I agree with this. I’ve spent just as much time researching productivity as being productive some times. And I agree, we don’t fail on the motivation part but on inability to create environments, habits and schedules that allow for distraction-free productivity. But I always failed to maintain longer than a week’s worth of concentrated productive habit. Why? I have a theory: you can’t maintain rigid schedules and habits if you have family too.<p>No chance of choosing focus areas and ignoring a sick child and sleepless nights, family emergencies and soul-sapping homework assistance.<p>Family is my productivity enemy. But I love my family so I don’t sweat lack of productivity that much. Anymore.<p>But yeah, motivation is not the answer. Fully agreed.
The title's a bit clickbaity. "No such thing as motivation", and he goes on to explain two different types of motivation and sums it up with "do x and y and your motivation will grow".<p>Also, I'm missing a golden thread in this post. It reads like a few half-baked thoughts to promote his company.<p>I do agree with his recap though.
Motivation is absolutely a skill that can be mastered. Being motivated to get up and run at 6:00 am is not telling yourself that you have to, it’s learning how to <i>want to do it</i>. Same thing with anything else. You have to learn how to connect the desire for some end state (getting the project completed, getting a faster mile time, etc) with the present. Habits are great, but excercising the capacity to want to make shit happen outside of your normal routine is also a skill worth developing.
Building discipline is a master, root skill to learn that unlocks everything else.<p>Breaking down any task into small steps has always helped me get going on things that seem to be a little tough to start. This has been way more productive than telling myself to do something for just 5 minutes, and often see myself continue.<p>Discipline is learning to do what needs to be done regardless of how we feel. This creates more results than chasing motivation.<p>Anything we perceive we are motivated or passionate about always has things we don't want to do attached to it.<p>If anything, motivation might be like taking a shower every day. Forget to shower and any effect quickly dissipates. Motivation is finite like our attention and willpower.
"Fuck motivation. it’s a fickle and and unreliable little dickfuck and isn’t worth your time.<p>"Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. force yourself to do things. force yourself to get up out of bed and practice. Force yourself to work. Motivation is fleeting and it’s easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you, and you don’t have to chase after it."<p>"Discipline is reliable, motivation is fleeting. The question isn’t how to keep yourself motivated. It’s how to train yourself to work without it."<p>—Theangryviolinist (probably)
I read Drive by Daniel Pink (referenced in the article) and Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. They both make very interesting cases again current thoughts and practices surrounding motivation, especially regarding how rewards (in any form) often have the exact opposite effect of their intention.<p>I wrote some more about this recently here [0]<p>[0] <a href="https://www.codementor.io/garethdwyer/enter-the-zone-fight-imposter-syndrome-and-unlock-intrinsic-motivation-kjpbpe5a5" rel="nofollow">https://www.codementor.io/garethdwyer/enter-the-zone-fight-i...</a>
If you're doing something shitty with your life, this kind of thinking is a good way to continue doing it well.<p>I doubt that's a good thing, net, unless you really truly don't have any options.
Just want to point out that there is research that suggests there’s no clear-cut extrinsic/intrinsic designation and that motivation generally lies on a spectrum between these two types (Ryan and Deci). Moreover, finding ways to move yourself along the spectrum towards the intrinsic end allows for more effective output.