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okay, so i've never been the most motivated guy in the world. in fact, i'm very much lazy, but somehow i've managed to find just enough within me to keep me going throughout my life without totally crashing and burning.

for the last two weeks i've been following up on a big project, one that could have potentially funded my move back to nyc all by itself, but which, for various reasons, fell through. (or more to the point i couldn't persue at the moment because of lack of funds. takes money to make money, baby.)

now, as depressing as this is, what's worse is that i seem to have lost any momentum i built up in the last few weeks. i have been desultorily picking at a few freelance assignments when i really need to be busting down doors for how little money i have right now and how i much i actually need.

it's not depression (i'm actally relatively happy right now, for the first time in a long time), and my life - in general - looks better on paper (and in actuality) than at any time in the last few months. i just feel...sapped. it might have something to do with the season/daylight savings/whatever. but i just get can't get motivated to get on the ball.

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"..."

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This may sound trite, but: self-imposed deadlines that you stick with. IE, if you need to be busting down doors as said, tell yourself, "Okay, today I will contact x, y, and z" and then do them.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

ned, i can't afford condoms right now.

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

so jerk off into a towel instead?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

[serious answer: scan alltha new release lists for inspiration and jerk around downloading junk and etc. and pretty soon a set of inspirations will strike and you'll wanna contact all sorts of foax coz y'll have yr. pitches mentally lined up]

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't there a music-crit union or something?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, in fantasy land in a gumdrop house on lollipop lane

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it might at least in part have to do with the seasonal change and daylight savings, I know a few other people who have been feeling the same way.

― Nicolars (Nicole), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

It sucks that you need $$ to get yr ass into NYC, cuz sometimes a change of locale can really increase one's motivation.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

nick: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

(multiple xposts)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

suicide.

great band. listen to them. makes you happee.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

music critic teamsters would be the laziest people on earth

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess, I'm much the same. Actually, we're fucked if I don't get off my lazy ass. More triteness, but- getting started really is the hardest part, and getting started all over again every day sucks. Momentum is something that comes when you're not trying. yadda yadda yadda

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess this lack of motivation (or focus) is the bane of my existence. If I could help you I would but I can't help myself either.

At least yr not going to crash and burn in front of dozens and dozens of teenagers like I face the possiblity of day in and day out.

― A Girl Named Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i wish i could!

("have i ever told you kids about lsd?")

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess you have all my empathy. I've been on the verge of a chernobyl-style melt-down for a while now myself, so I'm probably not the best person to give you advice. But still, you might first want to see if there's anything that's physiological that can be done. Are you getting enough sleep and excercise? Are you eating right? Are you getting fresh air and sunshine? Are you sure that it's not depression, in the clinical sense? If you can't blame your body for your lack of motivation, try sitting down and making a list of things that you really care about. If you have some sort of ultimate goal in mind that you really want to achieve, you might find it easier to do the nasty little tasks that will get you there.

― mouse, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps the crash and burn with audience would make for a better story but I fear it. They are cruel bastards and would gladly push you along towards your demise if they sensed weakness.

― A Girl Named Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

it's pretty obviously related to at least: lack of proper sleep, sunshine, and proper eating. i'm actually NOT depressed for the first time in ages, which is what makes all this doubly weird.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

mine is largely related to my bipolar. Eating properly and exercising etc. help quite a bit but it's kind of like an umbrella in a downpout. My head stays dry but that's about it.

― A Girl Named Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I have tremendous problems with this as well. The major thing I find that helps is removing as many minor sources of stress as possible. If there's something big that's bothering me, I find I'm much more likely to deal with the damn thing. 10 smaller things and I spend days doing sod all about any of them. Of course, getting rid of the little things is bloody difficult in the first place.

Otherwise, yeah, eating well (ie no carb-starving), not drinking, getting outside when it's light all seem to help me a bit.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

AUUUUGH CRASHING AND BURNING CRASHING AND BURNING!!!!

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:29 (twenty-two years ago)

at the rate my expenses (very low) vs. income (lower) is going, i predict i'll be dead this side of christmas.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:33 (twenty-two years ago)

(i laugh so i do not suffer some extreme emotional breakdown, etc.)

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i could send you a care package

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:34 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, plz send 10 lbs potatoes and 1 gallon whisky, stat.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:37 (twenty-two years ago)

will tim tams and vegemite do?

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:39 (twenty-two years ago)

anything i can hock for cigarettes

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Shit, I'm going through this exact same damn thing right now myself. I am pretty much without clue into the process of door-down-knocking, and even though I got a couple leads I'm not sure I'd have enough real quality material to submit to various publications. (This could be tied into some worry and stress that arose sometime last year, when a certain editor [that I haven't freelanced for yet] "losing" my submission materials -- twice.)

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Friday, 14 November 2003 05:51 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

argh! I'm moving on sunday and have zero packed. I just can't get going. I have no motivation at all. This summer my doc prescribed me Strattera to help with motivation & focus and it worked quite well. But I've been out for a month and so have none of the above now.

HELP!

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

look to strongo for inspiration

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

cancel the move. stay where you are. problem solved.

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

I've seriously given that consideration. . .

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 03:24 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

wtf happened? i had like all this energy and ideas for the first six months of this year, learnt heaps of new stuff and got my head down working on various projects and even got back into my art.

Now it's all just fucked apart and I can't get lifted to do anything, it's been like this for the past few weeks.

more tales of 'failed projects' here please

― Ste, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:03 (seventeen years ago)

Took some time off after my last job to try and do something about making the perhaps implausible career leap from IT to furniture design, and achieved absolutely fuck all. Attempted pretty much absolutely fuck all. Just about mustered up the energy for a few half-hearted web searches into slightly less implausible alternative careers. Un-career related side projects, all those things you think you'll get round to when you have the time? Nope.

I think I have an overdeveloped sense of futility.

― ledge, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:38 (seventeen years ago)

Why can't things go in cycles? Ste, you got so much done this year! Maybe some things in yr head and yr life need time to rest, stew, bubbling, toiling, troubling, and so forth. Is that okay?

― Laurel, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:46 (seventeen years ago)

-- erico b. rakimington

lmao

― and what, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:47 (seventeen years ago)

There is no such thing as a failed project, only a delayed project. Some projects get put on nearly infinite delay. It happens. But often when you're working on too many vague projects at once. Pick one (yes, this part is hard - maybe not the most important, but the easiest to finish) - and finishing it will give you the impetus to get on with the others.

Maybe.

Or you can just go and have a major equipment failure go and put your priorities in order for you.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:47 (seventeen years ago)

I can understand the futility thing...like so many of the 'projects' I do are just insular, and there's no feeling of contributing anything of worth. Perhaps that's a problem with the world we live in, everything must be a show and be consumed (or maybe it's my problem?). So many days feel like a wash-out, but I have an underlying desire to be busy. Damn, I really want to be busy and engage with the world, but I dunno how to make that change.

― jel --, Thursday, 14 August 2008 16:02 (seventeen years ago)

What's so great about "the world" that it must be engaged with?

I am coming to the conclusion that the world needs more people tinkering in sheds and less people shouting about how great they are. On the telly. Or maybe even on the internet. I don't know. My productivity has gone way down since I got the internets in mine house.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:08 (seventeen years ago)

koolo g. rappington

― Jordan, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:10 (seventeen years ago)

Hahahaha there was a novel I was gonna write last month.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:42 (seventeen years ago)

start at least

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:42 (seventeen years ago)

page a day dude, you'll have 365 pages in a year

― Mr. Que, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:44 (seventeen years ago)

amotivational syndrome FTW

― carne asada, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:46 (seventeen years ago)

thanks guys,
one of my projects is learning to draw faces, and so i managed to pull myself together and do this tonight

http://www.mullsports.com/images/Ernie.jpg

― Ste, Thursday, 14 August 2008 19:37 (seventeen years ago)

Wow, Ste, that's really good! Excellent technique, and good characterisation.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 14 August 2008 20:27 (seventeen years ago)

I really like the cross-hatchy thing you did with the facial hair. How did you do that?

― Abbott, Thursday, 14 August 2008 20:28 (seventeen years ago)

it's done on Painter X, just used the Cover Pencil on 1pt, just simple random strokes. Cheers!

and, erm, it might have changed since you just last looked at it. Fixed the eye a bit

― Ste, Thursday, 14 August 2008 20:33 (seventeen years ago)

well, just simple random strokes but the important ones were the paper coloured strokes which removed the obvious appearance of pencil lines.

― Ste, Thursday, 14 August 2008 20:40 (seventeen years ago)

three years pass...

Maybe I just need to eat more:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2012/04/17/ego-depletion/

― Touché Gödel (ledge), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 10:39 (thirteen years ago)

somehow nine years later i'm not dead yet.

somehow.

― jesus christ (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 10:42 (thirteen years ago)

good job, kiu

― Touché Gödel (ledge), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 10:58 (thirteen years ago)

i don't know that i've ever had any motivation beyond short-term panic in my whole life

― red is hungry green is jawless (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 11:04 (thirteen years ago)

i dunno i bought a guitar with my summer job money when i was 15 so

― diafiyhm (darraghmac), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 11:35 (thirteen years ago)

did you do the job to get the guitar? cos that wd be motivation. but doing the job and then buying a guitar on a whim wd be something else i think.

― red is hungry green is jawless (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:18 (thirteen years ago)

i think, looking into my heart, that i don't really want to have motivation. but it's very difficult to live safely without some of it, and occasionally depressing to lack the will and discipline to do things you think you'd like to.

― red is hungry green is jawless (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:20 (thirteen years ago)

shd really be working now but am totally swimming in aboulia

― red is hungry green is jawless (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:21 (thirteen years ago)

now there's a thought

― aboulia banks (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:22 (thirteen years ago)

t/s: abulia v. anhedonia

― dayo, Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:24 (thirteen years ago)

every time i have to think about "behaviour management strategies" or "working with people with hidden disabilities" the whole field of human thought opens up so wide around me that i get lost and do nothing

― aboulia banks (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:24 (thirteen years ago)

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motivation, and the lack thereof

AUUUUGH CRASHING AND BURNING CRASHING AND BURNING!!!!