deal with it?)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I get a solid working-out routine?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Any tips and advice for weight loss and motivation would be greatly appreciated!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I cant find motivation to do things that are important or productive and I have a massive procrastination problem.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I feel as if I have some commitment and motivation problems and I just don't know what to do, if I just show it to them they will for sure ground me, please if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it, thanks in advance.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how to cope with failing a test due to procrastination
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Also, because everything pilled up, I don't have any motivation to do anything and because i haven't studied in a long time, i don't even know how to start.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I (21M) lost all my motivation and I am becoming the worst version of myself
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get out of a rut?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get out of a rut?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to find motivation after a breakup?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm looking for some advice on how to get myself motivated again and get back on track.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am extremely unmotivated and I am scared it might affect my job and future goals
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I was wondering if i could get some advice on how to get motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> 20, Engineering Final Year. Have a job which I'll be joining in month. But, life has been feeling empty. Broke up with my 4 year old GF, no motivation to follow hobbies, I just play video games and sleep. What is there in life to look forward to?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> The last few weeks I have been dealing with burnout and extreme lack of motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Further, the only thing I have at home is a treadmill and I don’t find a lot of motivation working out at home.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Advice on how to stop procrastinating?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> So I have no motivation to get up. I just sleep in so much and I don't know what to do.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What is the best way to get motivated for weight loss?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Feeling too lazy to eat, get out of bed, and do normal life stuff like getting a job. Motivation ideas?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I lost all motivation to do anything after getting married
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Any advice on how to be motivated and consistent with goals ? I plan out my day the night before but when the day comes I literally just work and then rot away in my bed for the rest of the day. I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything. Any tips would be appreciated :)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> school sucks all motivation, self esteem, confidence, energy and happines out of me. What do i do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I noticed that my procrastination is getting worse these days.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> No motivation for university, feeling lost in life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need to break it to my mom that I'm doing really bad in college.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> i have no motivation at all in life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I (20m) need motivation I would like to better myself but don't know how .
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I can pass engineering but the problem is I don't find motivation of studying complex things which I don't know where I'll apply.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Feeling unmotivated and tired, is it my moms fault or am I lazy?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have no motivation to start something new. What do I do now?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What advice do you have for me, I am struggling to find any motivation to work hard since I have everything in my house and I am not expected to pay anything except for my car which I bought.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to get motivated at work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Hi guys, Lately I’ve been kind of losing motivation for work and I find myself questioning myself and what I’m doing with my life.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have no motivation most likely because of my horrible diet and no confidence in any field. What am I supposed to do with my life.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Gym motivation/ getting started
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I regain motivation so I can turn my life around and work the same way I used to?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I build self discipline and create a routine for myself?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I break the habit of procrastination/hyperactivity? (Such as school work)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> i have no motivation to pursue this career i thought i wanted my whole life, nor do i have a way to support myself without my education, do i just give up?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivation for studying?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I want to quit collage but i am ashamed to tell it to my parents.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My (20F) lack of motivation is affecting my grades, please help :(
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I don’t find motivation in anything that I once did.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I find myself approaching Christmas in my second year, I've a massive load of work to catch up on (again) because exams are approaching (January), I have no motivation and I've been very lazy since coming to university and I am really unsure of how to fix this.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> But i am stressed in general because of school and idk how to deal with this, because i cannot ignore it and not dealing with it isnt an option anymore. I need advice/help/motivation🏳️ I really dont wanna end up the way i think im gonna if this continues.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you motivate yourself to be your best self?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Nothing in my life is going well right now, running out of motivation... any help?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Promotion given to someone less deserving... what do I do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m almost 30 and still haven’t figured out what I want to do with my life. Any advice?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> No motivation in school/life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> (I should’ve nipped it in the butt early) I know I’m lazy and undisciplined Reddit I need your help.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Again, I was fine being alone, but I was so used to it that I had completely lost any motivation to talk to people, to go out, or make more friends.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I build self discipline?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivated again.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> No motivation to do basically anything.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Finding motivation or starting over
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I reduce procrastination
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What are some unique ways you’ve used to get out of your depression slump & to get your motivation back? (No drugs/alcohol)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I live with the crippling terror of spending the rest of my life single? [27 M]
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What do you do if you failed to achieve your goal which was extremely important for you? I put too much effort to achieve it, but I failed and now I don’t have motivation to do anything, even things I used to enjoy, feeling like I can’t deal with the easiest challenges of life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 2)
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Here's a list of symptoms associated with depression, so you can double check.
Here are a number of things you can do yourself, to improve your depression symptoms:
Often there is a hidden cause for your depression, you might not like yourself or your life. The below advice addresses the symptoms and will reduce them, but you still need to fix the cause. That's the whole point of therapy. With professional guidance, figuring out the causes and then addressing them one by one. If you want to skip that step, you'll have to compensate for it somehow. You should review your life and see if there are any obvious causes for your sadness and find ways to remove them or make them more bearable.
For the below advice, take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminders, with labels of what to do. Train yourself to either snooze or reschedule the reminders if you can't take action right away, but never to ignore them. The intention is to condition yourself, to build habits, so you will start healing yourself without having to think about it.
(cont.)
> I want motivation to work for the things I want in life but I can’t seem to
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am premed student who is behind alot of classes and need some tips to fight PROCRASTINATION P.s I have a exams coming in 3 weeks.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I was laid off today. I’m having a hard time not envying my friends with jobs, and security.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> More importantly how can I help get myself motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I start liking college?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I also have autism and I’m not sure if that impacts how well I can study but I feel like the school should be considering it more and allowing me to have extra support.
I don't know that either, but it probably does have some negative influence.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Lost in life and feeling there is no way out.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm 29 and worried I may never retire due to my poor work ethic, how can I start changing my life around and what steps should I take toward being financially successful
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
> I guess my question is how do I find the motivation to get out of this.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> NEED HELP!! I have no motivation to do anything with my life except stay where im comfortable!!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Recently I try to do projects and always end up losing motivation, how do I motivate myself?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I lost motivation to do the things I love, any tips on how to get that motivation and grind mindset back?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I did everything I could but my results are way under my expectations . I don't have any motivation left .Help
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> i do have problem with motivation and pushing myself
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
> Maybe take my work to the library just to get out - but how do I motivate myself to get out.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have no motivation anymore I don’t know how to fix myself anymore.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do i become more motivated to study?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have no motivation in life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I feel like crying everytime I look at myself and I’m unsure on how to motivate myself because when I did try, nothing worked.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> She started college in September and has lost all motivation for many things including anything intimate.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> [18 F] I feel my life's boring and I'm unmotivated. What can I do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> As a Struggling Artist, Which Path Should I Take in Life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> So what can I start with to get my brain in shape, maybe certain specific excercises, or foods to regularly eat, and how to effectively get over laziness and procrastination, etc.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Should I take meds?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Need Motivation! I have less than 24 hours to pack and move but can’t bring myself to do anything.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I now recently found out I’m pregnant with baby number two and I have lost all motivation for any exercise.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I would like to know how you people keep the motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I maintain my motivation when I accomplish tasks that I sometimes give up?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m 5 weeks pregnant and a junior in college. I’ve lost all motivation to finish my classes. I know I need to for the sake of the baby but I just can’t get myself to be motivated about it. I’m begging for help
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> suggest some non gaming twitch streamers for chill, life motivation etc
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I stop wasting time and focus on my work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how do i find motivation to do anything?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to focus on studies?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Here's a list of symptoms associated with depression, so you can double check.
Here are a number of things you can do yourself, to improve your depression symptoms:
Often there is a hidden cause for your depression, you might not like yourself or your life. The below advice addresses the symptoms and will reduce them, but you still need to fix the cause.
(cont.)
> TLDR; looking for advice on finding inspiration and motivation when your feelings are apathetic and you are coasting through life with your dreams nowhere in sight.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 2)
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
(part 2)
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
>do you have any motivational techniques and goals as mentioned above?
Sure:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(cont.)
> What can I do to be more disciplines?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> This may be a dumb question, but how can I become motivated to do better when it comes to my education?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> more new people go to my old music and call it good but I can’t ever feel motivated and I feel like I let down all the people who believed in me I need help trying to stay motivated and always trying to reach my goals I desperately want that drive back.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m not unhealthy or anything, but I want to be more productive and stop being a loser who just plays on his phone all day.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I've read books on procrastination and watched a lot of videos on it but the advice never works, or I can't find the willpower to follow it.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Suffering from zero motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I honestly don’t know what to do to motivate myself to find pleasure in my day, I feel like a burden.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> So for short, I don’t know what to do to get my motivation back up.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Yeah, I think I might need that a little. Is it okay if I DM you about that?
Sure. But let me give you a rough frame work of how to motivate yourself first, that way you can check if there are simple improvements you can make.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> TL;DR: I have no motivation and because of my irresponsibility, I may now lose my housing either because of a lack of sufficient course credits or not being able to pay rent.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> what should i do with my life now
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to get the motivation to work every day?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Junior in high school but no motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My depression seems like it comes and goes and there are times when it’s gets really bad and i don’t have the motivation to do anything and i think i’ve hit that spot and i just don’t know what to do.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how can I motivate myself to be active.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate myself to workout and loose weight
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> So my question is, how do I stay motivated and focused?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My life is currently a living hell.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> The main thing that they hate about my personality is that I’m lazy and I don’t disagree I just don’t know how to overcome it and anything I try doesn’t work out.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate and discipline myself to study?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I don't have any motivation, what steps should i take to get it?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I want to be more disciplined I need to get an certification but I hate studying what are something that can help me.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m struggling to find motivation to do anything.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I don't have any motivation anymore. I don't know how to keep moving forward.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have always struggled with self motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am so unmotivated in life that it’s effecting me in every way you could possibly imagine.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Math isn't my strongest subject, but I had no motivation to try at all during this exam and I ended up suffering because of it. I don't know what to do because whenever I try to study or force myself to try and learn, I don't as it is so mentally draining for me.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Any advice to gain motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I just became homeless today I have a car and do door dash but I don't have the motivation to keep going
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm lost on life, need help and advices, please.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how to deal with lack of motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I haven’t had the motivation to independently participate in major interests. Any advice?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I start being creative again casually/for fun.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
>Yeah, motivation is a giant problem too. Also, I’m broke :,) so I can’t get anything too expensive. It’s mainly motivation and giving up after not seeing a change fast enough.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
> i have no idea what to do with my life and even the smallest responsibilities overwhelm me. i’ve been in a loop of procrastination for years and i have no idea how to move forward
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Been off work for 2 months on parental leave. 1st day back and I have zero motivation. How do I get my mojo back?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm constantly struggling to find motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm losing motivation to do anything productive.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I really want the motivation that twin A gives me but I love to see them both happy and dont want that to change.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I don't wanna make this long since i just wrote another post about this but , how do i gain the motivation to talk to people when i feel like they're just gonna leave me after a while?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Getting back in the gym
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 2)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 3)
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m struggling with laziness and procrastination.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> It's making me extremely upset and angry and I have no motivation to do my job when I'm being spoken to like that. I need advice :( TL;DR co worker that used to work alongside me has been given more responsibility and treats me badly.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
I think I gave you the wrong advice. Try the below advice instead:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I (24m) feel like I have no willpower at all.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> ​ TL;DR How can I regain my motivation for school without any assistance from a parent or guardian?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> but i just don’t feel ready for college and idk how to motivate myself to keep going.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I cant find any motivation to school anymore, litteraly every day is the same. its almost my turn to high school and my grades are going down. I really need help
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how do you find motivation again? i’m a full time college student also working full time and i feel so burnt out i need help :(
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I (20M) have had 0 motivation to tend to responsibilities since the beginning of high school. It affects my relationships, School, and my financial situation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I Don't Know Anymore
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Idk what kind advice this sub is for but here’s my thing , I just wanna stop procrastinating as I’m here typing on my phone I’m thinking of ways of skipping my test because I was too lazy and kept delaying my studying,any advice on how to break this habit?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have a procrastination problem, and it’s really affecting the quality of my academic work in college Any tips on how to overcome the problem?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I CAN'T SEEM YO HANDLE MY LIFE WELL THESE DAYS
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to talk to my bf about his lack of motivation to do anything?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> 7 Rules Of Life - Motivational Speech #shorts
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I've lost all motivation for everything.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I want to learn how to draw again
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Any advice or help or motivation will be highly appreciated.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> And I also don't know how to motivate myself, it's hard to do it for some reasons, as I don't have any role models and such.
Well, that doesn't really involve role models. Well, it could I guess. But just give the below a read, my approach doesn't require role models.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 2)
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have been extremely lazy from living lately, simple things from standing up to opening my door I can't do because I'm too lazy.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need help with being more productive in my day to day student life.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you get motivated to do things after work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you get the motivation and drive to spend quality time with the family/kids, clean house, maybe tinker on a hobby & workout?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm tired and I really need help.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you motivate yourself to go to work everyday?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I can never put in consistent effort
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Ideally, I would spend all of my time at home in my room, but I decided to go to college in person this year because I have a huge procrastination problem with online classes.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I lose weight
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I lack motivation and care
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I found myself in a toxic abusive relationship which also caused me to develop moderate depression also made things worse. I
Yeah, that's probably the cause here.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(cont.)
> Before I was nervous to go but now I just need the motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Iam 19 man bored out of this life and i dont know what to do
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate myself to do stuff ?!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Eating when bored / stressed
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivation to do online school?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> tldr- how do i stop losing motivation to lose weight and how, as a very very picky eater where my whole diet is junk food, stay in a calorie deficit? and is there any way i can lose weight effectively whilst at home?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> For people working with a stable salary, not depending on your performance: how do you get willingness, motivation to work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Im really struggle to find motivation when trying to study so im intrested in knowing how others motivate themselves to study?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I(16, M) cannot start studying, its been 1.5 years since I touched a book and Ive constantly gotten away with it (online exams) even though My family is going through a very bad financial crisis, not to mention my dads Parkinson's.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My life is in shambles due to procrastination, please help!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am struggling to find the motivation to keep going as I'm typically very social and now have to live being isolated.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> i want to lose weight but i’m too lazy and can’t be bothered to exercise
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need the motivation to work more because I have a lot of bills in my household but the motivation is not there at all, I do 40 hours in my main job I want to get a second job but I don’t have the drive at all for it any advice?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My first few exams went bad. How to motivate myself for the rest?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I gain self discipline?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to overcome procrastination and actually get some work gone
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Feeling less alone
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm a 15 y/o male going into my second year of high school, I've struggled with procrastination for most of my life, and I often find that if I don't know what to do, I just don't do anything.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need an advice on how to keep my motivation and energy so i dont have a 2 week period where i will be superfocused and motivated and then a month period where i cant and dont do shit.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I know i can do it, but I need motivation which I’m not sure if I’ll have I’ll have to see, and everyone’s gonna be going into grade 10 math while I’m still stuck in grade 7.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I know i can do it, but I need motivation which I’m not sure if I’ll have I’ll have to see, and everyone’s gonna be going into grade 10 math while I’m still stuck in grade 7.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have zero motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> (tl;dr) How do you keep yourself motivated during these boring days, when you know, this is for you on the long run, but it is really hard not to contact the other, not to feel deeply alone, what is your secret to keep going on after a hard day, how do you cope with these feelings, situations?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivated to improve my life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I got kicked out of college and don’t know what to do now.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Im unhappy and I don’t know why
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What advice would you give if you could go in the past during your procrastination and laziness period of your life?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you gain motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What can I do to improve my will power and motivation to work hard and consistently , what can drive me so that I want to succeed real bad.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I did something that is adding on to the list of reasons why I can’t sleep… what to do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Everyone keeps telling me how angry and mean I am and I don't know why or how to get help, how do I get the motivation to fix myself?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> hello, how does one stop procrastinating?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Sure:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how do you gain a motivation to do something?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> except the actual writing, seems like I don't have a knack for that or the same motivation to do that one aspect (though it's a major one) so in light of this, I'd like to ask, what you do to get motivation for writing or big projects in general?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I think I need motivation or reassurance.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can someone distinguish whether their motivation to give someone pleasure comes from selfishness or charity?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> But well, shit happens and I had problems to finnish my career; to this day I still have one more credit to get, but I just can't, I try and try but I just don't find the motivation, it has become really hard.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> no motivation, no goals, no idea what to do with my life
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> any tips on how to stay motivated while working out? or whats good to eat while working out?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Need advice, struggling with motivation and partial suicidal thoughts.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Feeling Lost in life, no motivation, too much anxiety about future , dont know what to do.....
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate myself, focus, and manage my time better?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I asked my mother to change my chores but she says “if im too lazy to do this then why should i do that”, well i dont rlly like my current chore but id gladly do others, but she never listened, instead she just said shut up and i went to my room
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I don't love my boyfriend anymore
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Does anyone have any tips, pointers and advice for finding motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am not a lazy person and I have self-discipline and motivation in anything whether it is mundane or not. sorry this is a bit long but any advice is really appreciated.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I can not find the motivation to keep going yet somehow I do but my tendencies to hurt myself either for someone to notice I'm struggling or just cuz I don't care anymore are rising every day.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My mom just screamed at me
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I stop procrastinating?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I dont know how to find motivation in a demotivating society?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> how do I find motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have motivational issues
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> It is financially a great deal but I don't have the motivation. I don't know how to explain it better than that.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Advice About My Thesis. I am stuck.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> My motivation has been really bad these days, and my mom bought me a console but i am not even using it, how do i gain motivation to use it so my mom doens't get mad?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Please give study tips and help regarding my procrastination.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> For a little while now I’ve lost motivation for everything, it’s hard for me to do basic everything like eating, washing myself, and cleaning my room.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Does anyone out there who has dealt with a similar state of mind have any tips on reinvigorating basic motivation to perform at work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How can I be productive again?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’m not trying to loose a lot of weight but am hoping someone can give me some tips or motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you get your motivation for the day?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I used to work out 6 days a week for 2 hours and while i always ate a little too much I did start to cut back, but now ever since i was cut from my team i just have no motivation or “push” to do anything. I just need some advice on how to get started again, I feel like im at rock bottom.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to stop wasting my life away when everything is going wrong?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Just turned 18 and have no motivation for anything
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I regain the motivation I once had?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Anyone have advice on how to start working out when you have no motivation to do it?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Any motivation to live in this world…
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I am not money motivated
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> 16 y/o with no goals or motivation to do anything. What should I do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I can't find motivation to stick with a fitness plan
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> As a recruiter, what is it that you like to see on a motivation letter / SOP?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I quit smoking weed yesterday in hopes maybe it’s help me find motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Help with weightloss motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I’ve got a wedgie fetish, I need help on how to get rid of it?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> And how can i stay motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I just don't know how to find a passion and motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you get the motivation to do anything?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> What I mostly want to know, how do I stay motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Can someone please help me find motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I know to the external this will sound silly but pls be nice when responding because this is really bothering me and I don’t want to lose anymore motivation for powerlifting, any advice?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> also not to mention he is my best friends boyfriend and I have no motivation to do anything with him. I just don’t know what to do at this point.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
I'll give you more advice in that direction. But you'll see it'll start spreading to a wider and wider area of your life. It's generally not just a matter of "not eating". If that were true, there wouldn't be this many overweight people on the planet.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> i love teacher, sure it has some Negatives (kids no listening on some days) but at the end it's worth but now i just dont have that drive and motivation anymore. what do i do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I'm in a bad spot. Unemployed, not in college, psycho parents, no motivation. How can I improve myself and fix my situation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How to stay motivated and concentrated at work to get my drive back
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I need motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> So I am seeking advice how to discipline myself or what should I do to make myself better and love myself more?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> Dance was the first thing I lost motivation for, what was once my favorite thing, but soon I lost motivation for everything, even living.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> so recently I've lost a lot of motivation and I wonder what your motivation is to go the gym and if you have any advice to have more motivation to actually go to the gym.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you become your own motivation and support while being surrounded by pessimistic people?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I get motivation and commitment?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> I have no motivation and I don't understand why
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> need help with procrastination
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(part 2)
There are several subreddits, where you can post questions:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
(cont.)
> I graduated from college last month and I’ve been really depressed and unmotivated since then. I’m used to being so incredibly busy with school work, club meetings, group projects, etc., and now that I’m free idk what to do with myself. I feel like I have no purpose now.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> no motivation for anything
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do you all motivate yourself to exercise?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I stay motivated even when my views and interactions are down.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. Try to make that negative reinforcement be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Start slowly, it's easy to fall into cycle of self dissapointment which lowers your self esteem over time, take steps to avoid that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium:
Join these:
> How do I motivate myself to like it because I really do want to enjoy it but it just makes me feel bad.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I occasionally have a sudden overwhelming weight that hits me and I can't find the motivation to do anything at all. help. Have you had something like this before, what helps besides time?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I don't feel motivated to do anything
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How tf do i quit procrastination completely and get shit done?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Low motivation and low mood even after therapy
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I can’t sleep
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> What can I do to find motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> But I don’t have the motivation to do what I love and i really need help to find it.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I promised my dad I'd finish a course in JS programing and start working, but I lost all motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I’m feeling so lost in life now
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I will be changing companies again but it will be the same job type and I don’t know how to get my discipline back.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> My mom will not allow me to set boundaries for my own space.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I cant find the motivation to do school whatsoever and i’m almost failing 2 days before it ends
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I build discipline?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
If you're serious about changing, then read one of Jordan Peterson's book.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How can I find motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I can't find the motivation to workout and have a healthy diet
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I think i need the motivation to actually start (but also to keep doing it).
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I fix my motivation issues?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Any tips or motivation would be very helpful.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Can someone please give me advice on how to motivate myself to do the math and fight the urge to procrastinate?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> i feel like my life is falling apart
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I have a girlfriend a job friends family and everything and I don't know why I don't have any drive or motivation to keep going. I am depressed without reason and don't know what to do to help.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I feel unmotivated to live
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I have lost all motivation and can’t bring myself to do anything anymore. What can I do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> simply put, how do I deal with my severe procrastination?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I'm 14M and I have a serious procrastination problem.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I'm 14M and I have a serious procrastination problem.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I stay motivated when I have nothing to look forward to?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I need some motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Hey guys, what do you guy to help with have zero motivation, like seriously no motivation to the point where you want to lay in bed and let your life waste away.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I have the motivation to keep working.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Anyways, I'm looking for advice on how to get my motivation back to finish the paperwork that I need to do still, some of them are big and some are not so big (still vast).
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> umm I've a big exam in 10 days and am feeling very sleepy lately, cause am studying till late at night. also thinking that not go make it! and this exam pressure making me super horny. need some advice or motivation. :)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> umm i have a big exam in 10 says... but i am thinking that am not gonna make it :( and also feeling sleepy cause I'm studying late night. also this exam pressure making me feel very horny. need some advice or motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How to get motivation to stick to things?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I’ve been reviewing and programming again and I’ve been having problems trying to stay consistent & motivated - what are some tips to stay motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I got friendzoned by this girl. I no longer have motivation to do anything?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I have a problem where I don't find any motivation in myself to study anymore , even tho exams are literally this week.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I have a huge motivation issue and I lack sleep, I have sleep debt and I yawn excessively throughout the day despite feeling a bit energized, the fatigue comes easily.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
>Could you perhaps share this guide as well?
Sure. And I'll add more about fear of failure as well.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
I started life dirt poor, welfare family, physically abused. As you can imagine, I fucked up horribly in life. Oh so horribly probably wasted over $100k, many hundreds of thousands more in potential gains I've missed due to my own stupidity, could have died, several times. Or worse. I've been arrested probably around a dozen times. By your current standards, I'm probably a failure in life. And this is exactly what happened to my sibling. The same age, unemployed for life, severely damage mentally. Broken. Family? Broken, divorced. Damaged. What's the difference with me? My sibling just never really tried(wasn't able to figure out how to try).
(cont.)
> How do you get motivation to be productive?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I don’t know how to handle depressive episodes, or depression itself
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Any advice on how to do well in life or how to be motivated and not be miserable all the time.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Any help for finding motivation or anything like that would help, maybe I just need another perspective, thanks.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do you guys stay motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I dance and I don't really enjoy it but I don't wanna quit because my mom has invested a lot into it and I don't wanna abandon my friend
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do you guys motivate yourselves to do your work ?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How can I motivate myself to apply to jobs?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> People say the drug takes away motivation but honestly since I haven’t been happy lately I feel like I’ve lost motivation now that I’m off the drug.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I need to get motivation back and finish this year.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Everything is going great, but I’m lost.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Ok, I'll rephrase.
Jordan Peterson thinks women are 'people' who shouldn't be able to choose who they have sex with, shouldn't complain if they are denied opportunities based on their gender(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/style/jordan-peterson-12-rules-for-life.html), represents chaos, which is the bad part of the universe and needs to be 'cured', and also are incompetent.
>“The people who hold that our culture is an oppressive patriarchy, they don’t want to admit that the current hierarchy might be predicated on competence.”
> I don't even care for getting a relationship or anything, I just want to get better at this, but with everything I said, I don't know how to find self-motivation to do it MORE REGULARLY myself.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Anyways, I just wanted some people’s opinions on what I should do with my life, how to deal with this complete lack of motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> it feels exhausting even trying to do anything atp but i really need some advice on regaining motivation.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Im (14m) grounded for 5 months(2 months before summer, 3 months during.) Im forced to go to boarding school too. I don’t have motivation to do anything anymore and my self-esteem is terrible now.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> So again any helpful words of advice or motivation would be much appreciated!
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I get super disciplined ?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I haven’t been to church in 4 weeks, I’m tired, I don’t find motivation in it.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Please, anyone who has ever struggled to clean up huge messes, how did you start and how did you find the motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> What to do if you have no motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How can I build up the motivation to do art and game design again?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I need to lose weight but I have too much trauma to even know where to begin. Advice?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> And what should I do to motivate myself to work?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Any advice to help get my motivation back?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Any advice to build back motivation and not feel like everything around me is falling apart?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I’ve gained so much weight in the last year, i’m the highest weight i’ve ever been. I feel so shitty about myself.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Huge lack of motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Losing Motivation
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I want to become a doctor but I feel like I’m too lazy to do it
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Am I broken beyond repair?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Things to do or how to feel more productive? idk.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Here you go:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
You can read these comments or you can go listen/read Jordan stuff and formulate an opinion yourself
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
You can read these comments or you can go listen/read Jordan stuff and formulate an opinion yourself
https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021
> I’m really bad at math and I’ve just lost all motivation for school work.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> And now they’re getting frustrated when we come back and I’m struggling to find motivation to do all the work.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Also how do I find discipline to actually focus on my goals.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I can wake up in the morning, but can't find the motivation to get out of bed even if it means being late to work. Why?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> and is there anything i can do to get the motivation back?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Is there something wrong with me?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> i need advice on how to get motivation to do something with my life and to stop worrying about upcoming things all the time because that’s starting to really bother me.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Without writing or sharing about my own past and as to why I feel I understand what you're going through - I understand what you're going through.
There's nothing inherently wrong with sharing about your past but it does get or feel repetitive and boring (to you) even if it's new to someone else reading it.
It sounds like you're stuck in a pattern, and maybe you may ruminate, thinking things over and over again - but that may not be the case either.
There's one thing I like that Jordan Peterson has said in regards to human behaviour: we require other people to sort out ourselves - literally, we need to be regularly talking to people to change our patterns; so as someone else suggested, looking into therapy - or finding someone different to talk to if you're currently seeing a person who's not overly helpful.
I'd also recommend 2 more things:
1) Start reading the "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" book by Jordan Peterson for plenty of insights into human behaviour that may help you understand yourself better, and structure your life better, perhaps to help give you aim or direction - and to start getting your life in order; https://www.amazon.ca/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021/ - it's $21 Canadian dollars but you can find it for cheaper with used copies.
2) Start a goal of writing a book about your experiences, and perhaps this journey you're on and trying to get out of. It doesn't have to be for anyone else, and can just be basically like a journal. There seems to be an infinite amount we can learn about ourselves, improving ourselves by developing our self-awareness - and there is value in writing about it and compiling it into a succinct, structured story that flows. This in part I see as getting your life in order.
3) I lied! Actually this just came to me: Jordan Peterson also has a "self-authoring" program online, where he helps guide you into figuring out an aim and goals, to see where you yourself now and then to develop ideally obtainable goals to aim at; a core rule of his is basically summarized as "clean your room" - but I'll let you read the book to understand why that's so very important, and is an admirable and important goal especially if you're depressed and is something you struggle to do.
I'd say you're on the right track - you're aware of something(s) bothering you, and you had the courage or impetus (strong enough urge) to post about it. It sounds like you need just a little help orienting in a direction that may be helpful, give you some options to aim for to try to see what works for you - and hopefully a few comments in this thread will resonate with you enough into action.
P.S. Might be nice to go out for a walk or take a short trip to a local book store, where they likely have the 12 Rules for Life book in stock since it's a best seller, and buy a copy there. You could then take the book and head to a cafe and spend a few dollars on a tea, and sit and start reading it. Maybe make a routine of it daily to go to a cafe, get a tea, and read for an hour or two? The book store and then cafe giving you quick - but better than nothing - social interactions with with the cashier/baristas checking you out.
P.P.S. Do you do any regular/daily physical activity (not necessarily exercise, walking is good enough to start) - which can help you calm and process anger and stress? Yoga would be the next best thing to look into IMHO, as you can find a class for beginners and just dive in - however uncomfortable it is - just getting there for a class could be an amazing challenge to overcome if that's something 100% out of your comfort zone at the moment.
> How do I stop procrastinating?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> While I feel like I have lacked discipline for a long time and get to excited or just inpatients I want to become more disciplined in essentially every aspect of life if that makes sense.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> No motivation to work….
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do i get more motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Here you go:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I have no motivation to do anything
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Thankfully I am in a situation where income isn't an issue but I want to travel, I want to see the world and I know I'll have to work to get that but I have no motivation. Is there any advice that could be given to change my perspective?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How to find motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> I am a teenager, due to my exams and assignments I've become fat and have no motivation to workout. What should I do?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Basically I have 0 motivation to do any work or anything but I wanna fix this.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
Keep in mind that telling yourself you'll do it later is a way of coping, but it is also a way of not doing anything and making it worse.
The best approach would be one where you take ownership (you are going to fix it) and be willing to take tiny steps now. And I'll give you many tiny steps to pick from.
Again, be kind to yourself. But also: Don't be too kind. You do have to take some action, every day a little bit. Doesn't have to be much.
Just a little bit to show yourself you're trying.
The below is a lot, so once you're done reading (and you're not expected to read it all at once), just set an alarm in your phone, and continue reading later.
And just set a reminder to come back in a week and read it again.
Take your time, but do something.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
(cont.)
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I stop my self-destructive tendencies?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> struggling to find the motivation to care
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How to gain motivation to do stuff?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> Apps, study techniques, motivation techniques, etc.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I get motivated?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> bit of a rant here but i’m really struggling to find motivation to go to the gym whatsoever now i usually just find an excuse to do anything else like go out or something.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How to keep working with no motivation?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> If anyone has any tips or advice to find the motivation to study, I would really appreciate it.
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> No motivation in life ( 21m )
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things:
You can repeat this if you want. Break high level tasks down into their actionable items and set repeating alarms in your phone. Don't go overboard though, current you is fairly lazy, so future you probably is as well, so if you set too many alarms, he's going to ignore them. One a day, I'd say (as time goes on and your discipline goes up, you could increase it, especially on the weekends, but don't overdo it).
How to give past you authority (this is harder)
Past you has been telling current you to do things, but current you just isn't doing it. Part of that is because past you didn't communicate clearly, which is now fixed with the written down plan and the individual steps that you've set phone alarms for. However, the other part of the problem is that there are no consequences if current you ignores past you.
That can be fixed, but you have only one chance to do it. Technically, what you are going to do, is condition yourself. You'll be training yourself to automatically respond to a stimulus. Let me repeat, if you screw this part up, the whole thing falls apart and nothing is going to change. You've now set a number of alarms in your phone, with labels of what to do when the alarm goes off. When that alarm goes off, you can use the snooze button or you do the task. If you really can't do it for some reason, then reschedule, but don't cheat, because future you is going to know and that's the same as not doing the task at all.
If you don't do the task at the time past you agreed with current you, there has to be a consequence. That consequence should be a task that you thought up beforehand, that's slightly more work than the outlined task and you dislike doing. Clean your house top to bottom. Learn how to program on code.org. Go exercise intensely for an hour. That's your negative reinforcement. You get bonus points by making that negative reinforcement to also be beneficial to your overall well being.
Again: If you end up ignoring the alarm especially early on, you will fail to condition yourself and your habit change won't form and nothing will change.
If you do the task at the time past you told current you to do it, You get to be proud of yourself. You did what you set out to do. You're on the path you set for yourself. Now you only have to do one last thing. You need to take your phone and set a repeating alarm for the next time and date when you can do the next actionable item (and set a short description in the label or else you'll forget). If you finish a goal, then find the first actionable item for the next goal and set that.
Additional Support
Sometimes motivational issues are caused by a fear of failure. I found this self evaluation. Read it and see if it applies to you. If it does, then read this article.
Some people need a little extra, for them there are web blockers:
If you have complicated plans then consider these tools. These are freemium and have websites, phone and desktop apps:
Join these:
> How do I find the motivation to workout again?
Motivational issues are often a communication issue between current you, past you and future you.
Past you has set goals for current you, so that future you benefits from it. But instead of doing them, current you passes them on to future you (who then ends up being current you right now and is going: "WTF? past me told current me what to do, but it's just not doing it?").
The problem is caused by current you, past you and future you not being able to communicate directly, as well as past you not having the authority he needs. If past you and future you could talk directly, right now with current you (and both of them would probably be screaming at you right now and would keep screaming until you start moving), current you would probably address the problem.
If past you had authority over you, then current you would probably also listen. Because if you didn't, there would be a consequence. Instead, current you is passing the consequences to future you.
To fix it, you need to do two things: Start direct communications between past you, current you and future you and give past you authority over current you. You have to implement these changes permanently. You can't just implement it now and forget about, because if you do that, the same thing will go wrong at some point in the future.
This is going to work best if you don't have any serious mental health problems. If you do have those, they need to be addressed as well. Otherwise you'll try to improve your motivation, but the mental health issues could derail you. Tests that might indicate the most common causes of motivational problems:
Each test takes about 3 minutes, let me know if you scored high (or low in the case of the self esteem test) on any of these and I'll give you advice that you should combine with the motivational advice.
How to start the communication (This is easy)
Current you can't directly talk to future you, because he doesn't exist yet, but you can imagine future you and you can talk with your imaginary future you.
Past you however, can directly communicate with current you, he's just not doing it. Here's how to do this:
First write down a high level plan current you might think it's all clear what needs to be done, but it's probably not that clear. You have to do it on paper, because future you is going to be a dick and not look at it, unless it's right in front of his face once in a while (You could also do it in paint and make it your wallpaper, but only if you occasionally see your wallpaper on your computer and if you know how to do that, otherwise, just use paper any paper). How to Create Your Five-Year Master Plan, Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future. It won't take long to do. You can also add ongoing things to the list, like "keep my room clean", just don't go over the top. We want future you to have a decent life as well.
Just do it now. Like, stop reading and do it now - if you still aren't doing it now, you're just not interested in helping yourself and you probably have other issues going on that need to be addressed first. Probably something like fear of failure, depression or self esteem issues. If you need help with those, then reply and describe your symptoms and healthcare situation and I'll see if I can figure it out with you and how to get it fixed.
Now that you have the high level plan, first make sure it is achievable. If it isn't then first rewrite your plan until it is. Current you can break up the highest priority goal one into smaller steps, that are actionable. If at all possible, each step shouldn't be more than an hour of work. If it's more than an hour of work but doesn't have to be done at once, then just repeat the same step until the task is done. If you can't keep the steps in your head, write them down. Next what you do, is you need to let future you know, when to do that task. So figure out when you have time to do it, and then use technology to your advantage. Take your phone and set repeating alarm clock reminder for the time and day you have to do this task (not when to have it done, when to do the actual work). That does multiple things: