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Ask HN: What motivates you to do what you do?

64 点作者 ivanjovanovic将近 8 年前
I&#x27;ve been in transition for a while, leaving a big enterprise and moving towards more independent work through own consulting business.<p>In the process I reflected a lot and one of the important topics I am trying to understand is about underlying motivations for my actions.<p>I can see what is going on in my head, that I tend to materialise some image of my future self, create value for the family and the environment I live in, position myself good for the future-needed skills, have joy in what I do, have more freedom to decide of my future direction ... there are many different triggers of motivation for my actions, but from time to time they seem random and misaligned.<p>As said, I can see what is going on in my head but I was curios about how others interpret and manage their motivations which trigger their actions.<p>Would be happy to have some insights into your heads if you may allow :)

27 条评论

ruleabidinguser将近 8 年前
That I need money and this is my best choice. I would guess 90+% of people who say theres anything more to it than this are lying to you and probably themselves. There are people with broader aspirations, but actually just saying you have some deep passion is a part of the culture, and in most cases, I don&#x27;t think true.
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robotnoises将近 8 年前
Money. I work for a large Enterprise software company and we are not &quot;changing the world.&quot; That&#x27;s fine, by the way, but the answer is money and it always has been.<p>I have two young children at home and nothing is going to come close to making me feel as fulfilled as being their father. Since we need money to live I have to go away for 8-9 hours a day, working on CRUD applications and their supporting systems. What keeps me in my seat is the money I can eventually bring home to to my wife and children.<p>To a non-parent this may seem a somewhat bleak and uninspiring vision of what we do as software developers, but the truth is that being able to provide for my family is one of the most intensely satisfying enterprises I have ever taken-on. It allows us to put good, healthy food on the table and live in a neighborhood with walking trails and a nearby lake. My children sleep in comfortable beds. The temperature in our home is always appropriate.<p>If I can&#x27;t spend the bulk of my time with my family then next best thing is producing money that directly benefits them.
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harel将近 8 年前
I&#x27;m motivated by Freedom. I have a goal to make myself and those around me free from the burden of financial responsibility, and geographical and time constraints. I don&#x27;t want to have to do a job I don&#x27;t want for money because I have a mortgage or bills to pay. I don&#x27;t want to be dictated where I need to be in the world at any given time or how I should manage my time. I want this freedom and I will get it, because I can. My aim is not to be filthy rich (though I won&#x27;t cry if by freak accident that happens). I just want to remove 3rd parties from having control over those particular freedoms.<p>Edit: At the same time, I am doing something I love to achieve this goal, so even if it takes me longer than I expected, in the meanwhile I&#x27;m enjoying myself and being compensated nicely for this.
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edw519将近 8 年前
The Happy Dance<p>You know the feeling, when you get something working for the first time. Something that has never been done before and will never be done the first time ever again. And you just did it. You received input, thought about it, build it, tested it, changed it, stewed about it, agonized over it, redid it, and finally, finally, got output. Often beyond your wildest expectations. And you lept out of your chair and yelled, &quot;Yeaaa!&quot; and danced a little bit.<p>Sure, I have gotten this feeling from other things, from my writing, from my comedy, from sex, from when the Penguins score a goal, and most often, from others. But in the grand scale, those things rarely happen.<p>Writing software is different. I can Happy Dance all the time if I only set myself up for it.<p>In the enterprise, I hardly ever Happy Danced. In my own business, I Happy Danced almost every day. What more does one need for motivation?
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dejv将近 8 年前
I guess I am past the need of motivation. I started coding more than 20 years ago and back then it was all about that I want to really learn how to write good software and create cool projects.<p>Today I am just happy to have few low pressure customers that I am maintaining products for. I kind of feel like carpenter: sure I can make a table for you and I know it will be quite good. It is not going to be the next big table that is going to be displayed on front page of big Carpentry magazine. It is going to be table for some basement, but thats ok.<p>I sometimes need more money for bigger purchases, (I am farmer now and equipment is so expensive) which makes me return into high pressure of valley development. And I must say that working in this environment it is always hard to find motivation other then &quot;it is soon going to be over&quot;.
thomasknowles将近 8 年前
Grown up working class, have parents which are older and still have to work in awful jobs. Met many people who are just simply better than I am at most things. So I just grind daily at it. I want to have an &quot;out&quot;, not just me but for my family and the people I care about.
smrtinsert将近 8 年前
I work to live and distribute time to items which nourish my soul and encourage family wellness. Working towards these goals creates a feedback of contentment for me - I&#x27;m in a good place and very happy about who and where I am.<p>I&#x27;ve learned over time that means activities which give you energy: physical fitness, creativity and relationship time (parenthood, spouse, friends, other family etc) and less activities which draw energy from you, inebriation, excessive video games, excess in any form (for example gluttony or work) etc.<p>I used to try to do projects &#x27;for the money&#x27; in my spare time and inevitably I would give up on them. For me, money is not a main driver. I have enough, and toiling extra hours has no benefit for me.
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mikehollinger将近 8 年前
At work, I enjoy tinkering and have the opportunity to go solve interesting problems.<p>At home - I enjoy tinkering and that feeling of accomplishment with a job well done, whether that&#x27;s washing my car, or making my home automation system do things that it wasn&#x27;t intended to do.<p>If I think about it - these are both driven by a desire to be known as someone who can &quot;do things,&quot; i.e. &quot;I want the credit.&quot; [1]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=pm-5gWhJ3qY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=pm-5gWhJ3qY</a>
s_kilk将近 8 年前
Like everyone else, I sell my labour to capital in exchange for a living.
alexanderson将近 8 年前
There are two kinds of motivation. There is the desire for the project itself and there is the desire to work on the project. I would be overjoyed if one day, I pulled from master and found that the project I’m working on was perfectly complete!<p>But until that day, I have to find some way to keep on plugging away: planning, coding, testing, debugging, doing art, marketing, etc. It’s one of those things that maintains momentum through good developer experience and forcing myself to spend a little time on it every day.<p>And one day it will be done, and I’ll be able to step back and say “Wow. I made a thing.” Honestly, I don’t know if it will be that great of a feeling. But the anticipated satisfaction of a job well done, including the approval of my customers, is something that motivates me.<p>I’ll add that family can be super motivating too. Of course, I want to provide for them. But working on a side project and having your wife come by and say “That looks cool” is a pretty good feeling.
barrkel将近 8 年前
Doing a good job with care, investing myself in the work. It doesn&#x27;t matter if no one sees it or appreciates it (though that&#x27;s nice), it&#x27;s important that it&#x27;s done well, with economy of design and good judgement for where to invest some time in the code, and where to flesh out with less finishing.<p>Higher order goals are all well and good, but usually the best way to achieve those is to make as much money as possible and then direct the money towards the goals, rather than to change what you do and work on the higher order goals directly. While working directly towards higher order goals might feel more satisfying and meaningful, it&#x27;s unlikely to be the most effective way of making a difference if you&#x27;ve got good skills as an engineer.<p>My personal higher order goals aren&#x27;t much more than to live the good life, but being sure to live it - be in the moment, rather than living for some tomorrow.
contingencies将近 8 年前
Learning and discovery. The satisfaction of scheming and realization. A less trodden path. Not having to have a mortgage, be stuck in one location, to tow a cultural line, or dress up or follow schedules. Knowing that you are leaving the world a slightly better place.
blabla_blublu将近 8 年前
Software Engineer @ a big tech firm : I like the fact that the work engages me to a reasonable degree. I am okay @ coding and I like it to an extent - it keeps me engaged, which is a massive plus. My co-workers are fantastic, which makes the job better. Needless to say, the money helps a lot, which lets me enjoy my weekends and other times.<p>Ofcourse, I yearn for a life where I am free and completely in control, doing something I like, but I really appreciate the fact that I have a job that keeps me going as well.
deepaksurti将近 8 年前
1. Freedom to use my time wisely. 2. Fulfilment of my potential.<p>I try to visualize the end days and if I don&#x27;t do 1 and 2, I will regret it. That is what drives me to do whatever that I do today.
indescions_2017将近 8 年前
If your intrinsic motivations, which probably map closely to Maslow&#x27;s hierarchy of needs, are not aligned with your startup&#x27;s strategy and goals, then of course you are going to experience a feeling of being unmoored. The answer is to deploy massive amounts of patience and energy in figuring out who You are. In the immediate term, recognize you are not the only one with this conflict and perhaps develop a set of &quot;motivation management&quot; tools to help crystallize and make manifest your personal journey.<p>To help with understanding your place in the grand scheme, I&#x27;d also check out this lecture by Michael Dearing from Reid Hoffman&#x27;s Blitzscaling class at Stanford:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3vCdfa_aeI8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3vCdfa_aeI8</a><p>Although nominally about Creative Destruction and the capitalist work ethic, it gets at the root of our entrepreneurial ambitions. There is a reason the mission statements of the Erie Railway Company from 1857 and Facebook&#x27;s circa 2017 sound so eerily similar. Their duty isn&#x27;t to build train tracks between cities or link nodes in the social graph. It&#x27;s to spread knowledge, commerce and communication deep into places that have never known it before.
inopinatus将近 8 年前
1. Life is short and there&#x27;s so much to do.<p>2. I&#x27;m building a business and I have competitors who want to take my market share.<p>Either of these two thoughts are enough to galvanise me. #2 in particular can snap me wide awake with blood pumping and ideas firing.<p>Ultimately I am guided by the principle of least regret, although I find that more useful as a decision making construct than a motivation tool.
fb03将近 8 年前
I strive for balance in my life, so what motivates me is the combination of being able to solve complex problems using computer technology coupled with the ability to properly care about my own physical self and the ones around me (family, good friends).<p>I have been one of those workaholic people that only cared about amassing money. No more.
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krrishd将近 8 年前
My motivations constantly change (and are therefore not the best foundation for action), BUT, right now I&#x27;d say that I&#x27;m motivated by whatever enables me to stay upwind.<p>I&#x27;m always finding myself interested in new things (and sometimes disinterested in old passions), so I optimize my career and actions around being able to freely engage with those &quot;new things&quot; without jeopardizing stuff like my financial stability. I also try to be as broadly educated and capable of learning so that those &quot;new things&quot; are never too difficult to immerse myself in.
DanBC将近 8 年前
I want to make life better for people who are often marginalised.
rayboy1995将近 8 年前
I don&#x27;t have a fear of change, I have a fear of staying the same. I have a fear that I will be stuck in the same job for the next 40+ years. I don&#x27;t want that, I don&#x27;t want to work for someone else, to have all my hard work on their projects do more for them than it has for me. I am hoping to quit my job soon and go off and do my own thing or die trying.
kermittd将近 8 年前
Seems like you have a career, unlike me, as I&#x27;m a student but I&#x27;ll give it a go.<p>-Doing and making something great via Human Computer Interaction<p>-Being hired as an intern at a technology company<p>-Generating money with a side project ie ramen profitable
hnarayanan将近 8 年前
Curiosity, and fear.
nikentic将近 8 年前
To get acknowledged for my skills and effort.
kleer001将近 8 年前
Bucking the existential weight that in the grand scope the life of a single human is nothing.
romanovcode将近 8 年前
Currently - Money.
SirLJ将近 8 年前
2 things: the people I lead day to day and money, even with six figure salary, they are never enough, that&#x27;s why I have a side project I am going to retire soon...
tajd将近 8 年前
Someone has to.