How do you find motivation?

[really_cranky]

The only thing that motivates me in a meaningful way is the idea that some day someone may find the research I've done helpful to them. Not in the sense of "yeah I got cited again!" but in the sense of some other student or researcher finding what I do useful in her efforts to do something.

Deadlines can help, but not because I'm lazy or a procrastinator, but just because it's almost impossible to make gradual daily progress in a coherent way in my experience--I can and have sat and written 1500 words a day for six weeks while following an outline and found that to have been a colossal waste of time that felt like anything but when I was doing it. It's much more effective, but much more painful, to draft a paragraph a day and then twenty pages overnight as far as getting things into a structure that works. A deadline can do that, even if it's just a personal one or a soft deadline.

[mandarin.orange]

Was blasting Michael Jackson the other day while on the microscope. It really helps. Got some looks, of course.

Man, you guys are really making me miss labwork!

I have a couple terms to go before I get to that point...right now, it's all coursework and reading literature.

[Bimmerman]

Please don't misunderstand the question, I don't mean like, how do you EVER find motivation. But do you ever find an extra spark of "I gotta get down and get stuff done" type of motivation in this? movies? music? some video? reading about someone's autobiography?

Simple. I want to be able to buy Porsche GT3 RS. I can't do that without a big salary from an awesome job, which requires a grad degree.

Whenever I get to the point of not caring anymore, or reminding myself that I already have a degree and that I'm burnt out already, I remember that that Porsche ain't gonna buy itself.

Call me materialistic, haters gonna hate, but it works for me. Find what you really want to do with your grad degree, and use that as your motivation.

Edited October 20, 2011 by Bimmerman

[UnlikelyGrad]

Whenever I get to the point of not caring anymore, or reminding myself that I already have a degree and that I'm burnt out already, I remember that that Porsche ain't gonna buy itself.

Call me materialistic, haters gonna hate, but it works for me. Find what you really want to do with your grad degree, and use that as your motivation.

Nothing wrong with this! (I try not to be materialistic, but I do love fast cars...)

I think you're actually spot on. Sometimes we grad students get so wrapped up in the trivialities of the here and now that we forget to look forward to the exciting things in the future. Future plans can be grandiose ("I will change thousands of young minds when I become a professor!") but they can also be pretty humdrum...for example, I want a bigger house. And I want to travel internationally. And I want a car that has fewer than 170,000 miles on it--bonus if it is a sports car! And clearly, I can't do these things with a grad student stipend.

[StrangeLight]

in the last few months, i've switched to a new method of motivation/productivity, and so far, it's giving me good results. in the past, i would take 2-3 days to do some of my work really thoroughly and then run out of time on other things i needed to accomplish and do rushed, terrible jobs on them. now, i get everything done on time and while i don't do my coursework as thoroughly as i once did, it's still good enough to merit the exact same grades and i have more time to dedicate to research, grant writing, etc. oh, and having a life and some downtime.

basically, i switched from thinking about "time management" ("i'm going to do 10 hours of work today") to "energy management" ("i'm going to finish this book today"). every week, i make a list of all the things i need to get done that week (readings, summaries, essays, making progress on my overview). every evening, i pick one or two tasks to complete the next day, like one book and a summary. i work on those things until they're done, and i tell myself that they HAVE to be done that day. if the book is 600 pages and in another language, then i know at the outset that i will have to skim it and read selectively in order to finish it in one day. if i somehow manage to get my daily tasks done by 3 or 4 pm (which is becoming a regular occurrence) then i take the rest of the day off. i absolutely DO NOT do more work. i enjoy my evening. i grab a beer, watch tv, surf the net, whatever. i know that as long as i complete the daily tasks i set for myself, i will complete my weekly list of work, and i'll be on top of everything.

this change has really helped me stay motivated through my work. for one thing, i love making lists and i get extreme satisfaction with crossing everything off my list. and, by limiting my list-making to one week and setting tasks one day at a time, i actually get the satisfaction of seeing a cleared calendar by the end of the day/week. i used to make semester-long lists of work i had to do, and that just seemed daunting, not satisfying. also, giving myself the permission to relax once my daily work is done, whether it's 9 pm or 2 pm, has also been a great motivator for me, and i'm a huge procrastinator. but, knowing that if i get this done now then i can veg out for a few hours and not stress about it has pushed me through a lot of work i didn't want to do.

[Behavioral]

I work the opposite (but paradoxically a similar) way from StrangeLight:

I like lists, too, but instead of crossing things off, I compile papers I've read, meetings, assignments, etc. throughout the day until I feel like my day was productive. In undergrad, I did exactly what StrangeLight did, but I'm quickly finding out that I always need to do more than what I can jot down on a to-do list, so I just accomplish prioritized tasks first, and then read some papers, work on my lit review, or whatever.

[eco_env]

It's becoming obvious that I need to have very specific items on my to-do list in the beginning of the day to get anything, but that's harder than in undergrad because it's up to me to decide how to write a paper, when to start a research project, etc. It's so hard to go from a big goal- "write a 10 page review paper", for example, to specific to-do items I can get done in one day.

[juilletmercredi]

1. Setting deadlines, and telling those deadlines to other people. Then I feel accountable and guilty if I don't make them.

2. I'm in public health, so reading news stories about the mess health care is in my country helps.

3. Looking at dream jobs. Then realizing that I have to do stuff to get them.