I can't get myself to do work

I have issues getting myself to do any work for example personal coding projects or anything related to school like homework or studding. I find myself getting distracted by things like my phone but even if i remove all distractions I would rather lay on the floor and waste time then do any work. The only things that really worked for me so for are: 1. Desperation For example someone gave me 50 bucks to do a website for a school project that was due the next day and I didn't want to scam him and ruin my reputation or a exam that would get me kicked out of the school if I failed. For both of those cases I managed to stay up all night and get the work done. 2. Energy drinks After consuming 2 or more energy drinks it felt like I entered some sort of flow state. I could just sit down and study or code for a few hours but apparently energy drinks are very unhealthy and I don't want to spend so much money on junk food. I tried caffeine powder but it's not as effective because that's not everything they put in energy drinks. Coming down from the caffeine high isn't great either because i feel even less productive as before I consumed any. If you have any tips for me I would really appreciate it because it's really impacting me and I even feel like wasting so much time is kinda ruining my life.

I forgot to mention it in the post but it's really about anything hard or that requires effort

- changes of environment - irl social interaction - health and fitness...especially fitness and motion - to a lesser degree inspiration concerning the caffeine, make the investment and switch to coffee. it will save you far more money. whatever you do don't do drugs. limit yourself to the coffee i am a person with a tremendous amount of energy, and at times a lot of motivation but i have trouble actually calming myself and focusing on one thing usually when you are sedentary what you can produce is lessened but when you are not sedentary it is easier and you have more energy to do things...i think that's how it works at least however we live in a culture which tries to train us and reinforce the idea of "work, work, work, work" and while it is good to be industrious, i this sort of lifestyle is not necessarily in alignment with human nature. these are just my opinions

usually the most powerful factors of motivation is getting out and about doing things like interacting with your community and social interaction as well...we tend to evaluate ourselves through social interaction and often other people being involved in your life can motivate you i feel it would also be helpful to include time management and doing things in small pieces, one piece at a time

>>97053 >I find myself getting distracted by things like my phone Uninstall unnecessary app frontends for websites and never save logins. This is more secure and makes you more conscientious (can't just tap bird and doomscroll). >but even if i remove all distractions I would rather lay on the floor and waste time then do any work You aren't spending enough time laying on the floor then. Rest and boredom are necessary to figure out what you need to do. Other Lainons recommended socializing and exercise, but we are just guessing what you aren't doing (only you know what you are/aren't doing) >Coming down from the caffeine high isn't great either because i feel even less productive as before I consumed any I drink 1 energy drink (200mg) when I wake up. The amount of caffeine per day and per sitting matters a lot. You can only do a maximum of 400mg per day and I personally would limit limit intake to 200mg per sitting. If you crash too early then split the intake across smaller drinks. Don't try to avoid getting tired at the end of the day with energy drinks. Sleep is a lot more important for energy. >apparently energy drinks are very unhealthy and I don't want to spend so much money on junk food Yeah caffeine isn't good for you, but kicking the habbit can cause more harm sometimes. I remember a thread from a long time ago saying that the "kaf" in soykaf is caffeine.

>>97053 I used to sleep on a sofa and it wasn't very good but I had no idea how impactful it is to sleep on a basic foldable sofa instead of a bed with orthopedic matress This being said, 1 simple question. Do you sleep on a "regular" bed or not?

>>97053 1. Turn your phone off (not just the ringer, physically turn the power off) and put it away, preferably in another room, while you have work to do. 2. Switch to coffee or tea. Energy drinks are insanely unhealthy and they taste like soykaf, to boot. 3. Get enough sleep at night - don't use your phone at all in bed. 4. Get fresh air, exercise, shower every morning, and all that. 5. Be cognizant of what you have to do and why you have to do it, even if it's as simple as "if I don't do this I'll fail this course." Write a to-do list and keep it somewhere in-reach and in sight.

If exerting effort is that hard for you, how did you learn to code at all?

>just read the greentext parts for my direct tl;dr straight to point response, read the rest only if you want soykafty anecdotal and metaphorical evidence As someone who received a bunch of money from a relative I hardly knew, It was only then I began working. Your desire to do nothing is perfectly understandable because in this system you cant truly understand what you want to do until you are free from coerced labor. I know this is presumptious but you arent lazy, you just dont know what you want. Its actually a very elite select few that truly want to do nothing all day, maybe it is you but its not likely. Its even still a select few who want to just play video games or watch tv or do drugs. It seems like a lot because a majority of people who do these things "all day" work the rest and have had to work forever and they know on some level that if instead of watching greys anatomy and looking forward to that after work they sat in silence they might have a breakdown and be unable to fathom working again. And if they have families or anyone that depends on them they know this could ruin everything, it really could. Im not advocating for it, its true that if you come back from work and NEED a beer, and you werent an alcoholic before getting a few years into your job, that you probably would have a mental breakdown if you quit (and didnt just substitute it with a more acceptable hobby). Desperation or self medicating is how almost everyone stays in the 9-5 grind especially right now. When you take away the desperation (and this is mostly anecdotal but I havent only observed it in me) people get lazy for a moment and then turn their sights on what truly interests them, the problem is it isnt always something valuable or that produces capital. And thats increasingly true as the range of jobs a person could even be hired for shrink and shrink. Some would argue this has been true for a hundred years (in america) and even a job someone would be passionate about can't be when its under a corporation or larger business. Alienation of labour as im sure you have heard marxists say. However not that im opposed to it I dont think marx has the answers, even many conservatives or alt righters can understand or agree with alienation of labour and yet no revolution has come, its not coming. Understanding didnt break us free, look at yourself you arent calling for revolution you are saying how the fuarrrk can i be productive. And thats what everyone is asking even the diehard socialists who think it is coming, your question remains valid and mostly unanswered by me still , its the question everyone asks themselves. What and how can I do something that capitalism values without living a dispassionate life. You can try some of these - arbitrarily pick whatever job will allow you to live and change your entire mindset and values to view it as a crucial integral important thing. - same as above but abuse drugs or have something to look forward to at home to get through the day. - develop a passion for pure self interest or rid yourself of any moral qualms and decide its every man for themselves and thats just life, come to actually enjoy the process of scamming for social security checks, lying in interviews, faking refunds for free soykaf, holding up the grocery line couponing, landlording, etc. - get really good at being homeless, a crafty homeless person never lives a boring life and sometimes it doesnt even have to be a lonely one. last but not least and maybe this is sort of radically wrong to say is that I think you and many here have a passion for socializing and making connections, its just been severely stunted by the internet and times we live in. you would do anything to make and keep a friend, girlfriend, whatever. Its so common because for people to want to work they have to have a community to work for, otherwise its just hunter gathering. Some of you guys have no community you have a simulation for one, some of you like me back then may only want a job at the moment because you dont want to die alone not because you want money. People who truly dont care about this dont often have the trouble you describe even if they have convinced themselves they dont care and are fine being a neet. We all see isolated NEETdom as a tragedy or reactionarily some of us decide its ideal as a push back against the fact we all see it as a tragedy. Bottom line is the default is its a tragedy, and it wouldn't be if it was some great inherent mental disparity that made these people "just happy to not do anything or have anyone", a neet would just be seen like someone with downs syndrome in that case. Im assuming a lot you havent said, you never said you had trouble socializing, but I noticed in your plans to work and be motivated its all internal and thats why I assume because you also say you dont want to work. Your plans are missing "dont be motivated and just charm my way up the ladder or to good things" or "being motivated for someone else, slaving away for my girlfriend or sick parents or whatever". This is the zeitgeist behind looksmaxxing only they dont want to admit it to themselves so instead we get a weird almost religious cult dedicated to hitting yourself in various ways to ascend. You don't need to be conventionally attractive, a little analogy; we have all seen a big fat guy or women (and one built brickish instead of villendorfian) who knows everyone and everyone greets with a big smile and touch and hugs and noise. Being a fat little kid in america at least creates a hunger for validation and approval and love. Many, especially men, go about this all wrong later on (when they have that experience of being the fat little kid), they think to be loved in this world and climb the social ladder (and thus the job ladder) they need to get thin and work out. This would be the right answer in a non capitalist survival of the fittest reality, and it certainly can't hurt in this one to lose the weight. Whats more important though in this actual reality is to keep the metaphorical weight and instead weaponize your insecurities and need for validation it created to do anything in your power to make a good impression and be someone others need. Someone like this doesn't worry if they "arent being themselves" they will go from being horrified at their body in the mirror and crying looking at the scale paralyzed with anxiety to later that night chatting up a complete stranger at the bar and dragging said stranger to the dancefloor and dancing and yelling and hyping up their friends. Thinking you are not capable of this because you arent attractive or arent good at socializing is a cope, desiring and craving social interaction and community and to be seen and validation hurts and it hurts because you do want it, so by convincing yourself you don't the pain can go away. However its still always there and when suppressed it manifests most frequently, look around you, in apathy and inability to motivate. Again assuming a lot but this is the biggest actual reason I notice you and others here can not motivate. And we can take the desire to be social in some form out of the equation even (its usually that though), what im saying here ive been saying the whole post in vapid drawn out examples and ways. Im gonna greentext this so someone can skip over my bullshit. >A lack of motivation or ability to work is a lack of desire. No one here lacks desire even the anhedonics. You likely have a problem of suppressing what you actually desire, its going to be whatever you convince yourself "just isnt you/for you". When you suppress what you desire most its only natural that there is no will to do anything because any other desire is lesser, and if you were able to ignore what you desire most than your brain is obviously not going to be very motivated or willing to enter a flow state for these substitutes for that desire. I say substitutes because as kids whatever creates a troubling feeling in us that we cant deal with first is where that troubling feeling lies forever and every new time it arises after its a reminder or substitute or signifier of that first time. Sometimes it can replace that first time subjectively, your beloved cat dies when you are 5 and then your mom dies at 10, mom dying is now the new prime source you would point to as "where your inability to handle the grief" began. However if we assume both incidents were traumatic and you couldnt deal with it as a kid, this isnt true, its a substitute that "makes more sense" is more acceptable. Your cat dying would still be where your uncopeable grief began. Desire stems from these moments, blocking them away also kills the desire. If you block out the feeling of hunger because you cant handle it sure maybe you dont feel hungry eventually but yet you still starve all the same and not only thay but you will still try to feed said hunger only in ways that arent effective (praying, smoking, stimulants, etc.). Some monks might disagree, those monks either eventually go back to eating or they dont live here in this system and they live somewhere where the dead have value still like a monastery and so starving yourself to saintdom is the work and desire. > so think really hard about what was your most painful moment that never really resolved, it might just be being an isolated kid in suburbia it doesnt have to be a lightning strike. Think about what you do when you "laze around all day" and either what its really trying to fulfill OR what painful thoughts and feelings its trying to distract you from. Think about when you first felt those thoughts and feelings, what went missing, and how you get it back.

>>97063 >3. Get enough sleep at night - don't use your phone at all in bed. I'd like to report I failed to take my own advice last night and as a result, got like no fuarrrking sleep >_<

>>97076 I have a funny piece of advice for you. 1. You get an additional cheap cellphone with broken wifi or removed browsers. 2. As for your main cellphone, modern Android has a "do not disturb" on schedule setting. Long press the Do Not Disturb button ant it'll open some settings including this one. Use basic 22:00-7:00 or something to disable notifications. 3. Take your cheap celly from step 1 and throw a bunch of saved cool stuff on it. Hot stuff maybe, You'll get some pleasant feelings from handling your faves yet you'l;l get de-dopamined to fall asleep. 4. ?????? 5. GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE 6. Oh. You probably need to add a long rope to your "offline smartphone" so you won't lose your cellphone deep in your bed.

>>97059 Uninstall unnecessary app frontends for websites ^what does this mean and how do we do it? >>97147 lol wtf

>>97066 I learned when browsing imageboard to ignore all posts that are oftentimes sort, but sometimes long, and get a soykafton of replies or have 2x2chan terminology. If a post is well-thought of, people will probably not have a reason to reply to it and correct it, they'll just quietly acknowledge it. Or maybe they are more likely to skim threads such as this and long texts tire them, so whenever a certain reply has 8 replies, that catches their attention, and they read it because they want to know what's all the fuss about. I dunno what goes on in their heads. But your post classifies as the latter (well-thought-of) category and I must say thanks a lot. I'm not the OP, but this is a very thought provoking response and I must inform you it's been useful to me, as someone who can only get motivated to do things when desperation or another's expectations loom above me. This line in particular spoke to me: >A lack of motivation or ability to work is a lack of desire. No one here lacks desire even the anhedonics. You likely have a problem of suppressing what you actually desire, its going to be whatever you convince yourself "just isnt you/for you". When you suppress what you desire most its only natural that there is no will to do anything because any other desire is lesser, and if you were able to ignore what you desire most than your brain is obviously not going to be very motivated or willing to enter a flow state for these substitutes for that desire. > so think really hard about what was your most painful moment that never really resolved, it might just be being an isolated kid in suburbia it doesnt have to be a lightning strike. Think about what you do when you "laze around all day" and either what its really trying to fulfill OR what painful thoughts and feelings its trying to distract you from. Think about when you first felt those thoughts and feelings, what went missing, and how you get it back. Anyways, Freud gets soykaf in for his theories, but some of them make a lot of sense to me (and so do Jung's), particularly those involving the collective unconsious, dreams and neuroses. By identifying the actual root cause of the neurosis and uncovering hidden memories, one can finally be free of it. For instance, I had a schizo belief about the nature of the universe that'd keep me up at night and cause distress and I was trying to find why it arose. Relating to your hunger and grief example, I thought it was due to some existentialist movies I saw when I was younger or some paranormal experiences, and for a long time I thought that was indeed the case, but the neurosis only resolved and I was "free" when I realized it was due to something I saw on the internet and parroted. There might be cases where you finally identify the root of your problems but they don't instantly resolve, however. Like you said and like OP said, a lot of people only have external motivation to do things (ie needing a community), so OP creating intristic motivation to do things is the way to solve his problems. An anecdote... I thought it was unfair that people were paid to do work but not to do homework or housework. And why did I have to go 6 hours at school and then do stuff at home too outside of my "shift" when I was 14. So I refused to do housework and homework, and I'd tell my parents if they paid me I would do it. And they didn't even have to me feed or cloth me, I'd tell them I could do it myself with the money they gave me and even pay rent so I'll get ready for the adult word. I could understand that food, a house and clothes are just the surface of what an adult has to deal with, but that's why I proposed they only give me small amounts and I'll only cover those specific needs myself while they cover any medical bills, home repairs, taxes or whatever adults did. And I told them it would never get so bad to the point where they'd be charged for neglect, cus I would deal with the consequences of my own actions and if for instance I wasted time and did no work, I'd just choose to skip new clothes altogether, mend the old ones, get cheaper food, etc. I couldn't understand why exactly they refused (and even now I consider my own proposal very persuasive) but it probably has to do with the fact that education is something that you do for your own benefit, like going to the gym, you are the one who benefits from a clean house. They probably wanted to say "You shouldn't 'love' this homework, but you should see myself as a person who is capable and wants a good life, so you will do it because it aligns with who you want to be". Intrinsic motivation requires a sense of autonomy, you can't have it for a task you feel is being coerced. I only ended up liking homework when I CHOSE to go to a university that actually fulfilled me. So for instance OP might subconsciously feel like group project are a chore, perhaps they should rethink their major (you gotta be over 18 to post here) and do something they ACTUALLY desire. I still don't like washing the dishes so I got a dishwasher. And I pay someone to clean my house with the money I earn. So there are always workarounds.