Ask HN: How do you get out of a rut?

Well there is two likely possibilities. Either you're depressed. Or you've chosen the wrong field/subset of a field. (Or even both maybe)

So try psychotherapy/seeing a psychiatrist.

And try taking a course on another subject that might interest you. If you find out that what you're studying is not interesting you anymore there is no shame in changing, be careful about the sunken cost fallacy. But also make sure that you're not just depressed for other reasons, because if that's the case trying to study something else won't do much.

Withdraw from the class or negotiate an incomplete. Try again next semester. You can’t force it sometimes. Pick one or two classes in the semester that you think you can grind it out in (and even here just aim for a C+). If you can’t do this for any of them, just withdraw from everything.

Then stare at the wall. I’m serious. Wake up every day and stare at the wall until you are so bored you want to open a textbook. Then register for only 1 class next semester and slowly ramp back up to 5 classes over the next two semesters. If you find you are able to stare at a wall and still feel nothing (you feel comfortable with the consequences of doing nothing, even failing), then you are in some crazy dangerous territory. I’ve seen this happen to myself and people close to me. It’s not as simple as the task/goal being beyond you. It’s some other insanity. I’ve seen really smart people unable to bring themselves to do basic stuff on a regular basis due to some kind of hang up. You need a cold shower, ice thrown at you, something, someone needs to shake you violently basically.

Alternatively, lie to a shrink and get an Adderral script.

Consider focusing on some fundamentals like: exercising, cold showers, eating reasonably healthy (avoid insulin spikes). Also consider some kind of social or recreation activity that helps make you feel recharged.

It's winter right now, go for a run outside, especially if there's snow. You can watch some YouTube videos about how to layer up properly. The air is extra crisp right now and almost nobody runs so the world is yours. I find it extra relaxing and a huge runners high afterwards.

Detach! Do things you enjoy for a while - I find it helps to make sure academia/career/whatever isn't my entire personality (which I fall into quite often) and tend to come back to whatever I left with enthusiasm after a couple weeks. I took up exercising last Autumn and have managed to stick with things for longer without going into my usual ruts and I'm sure they're related, so maybe look at doing some sports/gym too.

I struggle with this too. The best boost to my mood is when I go for a walk with my wife. Try to get some exercise and sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YV_iKnzDRg). Watch your sleep hygiene. Talk to your doctor. When I was younger I rarely even considered going to a doctor. Perhaps you should get some lab work done to make sure you're not vitamin deficient.

I got so depressed that my wife had to make appointments for me and tell my doctor how down I was because I was too embarrassed to admit it.

On a lighter note. You might try pomodoro techniques. Sometimes I do a couple of sessions to get started working until I'm "in to it" enough that I don't need that motivation hack. Also I abstain from social media and all entertainment other than music when I'm at my workstation. Same for when I'm in bed.

You don’t. Just let it run its course.

The idea that there’s something wrong with you for not wanting to do anything is artificial. There’s nothing wrong with being a person. And people have flaws.

I spent a few years playing dota competitively. It eventually led to getting a job working on HoN, a dota clone. But at the time, the trajectory looked a lot like “do nothing but play games for a year.”

You can’t know where your path will take you. Relaxing is the first step toward happiness, which is the real goal.

Alternatively, adderall helps too.

Some different things you might want to try:

- Take a day off. Allow yourself at least one full day of not thinking about whatever you are struggling with.

- Take a long walk. Like 1 or 2 hours.

- Listen to some music you love. Maybe even go see a concert (covid permitting).

- Call up a friend or family member you haven't talked to in a while.

- Take a walk with a friend, or have a beer or meal with them.

- Shoot some hoops or pool, or do some manual labor, like shoveling snow or raking leaves. Get your body moving and focus on something concrete.

- Try to dump out all your thoughts onto a pad of paper (or a txt document).

- Draw, paint, play music.

- Get out of the city. Or go into the city.

Basically, get your brain and body working in a different mode. The only thing you know is that doing that same thing every day isn't working for you, so you have to shake things up a bit. Good luck!

Uff, the question why you are not motivated? Are you afraid your results are not perfect enough? Are you afraid you will fail? Do you think it’s boring and you need to do something more interesting? Or is your body just exhausted?

Think about that and try to fix the reason behind it.

Also accept your body sometimes is not up to the task and that motivation comes and goes. It is pretty normal to have stints of high motivation followed by low motivation. Sometimes it is bad nutrition, sometimes the weather, sometimes just a fluke in your metabolism, sometimes your brain is just exhausted.

If you beat yourself up for not being motivated you will kill the remaining 5% of energy inside u with beating yourself up. That you so not what you want. Be kind to yourself.

1. Not enough blue light in winter - Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? Un/der-managed depression? Medication was the only thing that brought me out of the funk as I had severe depression in college, combined with undiagnosed/unmanaged ADHD-PI, it was the 10-year-plan to sheepskin.

2. If it's existential: Watch Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement about the realization of the certainty death as a motivator. [i] What would you do if this were your last day? Last week? Last month? etc. What do you really need vs. want out of life?

3. "If you had a million dollars, what would you be doing right now?"

4. Map your Maslow's hierarchy of needs (inputs, contributors, stressors, and goals). Is there anything big missing?

5. Experiment and try new things. Volunteer. Read a new genre of literature. Make something. Explore the nearest library or museum. Get a telescope and look at the planets and the stars. Take up powered paragliding (PPG). :) Or learn how to longboard.

6. Exercise.

7. Healthy distractions. Keep yourself busy on anything else, even if it's chores.

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i. https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Funny, I'm sitting at my desk with no motivation to do anything this evening. I have to force myself to change. And I'm just about to get up and go tackle a chore I hate. When you recognize that you're doing that thing again, just get up, go do something else. ANYTHING else. Get up and move.

Me, I'm going to move into the kitchen and work on some dishes.

It's fine if it just happens in the evening,as long as you can finish meaningful work at day. I would arrange entertainment of today evening on morning as reward for day work. It might increase your productivity at day and after work you can enjoy the evening better. Or in some cases you have kind of flow of mind that continues in the evening that makes you skip arranged entertainment to do more.

Lots and lots of walking - not only good for your health, but, the meditative cadence of the action gives the mind time & space to re-calibrate and solve problems - for example, perhaps you are studying something you shouldn't be, or are not deeply passionate about, yet you continue to do so out of inertia - walking will help you figure that out. Good luck, bon vent, fair winds.

For me this is usually caused by a major failure. The lethargy is what happens when one part of me knows something is very wrong, but the other part of me wants to continue going on like before anyways.

What I do is find something I actually want to do and do that instead. You don't have to forget about the earlier goal; it becomes a puzzle that you need more clues for by doing different stuff for a while.

In short, follow your heart and it'll all work out in time.

Think about yourself. While crude, I think Maslov’s pyramid has some truth to it. Have you sufficiently addressed the concerns in the layers below cognitive? I firmly believe that physical and mental health are more important than career/financial aspirations. It’s a difficult balance which we all have trouble navigating. Small steps towards the right balance will stack up over time.

Others have made good suggestions about taking care of basic health, like sleep, nutrition, sunlight, hobbies and social life.

All of that was necessary, but not sufficient, for me to recover from a similar deflated and unmotivated state during my post doc. My work put a big intellectual strain on me but at the same time, got me addicted to being challenged.

Initially I tried hobbies that were pleasant and not very demanding (such as movies, going to events, light socializing). Somehow that left me even more frustrated. Turns out I needed something sufficiently challenging and stimulating that would switch my brain fully to something else. What worked for me was martial arts (substitute any physical activity with infinite skill ceiling and complex coordination, like dance or learning an instrument) and reading deep books completely unrelated to my expertise.

As my "day job" was quite techy, I took to reading stuff like history and humanities. In case you'd like some random suggestions I particularly remember being satisfied by Albion's Seed [1] and Metahistory [2]. I also did my best to understand some of the best recent work on narrative theory and critical feminist media theory in my native Finnish. [3] For a humanist, maybe learn verilog or complex systems theory [4]?

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed 2: https://archive.org/details/metahistoryhisto00whit 3: https://www.adlibris.com/fi/kirja/muusikon-kumousliikkeet-97... 4: https://complexsystemstheory.net/santa-fe-institute/

Try to shift some of your focus to things you can make and get small achievements in. For example, getting more fit and working out. Your initial goal isn't going to be about being better than a friend or "the average" or even what you might remember from when you were younger. Spend a couple of days benchmarking yourself, even if you feel like really lethargic, imagine the bare minimum and make a little less than that your expectations. When I was going through a rough time, going outside and going to a gym was an achievement. Even if all I did was go there, go in the gym and pretend to do some stretches and then leave again, that was still more than I did the day before. Do that for a week and you might start to think, since you're going to the gym and spending time there, might as well do some activities. This isn't about getting fit, until you want to make that step, it's about moving.

I'll give you a breakdown of my initial fitness ladder, each step a few days or a week. Go to the gym for 10 minutes and stare at the tv and leave. Go to the gym for 20 minutes, find a tv I like and do some stretches near it, and then leave. Go to the gym and chill on the elliptical for 15 and leave. Go to the gym and try running and get tired after 5 minutes so I do another 5 minutes on an elliptical and leave. Go at a less busy time so I can try out different machine and see where I stand with each weight for 20 minutes. Find that there's a basketball court and borrow a ball from the front desk and shoot a few hoops for 15. Workout for 10 minutes and then stretch for 20.

I know it sounds weird that I am recommending the gym when you said you feel lethargic, but I promise any kind of workout is energizing. In fact just being near people that I can see are pushing themselves encourage me to try a bit harder too, even on days I didn't feel like it.

It's a good environment, and I know it might seem a little intimidating, but I promise no matter what day you go, you're not going to be the only person going for the first time. If nature and outdoors is your thing, that's cool, but for me the social aspect of it is important. I rarely talked to anyone other than the front desk person. It didn't matter, it was just about being around people and not alone. People that judge you for your performance at a gym are going to the gym for the wrong reason. All that matters is you do a little better on the long term average. If you feel weird or concerned about anything, ask the staff. Most places they are pretty bored and they'll want to help you, especially if you're new. They don't want to see you get hurt and that's the perspective you should keep.

Everyone starts somewhere

And over time I've worked up to being able to do an hour in the gym without thinking about it and I fell back in love with biking which I used to do as a kid. I love badminton and it was fun finding people to play with. I got into archery as well. I loved group fitness activities, not zumba, but Yoga was critical to my recovery. It wasn't that Yoga class is anything special, it was that teachers of yoga always approach it from a place of healing or restorative vibes. If the teacher is pretentious or makes you feel bad about not being able to do something, they're a bad teacher and you shouldn't continue their class.

If you want to feel confident about your first day, if you want to prepare, there's tons of yoga instructional videos on youtube for free. If you'd rather do things alone, that's fine too. I would just strongly recommend you reconsider and try it out in a group setting.

The reason why I focused on fitness is because it's something I genuinely didn't care about growing up. That meant I had no expectations for myself. Even the smallest achievements were meaningful and that feeling helped me pull myself out of that rut.

I would explore if there's some underlying mental or physical health concern if the lethargy is se...

Totally change your work environment. Go to a desk in a public library, find a co-working space like Berlin's Betahaus, or just update your surroundings at home.

It might be just enough to knock it out of you.

‘Sitting at your desk with no motivation to do anything’. Let’s frame this from a couple of different angles.

- You have time/opportunity to do whatever you choose to improve your life, and nothing feels worth trying, the time just runs out repeatedly.

- Given a set of unstated constraints on your self-permitted behavior and potential pursuits, when you consider your options, nothing excites you, no pursuit resonates with emotional anticipation.

If that captures it, what’s helped me in my life is to use an analogy of mathematical optimization:

1. the options you permit yourself are too narrow. Try things that other people seem to enjoy that you are unfamiliar with. ie expand your horizon by expanding the boundary of the domain. Give yourself more options.

2. you’re overconfident that different activities will provide negative/neutral benefit, assuming there is something that you’ll enjoy. This is a type of learned helplessness, similar to gradient ascent/descent in a flat zone. One strategy is to take random jumps into the unknown. ie commit more to what you try, try going all in where you’d otherwise be more cautious.

3. If you’re overstimulated on caffeine or red bull, or partially emotionally anaesthetized (through behavior like intellectualization or emotional immaturity) you may be insensitive to what is truly emotionally rewarding. I think this is like a faulty objective function. Try meditation, or removing stimulants, or read about maladaptive emotional coping mechanisms, or try a psychotherapist.

Gonna be unpopular answer, but drugs, specifically psychedelics. Shrooms has been a game changer for me, I do one medium trip pretty much every year as a "reset" - during the trip, the current life that I live becomes a superficial layer of patterns that I can clearly see, and I can go through thought journeys on doing things different and see how I feel about them.

I don't know if they will help you, but generally its a good idea to try psychedelics at least once because the potential benefits outweigh the very minor risks by miles.

Stop drinking if you do.

Stop coffee after midday if you can.

And go for a walk every night instead of sitting at your desk. Don't listen to music whilst you walk. You'll start to notice things, which will be interesting. After a few walks you'll be familiar with the environment. This will allow your mind to wander. Once you can get back a wandering mind, you'll find your imagination may come back, and you'll probably notice the exercise is helping with energy levels.

After a while you'll find you like evening walks and you will be starting to think of a lot of stuff to do when you get home.

FWIW, you're already motivated - your post is evidence enough of that. Keep asking yourself why you feel like you want to do something and see where that leads.

Perhaps that exercise reveals some deep set intention. Congratulations, that is yours to nurture and grow. Put a definition of a milestone that will move you towards satisfying that intention. Write it down and say it out loud. Repeat that daily, indefinitely. Identify the difference in state between where you are today and your desired outcome. Break the journey down into discrete action steps, then do a step forward. As you go forward, take inventory of all of the actions you've taken so far and admire your growing wealth of progress. Don't interrogate your intention too often or judge it too harshly, if it came from a good place, it will lead you somewhere good.

Perhaps the exercise revealed nothing at all. There is nothing that you want, nothing pulling you any particular direction. Congratulations, you've arrived! You're free from striving and have achieved the pinnacle of human longing. Enjoy the level of contentment, leisure, and freedom that has been the aim of so many, for so long, and enjoy it well.

“Nothing to do is itself a great doing.” ― Ehsan Sehgal

“I sat in my backyard all afternoon and did nothing. Whenever I do nothing I feel I've accomplished a lot.” ― Marty Rubin

Perhaps you have nothing you want, but nothing doesn't satisfy you. Go help somebody who needs it. There is plenty to do, and helping people does quite a lot of good for you. Even if you got nothing out of it, at least someone did.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Hibernation and seasonality is perfectly mammalian. Spring is coming.

When I was at University I tried to finish smaller tasks first and then move to bigger ones. Why? The sense of completing something small gave me an impuls and motivation to focus on bigger things.