I work 3rd shift, so I'm always motivated to go to bed in the morning.
I worked overnight shifts for 18 years before this job. During that time I only got about 3 to 5 hours of sleep a day. Now the more sleep I get the less I want to move in the morning.
It’s not so much the motivation, but the just doing it. Shia has a great video on the subject:
You craft and finish a plan before you walk up the mountain and then stop thinking about the mountain. You don't look up the mountain, just at your steps and the way right before you. The mountain wants you to worry, but if you worry, you loose. So don't look up the mountain and just walk, step by step.
Know that worrying about things like this is like trying to solve an algebra equasion by chewing bubble gum.
Man... I don't.
I had a friend tell me a few days ago that they get up an hour and a half before they're supposed to work to relax and read or shower or whatever. I can't even picture that. I get up 30m before work and rush through coffee+oatmeal because if I slow down and think about how I have to work today it'll make me depressed.
It's better to catch me unawares so I don't have time to ruminate before I'm expected to work. Then before I know it I'll be working and too busy to think about how I'd rather be floating on a cloud while beautiful people feed me grapes off the vine.
I am trying both the ways nowadays. Sometimes I wake up early to avoid the rush and I feel so groggy waking up earlier than usual that I slow-mo the morning routine. Sometimes when I wake up little late, I'm fully wake from the get go that I manage to rush through the routine. In both cases I reach the end around similar times. I am not sure which one I prefer, maybe not sticking to one makes the morning a little less boring.
Yeah I wake up, shower, eat, dress the kids, bring him to the daycare and start working as soon as I'm back home. My responsibilities keep me on my toes. But it's not motivation.
I don't close my curtains when I sleep, because that way, I can actually see the sunshine (or clouds) when I wake up. Bright stuff tends to make me attentive.
I wake up each day with an awful headache. I think there’s mold but I can’t prove it.
So what motivates me is: “today I can get a little closer to moving out of this shithole”
Coffee. I mean, high quality Specialty Coffee. Grind the beans by yourself, feel that aroma, complete the ritual by sipping the black nectar of productivity. It will be the best moment of your entire day.
It doesn't need to be coffee, or even high quality coffee, but I agree that having a routine you devote a small amount of time to every morning for a reward at the end is a great way to start the day. It combines meditation and achievement, which are both great boosts to your mental health. Like you, I do the coffee thing but I know other people like to start their day with a run or a workout which has additional health benefits and leaves them feeling more upbeat about the day ahead.
discipline beats motivation. make it just something you do, not something to be considered and decided.
you don't need a pep talk for every little thing.
Not to fully disagree here, because sometimes we all need to do things we don't want, but I don't want to live a life where everyday requires unyielding discipline just to get up.
Maybe you're talking more about habits, than forcing yourself to live through another awful day.
I agree wholeheartedly. If you know how to build habits, habits can be fun and they can be tied to living a meaningful life! Tiny Habits, the book and framework, changed my life for the better.
What makes you able to do this?
I’m not who you asked, but for me it’s that I have a person and several animals who depend on me. I’d never succeed if I had to do it for myself.
That's the neat part.
I don't
Chemically induced motivation. Just how I
likeneed it
I actually remind myself this is the worst moment of the day. It gets better and better.
I wake up with rather dark, pessimistic thoughts. They tend to fade toward mid-day.
So, again, I say "this is the literal worst moment of the entire day" (Its very rarely not true)
I don't experience motivation hardly ever, but I sure have plenty of obligations to keep me moving. It's a matter of forcing yourself to do the thing until you break apart and die as far as I've discerned.
Wake up 15 minutes before I have to leave.
Coffee, morning sunlight, rituals with my dog like treat time. More coffee. Gotta love coffee.
Motivation is a big word… I just get up at some point and follow my routine. Lying in bed for too long without sleeping feels like a waste of time to me.
I've got young kids. Waking up early is the best time for me to be productive and enjoy solitude.
I had a counselor once tell me that "motivation typically comes from doing." I guess most people say "motivation" when they mean "inspiration"
So what does "getting motivated in the morning" mean to you? What does that look like?
To me It looks like a nightly routine of positive self-talk while visualizing myself getting up the next morning to carry out my planned agenda as I first close my eyes. ‐I have more success at getting out of bed when I have already established a firm idea of what I'm getting up for.
To me It looks like a nightly routine of positive self-talk while visualizing myself getting up the next morning to carry out my planned agenda
All that visualization would have me excited to get started. I'd be up all night thinking about the plan, then be too exhausted to even get out of bed when it's finally time to actually get started.
Deadlines
By having long term goals. If you're working toward something bigger in life each day is just progress on that journey.
If you don't have any long term goals start thinking about where you want to be in 5 or 10y and make some. Then you can think about how to get there and start making short and medium term goals to help you along the way.
Coffee.
ephedrine
Shower helps wake me up. Also gives me an opportunity to sob a little in privacy.
Prescription stimulants
I put my alarm far enough away that I need to get up to turn it off. By then I'm already out of bed, which is otherwise the hardest part for me by far.
I used to do this but I learned to sleepwalk. I got an evening job and no longer need an alarm.
Don't, but not starving to death is a good motivator! You can also remove barrier to entry to the thing you want to do. Remove one barrier at a time. Want to go on a trip? Save the money, then prep a suitcase, then prep the car, then you suddenly just go, no barriers left.
Going to bed early enough that your actually awake before your alarm really makes mornings easy. I didn't used to be a morning person but I kinda am now!
The next question does then become - how do I make myself go to bed at a sensible time?
This is good advice. I used to really push how late I'd stay up and then get jolted awake by my alarm. Felt like trash.
Now I go to bed like 9.5 hours before I have to get up (midnight -> 930) and usually wake up before the alarm. Feels great.
I set alarms for my bedtime to train myself into it. Like, alarm goes off at 11pm and I start winding down whatever I'm doing (video games, usually). Now I just do it naturally.
But as you said, how do you actually do the thing?
I've luckily never had problems with executive function, so I can't really imagine clearly what it's like to not be able to just make a decision and execute. One of my friends swears by medication, because they got diagnosed as an adult with ADHD.
Panic, mostly.
i have a morning routine that mostly revolves around listening to a few regular news podcasts as i wake up, shower, and shave. listening to thee news distracts me from how tired i am.
then, obvs, coffee at work
I like having a roof over my head and food on the table, therefore I need to work.
How do you get motivated in the afternoon? I have maybe three, four hours of semi-effective brain function between waking up and what seems to be some form of power saving mode that lasts the rest of the day. If I've eaten food with a fork that day, doing things is a struggle. Send motivation tips for post-lunch humaning, please.
You might not have the lifestyle to do this, but I find taking a short nap (like 20 minutes) in the early afternoon helps reset my brain and boost my energy levels. It doesn't even need to be a nap, just taking that 20 minutes to lie down and close my eyes can help a lot.
Oh, that works for me, definitely. It just takes maybe two hours, instead of 20 minutes. Same principle, though.
C+++
I don't, I just finally gained the willpower to get up and do shit even though I'm not motivated. Very often in life, you have to do shit you don't wanna do. This doesn't mean your life sucks and that you cannot find any joy in your day, this is simply a fact of life. Once you accept this and stop having feelings about it, it's 100% easier to go about your day. I don't think this is a modern day thing, either. I'm sure you could pick any time period in history and find a human that wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting up and doing XYZ thing that they had to do that day in order to survive.
Rituals and setting myself up to enjoy the morning- super yummy overnight oats, skincare routine, pour over coffee or a visit to my favorite coffee shop, watching my favorite GTA RP streamer... After all that, my brain has released the entirety of its dopamine for the day, and I crawl back into bed until lunch/dinner 🥹
My morning starts at
12am12pm. God, it's so awesome to work in the tech industry. I'm just wired like that and always have been. Back in school I was not compatible with the system of getting up early and often missed the first two hours.You mean 12pm? Otherwise that's kinda fucked up.
Yes, I fucked up here. :D
Both 12 am and 12 pm are fucked up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#Confusion_at_noon_and_midnight
24-hours time removes the ambiguity....
Wake up about 15 minutes before I have to be out the door. Just enough time to go to the loo, brush my teeth and chuck some clothes on.
If I give myself more time than I need, I just get sidetracked by something and end up making myself late.
By taking my antidepressant pill
I do that as well, it helps with my mood but certainly doesn't motivate me.
Morning motivation routine? Oh, it’s a finely tuned process. First, I snort a casual 50mg of Adderall to wake up the brain cells. Then, I chug a can of monster, but not before I stir in a dash of crushed Euro Speed—gotta keep the heart rate interesting. Next, I sprinkle a 200mg crack rock into my morning coffee, because why not? And just before stepping out, I inject a solid 100mg of meth straight into the arm for that extra ‘let's conquer the world’ vibe. All of this in under four minutes, and honestly, it’s not that bad. Life is beautiful… unless you eat 369 pills of Benadryl, then things get a bit weird.
Go to the gym at 5am before going to work. Good jumpstart to the day and then after work I can do whatever.
I'm one of those weirdos who is a morning person. I wake up at 5:30am daily ready to GO. But I tap out at 3pm and go into goblin mode for the rest of the day. I guess my logic is that I want to get everything done for the day so I can just relax and enjoy my evening.
Goblin mode?
I look forward to skating or riding to work most days, but some days I struggle to find motivation.
Oh, also coffee.
it's a lie
