Ask HN: How do you motivate yourself to do un-motivating work?

I've found myself in a similar boat for a long time now. Go see your doctor and get referred to a psychiatrist for an evaluation.

Not that medication is the only solution, but ADHD can manifest itself in different ways and sometimes taking something can help you bridge the gap.

You don't have to get a high school degree. Seriously. But there is some unpleasant work that needs to be done. High school is not unpleasant work that needs to be done.

I'm not going to try to motivate you, because only you can motivate yourself. I'm just going to share my perspective that might shed some light on your issue.

I had the same problem in college until a fraternity brother who had graduated 2 years before told me something I had never thought of. He said, "You may never have a better opportunity to explore and learn new things. Once you settle down with a career and family, all your time will be spoken for. So try everything! How will you know who you are and what you're interested in unless you experiment?"

Some of the best advice I ever got, and since I was a sophomore at the time, I tried as much as I could for the next 2 1/2 years. I still majored in math and became a computer programmer, but I did a lot of stuff that I simply don't have time for today. And I miss a lot of it. Back then, I thought humanities was boring, but what I would give for a few days off to curl up with a good book.

Sometimes you can learn a lot about something you are interested in by doing something totally different. Reading literature might help you write code. Music may help you with math. Working at the mall or living in a fraternity house could help you learn how to run a business.

At this point in your life, you still don't know (for sure) what you'll love and be good at for the rest of your life. So keep doing those things that seem like they're boring and uninteresting. Many of them will be a waste of time, but there will certainly be a few pearls in there, too. Don't miss the opportunity of discovering them because you just want to stay in your comfort zone. Now is the best time to leave that comport zone and discover the other stuff. Eventually, you'll be glad you did.

I split it up into tiny tasks on a physical paper so I can cross items out and feel accomplished.

fogbugz... Being able to guess how long it will take, and then meet your own deadline is strangely fun in itself.

If you have trouble getting started on your work, just make a few subcases, and estimate them as well.

As quizbiz said, crossing the todo's off your list makes it feel like you're accomplishing something :)

Okay - let's get the obvious out of the way: are you ADD/ADHD and, if so, have you been taking any recent meds? If not, let's talk about your diet: tons of carbs but lack of protein? How about sleep - getting enough of it? Lastly, when was your last vacation?

These are all major factors in feeling a sense of restlessness or being lackadaisical towards critical, yet mundane tasks. Sometimes burnout is the term for this whereas other times it is simple procrastination. So which is it?

Look for ways to make the assignment relevant to your interests. Sometimes it's as simple as choosing a topic you like for an English essay. If you're not interested in your math homework, try poking around those topics on Wikipedia. Being able to click through to subjects that seem interesting might peek your interest in the original subject. Sometimes, seeking out more work can make the assignment "easier" because you're more interested in it.

If you're referring to really mindless work, then I solve that by listening to something I like when I do it. (Such as music or a podcast.) For example, I'm a researcher, and sometimes I just have to do some mindless data entry. It's my data and no one else is going to do it for me. I get through it by listening to things I like while doing it.

Have you thought about getting your GED? Maybe the reason why you're unmotivated by schoolwork is that it is useless to you.

What types of activities do you find difficult to do? Cleaning toilets, doing math problems, writing reports?

One technique that I use is stolen from PJE (http://dirtsimple.org/2006/01/smelling-fear-feeling-future.h...), The "Mmmmm" test.

Generally you're doing these things to get something else that you find worthwhile. If you can visualize this goal deeply enough to change your emotional state, like Homer Simpson fantasizing about donuts, then you can associate it with the thought of doing the drudgery as well. It takes time and effort to retrain yourself to do this, though.

My friends used to come over my place. We used to sit together, discuss what/how to do it, have drinks and complete it. So we essentially converted "Boring task completion time" into "Socializing and fun time".

1) Do the easiest/most fun part of whatever boring task there is to do first. Most things are not as boring or as excruciating as they seem to be, once you're actually doing them. Objects in motion...

2) Only do the bare minimum work necessary to get passing grades in high school, unless you plan to attend college. No one cares what grades you got in HS. Anything you're genuinely interested in you can learn much more deeply on your own.

3) Learning self-discipline is extremely valuable, even if you rarely invoke it. This boring work could be a blessing, if you can use it to teach yourself discipline.

If the work that has to be done has a deadline, and you find yourself procrastinating right up until the deadline, whereby you work frantically on the boring work for far too little time but still manage to get it done - I wouldn't worry so much yet. In fact, if you can gauge your ability to get things done at the last minute, and you've sussed that you only work well under extreme pressure, you can enjoy your procrastinating and schedule in the real work for the last minute. I don't advocate this for a life strategy but it sure got me through undergraduate maths supervisions.

High School is not hard. I just did enough to pass and get into my school of choice (standardized tests usually matter more here). I basically made a game of how little I could do and still get by...this is somewhat stupid and is really only advised if you are naturally smart...whatever that means.

There will always be people that say you HAVE to this or that. In my experience this is hardly ever the case...as long as you're willing to work as hard as you possibly can when you really really actually need to.

It sounds to me like you need a good hack. If you're truly the type "c" procrastinator PG talks about then let's visualize this. This means your intellect is running on a higher level than the mundane circumstances around you. Would Einstein flunk out of high school because his mind was in neutron land while sitting through a lecture on some obscure part of history? He might, but that would be bad form. I strongly believe you should at least get a high school diploma (or GED equivalent), because it's too simple.

If you're on this board then you are likely entrepreneurial. You need to be able to analyze and solve problems. At the end of the day your teachers (now they are customers) need you to produce either a certain test score, or paper. Find a way to give them what they want, even if you have to hack it so that you're not doing all the tedious work yourself and/or simply test out of subjects.

Find something you actually want. There is almost a 100% chance you will need a high school degree to get it, but knowing specifically what it is will help greatly.

Sometimes when I'm feeling unmotivated or depressed, it helps to remind myself about some of the struggles that other people around the world are dealing with.

For example, I'm sure the average teenager in Afghanistan or the Democratic Republic of Congo would love to trade places with you. Did you know that 80% of humanity lives on less than $10/day? A shift in perspective might make your problems with school seem a bit more manageable.

You don't have to apply yourself in school, but try to remind yourself that it's an opportunity that relatively few people in this world have access to.

(As a side note, this highlights a failing of the school system itself -- they should probably put more emphasis on broadening your perspective. It's sad that so many people go through the school system without understanding why they are there in the first place.)

[Edit: Sorry - this probably won't apply to the OP's specific problem, but it will apply to others facing un-motivating work (assuming they have an hourly rate that will allow them to do this)]

Answer: oDesk, eLance, etc...

Seriously, my life and productivity have improved dramatically since I started outsourcing the grunt work I used to dread doing. For me it's well worth it to pay someone else 1/2 or 1/3 of what I make per hour to do something I would just stress out over and procrastinate.

With my money I'm buying: 1) Time (a scarce resource) and 2) Will-power (an even scarcer resource).

For instance, I have a side project that requires a lot of web scraping. I found a great scraper guy in southeast asia that is a much better scraper than me and is happy to work for 1/10th of what I make per hour. It's a great trade off.

I can then use the time and will-power to do all sorts of more important things to me - exercise, intense learning, systems design, etc. Specifically, with my extra time lately, I've worked on marathon training, speed reading, learning short-hand, esoteric ruby concepts, practicing the ukulele, etc.

If you are getting stuck on something you don't want to do - outsource it. Even if a poorly skilled outsourcer makes it through my hiring process (rare, but can happen) and they churn out some crap - it is oddly motivating for me to go and fix the issue and get it right. For some reason I get a mental block sometimes when starting a project from scratch - but if I hire someone else to take a stab at it and they fail horribly, I'm like "Wo, that sucked, you really should have done it this way...." My motivation is then unblocked since I'm 'fixing' something, not 'creating from scratch'.

oDesk is basically a store where you can go and trade money for time and will-power. Seriously, how cool is that ;)

moosecake, You need to ask yourself what motivates you. Why do you find some stuff more worthwhile than other stuff? When you work on something that is not worthwhile, can you find the bits that can be worthwhile to you?

In my case, even the most mundane work has something to teach me. If it's not by doing it myself is by doing it with other people (I like to see how other people solve problems). So here is an idea, get together with friends and work on the stuff you find unappealing. That way, you'll throw two birds with one stone. You'll learn to work better as a team, and you'll get the unappealing work out of the way. Also, I find it better to finish the boring work first thing, and then move on to the cool work (that way the cool work seems like a prize). Good luck, and don't forget to have fun, you are still a kid above everything else.

I run into this all the time and have two strategies.

1) Pair programming. If you can find someone to work with you on this, it's much easier to get rolling and to stay on task.

2) Overkill it. Approach the task as if it were Mount Everest. Assemble food, water, energy drinks. Go to a place like a library or conference room where no one can run into you. Disconnect the internet. Block out all sounds. Play Rocky on your headphones as you're unpacking.

Just approaching it as if it were a difficult task helps.

"I have to do it. There is no way I can avoid doing it without unappealing consequences. I will do it now and then move on, do the interesting stuff."

"they just imply I'm going to be unhappy for the rest of my life if I keep doing this."

Keep doing what? Finishing high school? That's going to make you unhappy for the rest of your life?

The fact of the matter is that you lack discipline. Life will always have mundane or unpleasant tasks that need doing. It's called responsibility and most of the time it takes discipline to buckle down and get things done.

Coffee, if you need to power through a few hours of boring and tedious stuff. Works better if you are not a regular coffee drinker.

I listen to Voodoo People by Prodigy on repeat. That was the only way I was able to write my papers in high school.

Wise words handed down to me: SUCK IT UP and take care of it.

Yea HS busy work can be idiotic. Yea, you could be using the time for something more interesting/better/cooler/profitable. The simple fact is that the work needs to be done.

If you must find motivation, use the fact that if it's not done, you won't be able to work on the other more interesting things. There are some tasks that you must do but will never feel motivated to do. Find a way to do finish these things as fast as is viable, then go work on the interesting stuff.

Sometimes you have to pull off any dirty trick you can google on yourself.

Strapping myself to chair with trouser belt worked for me once when I had to do work for customer but my brain constantly zoned out away from drudgery and was raising my body from the chair and sending it to kitchen to look for something unspecified.

As a college freshman, here's my view on high school work: just do it. It's the only way to get into college. That has to be your sole motivation, as for most intelligent people, high school work in itself is not interesting in the slightest (although I was lucky to take a Constitutional Law class senior year that I loved).

However, don't despair: college work IS interesting. Unlike high school, a college will let you take essentially whatever class you want. Interested in physics? Take a class on special relativity. Interested in philosophy? Take a class that applies the theories of the great philosophers to modern moral problems. Interested in spaceflight? Take intro to aerospace engineering. At a university, the possibilities are endless, especially freshman year when you don't have to worry in the slightest about your major.

So, to sum it up, this is my advice: high school work sucks, but college, at least from what I've found, is awesome. Not only are you encouraged to take classes in areas that interest you, the atmosphere and social life is also incomparably better than high school. Your motivation thus should be directly tied to college: if you do not do this paper tonight, you will not get a good grade in this class, and you will not be able to get into as good of a college, meaning you may not be able to take high-quality classes in the areas that really interest you. It may seem like negative motivation, but if you view college as something good for you (and not just good for your career), it really becomes positive motivation. Good luck.