> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening

Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?

Get out. Play games. Read. Write. Ride a bike. Build something with your hands, with code, whatever. Hit the gym. Cook complicated dishes. Go to restaurants. Join a club and make some friends. Even sleep more.

You need to find what you like to do with your time, and truth is it's probably not what you want it to be. Picking up hobbies and mastering them is what drives a lot of people through life. If that interacts positively with $DAYJOB, that's great but it's rare.

---

Having read some of the other replies now, it's slightly disturbing how many of them draw to one of two conclusions: there's something chemically wrong with you, or you've made a massive mistake in life and you need to immediately change every decision you've made up to this point.

Sometimes life lulls. Unless there is something wrong —and yes professional assessment might help here— making massive and/or pharmacological changes to your life might be worse than just riding it out.

I'd personally just shoot for happy first. Treat this as burnout —as anybody working might call it— and take small corrective measures to improve you. If you need an extension to your studies, you can get an extension to your studies. Life isn't going to leave you behind.

Completely agree with this, getting variety into your day is also really important for your brain to properly rest. I can't remember where, but a few years ago I read that the brain rejuvinates not by doing nothing/sleeping/watching tv but by switching contexts and working on something new.

If you've spent all day in university with a heavy day of lectures (sitting, listening, staring at a screen / whiteboard) you're probably not going feel ready to sit down and crack out an essay or project in the evening. You need to spend some time doing something that takes your mind in a different direction, getting active is a great contrast to lectures for instance.

You need to be well rested for motivation to take hold, and if it doesn't you'll at least be rested enough for discipline to get you going.

>> I've found myself sitting at my desk each evening > > Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?

This is also a really great thing to pick out. I started doing a lot better at university when I treated it as a 9-5/6 thing. I'd spend the day on campus either in lectures or doing assignments. At 6pm at the very latest it was time to do something different. I broke that sometimes if I had a nasty combination of assignments, but on the whole this gave me most of my evenings and weekends back in my final year while doing my dissertation. It was a huge quality of life improvement, far bigger than anything else I did during university.

Disagree. The problem described is lethargy. Probably have to fix the sleep and diet.

I agree with the above advice but it’s not immediately actionable for someone in OPs situation.

You have given a how but it’s hard to do without a why.

Burnout and lethargy are due to both physical and mental health factors that feed into each other.

A two track strategy is needed. First for your physical health

- Increase the amount fresh fruit and veg in your diet. Reduce sugars and carbs.

- Go for a run in the morning get some fresh air.

- Have a nice warm bath before you go to bed have some soothing tea and get good sleep.

This alone will not be enough if you’re seriously burnt out. Next we move to psychological factors

- Introduce noise and variety into the system. This can be as simple as visiting an interesting new place to a full blown crazy experience.

- Start meditating and learn about how to use it to calm your mind.

- Think about the kind of person you want to become and why you want to do it. Your current ideal you and your strategy to go about getting there aren’t working or providing you with satisfaction. Be honest with yourself about where you went wrong, what your strengths are and what you can bring to the world. Once you do this you have a vector pointing all your actions towards a new ideal you informed by your past mistakes.

Your physical health should provide you the foundation to go for it.

Happy to discuss further over email / DM if interested.

In the past day I’ve applied a few of your suggestions and found an improvement. It is amazing how much of a difference meditation and variety have on mental health. Thank you!

Fruit have tons of carb don’t they?

They also have lots of vitamins and nutrients.

This tells the OP what they could be doing instead, but not quite how to get there out of the rut they are in. Apathy or lack of motivation can be difficult to shake. Don't get me wrong-- they are great ideas, it just seems like going from A to C without addressing the issue of a vehicle, B.

An issue here is that the title says "rut", but the description sounds more like apathy. Most of us would interpret "in a rut" to mean being stuck with the same schedule every day and being tired of the schedule, and that's different than not wanting to do anything.

Many of these suggestions, which I endorse, are referencing the description, and the answer to that is simple: Let yourself do nothing"productive". Force it even. Time for a vacation, maybe even a bit of a lengthy one. Your brain and/or body is trying to tell you something. This is basically the final phase before full burnout. Take it seriously.

And sometimes the answer is just to actively do nothing "productive" for a couple of weeks or months. Do nothing until you can't stand it anymore. Very few of us are built to go go go every day for years on end. As much as I like the civilization I live in, no previous civilization in history has even been able to do that much, or expected it of very many people. You aren't a bad person if you just stop for a while.

And if it feels bad... bear in mind, one way or another, you are going to stop. You can stop in a controlled manner, take a break, and come back refreshed and functional, or you can stop when you are a broken human being. We do not generally have a "just push through and don't stop" for this kind of work.

There isn't a specific "middle step B" because the idea here is specifically not to have one.

Agree with above. Not every moment needs to be "productive", its toxic to believe this. If you worked hard at job/school/project all day, you can relax in the evening. Do the above suggestions, surf the web, or just chill. You're mind needs recovery time too.

> Wait, isn't that what daytime is for?

Who would want to sit at a desk when the sun is out? I'd rather be outside.

- Night: Wake up, work until the morning, others are asleep, no distractions. Work gets done a lot faster and you have time for:

- Morning: Sync on anything that requires other people.

- Midday: Go out and enjoy life, so you're physically exhausted and ready to:

- Late afternoon: Sleep.

I’d start with making the bed in the morning with a mindset of mind over matter. It gives the feeling of being in control.

Also, buy a cheap ticket a couple weeks out and fly to a new city for a weekend, if in the US, Austin, New Orleans, or San Juan PR. Stay at a hostel and interact with people having fun.

You make some excellent points! Anecdotally I find getting out of ruts to be more of a muscle you train, rather than a skill you learn. Picking up on when your mind drifts, and figuring out how to get it going again, will take a lot of practise and experience. Exploring life in between our scholarly/work duties seems to me like best way of figuring this out.

These are excellent points. Today I cooked a new dish and found the process remarkably satisfying.

> Life isn't going to leave you behind

Thank you. I guess it’s easy to fall into the habit of focusing solely on the future. I’m going to take your advice and work on things I can change now to start gaining momentum again.

The replies are actually quite disturbing... this all the way!

Lol…yea, same thing happened to a comment I made a few weeks ago. Everyone started talking about all the drugs they take and it’s a chemical thing and that there’s no other hope without them. This is where we are at in this country. Look at all the drug commercials on tv. And then…you know, people against the vaccination drugs but that take tons of others. I’ve given up on people at this point. They are so lost.

Advice to OP. Just do anything besides what you are currently doing and that will change your trajectory. Like try not working at your desk and work somewhere else. Work different hours. Don’t work and do something else. Just don’t do what you’re doing - do one of the infinite amount of things you could do otherwise

>Having read some of the other replies now, it's slightly disturbing how many of them draw to one of two conclusions: there's something chemically wrong with you, or you've made a massive mistake in life and you need to immediately change every decision you've made up to this point.

Yeah I get tired of this response. YOU NEED DRUGS NOW! No, life is often boring and mundane. You will not be happy every second of it, if you were you wouldn't even know what happiness is because it wouldn't stand out. The solution is to force yourself to do something, whether you feel good is irrelevant. Motivation rarely appears on its own, it's a result of action. You do not wait around to feel motivated.

The problem is modern society gives you this option when for centuries waiting to feel some sort of innate internal motivation wasn't an option, you did what you had to for survival whether you felt like it or not.

Oh, I love this question!

And I love when I find myself in situations like this - although it happens more and more rarely as I age.

The answer, of course, is: perspective.

And there are all sorts of ways to shift your perspective, but the general heuristic is to step back, zoom out, and talk to yourself in broader, more generic terms. Details are your enemy when you're in a rut (although they turn into your best friend when you're on a roll!)

Take some time, over a number of days, to consciously and consistently quiet your mind. Just give yourself the luxury for a while to not worry or even think about the details of your situation. Try to find some broad positive themes about life in general. Some things that are, roughly, good. Just stay away from the details.

Take it easy. Disengage for a while and take time to breathe, to walk, to do simple things that are, fundamentally, pleasurable.

It won't take more than a few days to get yourself back on track. Juice will start flowing to you again soon enough. Just don't rush into it, simply let it come on its own terms, whenever it wants.

You'll be fine.

Good advice.

There’s a couple of different kinds of “rut,” though:

1) Ennui

    The project has become a “slog,” and I am tired of the grind.
    This happens pretty much daily, for me.

2) Burnout

    Is this my life? Where did I go wrong? Should I just pack it in?
    This tends to happen as the project nears completion, and I’m “polishing the fenders.” The work is more “rote,” the bugs are harder to find, and I get disgusted, by looking at my code.

If it is #1, then “taking a short break” usually works. I may take a short nap, watch some TV, go out for a meal, play a video game, take a walk, etc. A change of scenery can do wonders.

If it is #2, then I need to take a more significant “break.” I will often find an alternate project to work on. Many folks will take a vacation. Coming back can be difficult, but, once I’m fully engaged, again, I find I am back to full sail.

I tend to work on alternate projects. I find it invigorating, and keeps me “in the swing.” That does not work for many folks, as they need a far more comprehensive “change of scenery.” I know folks that go on wilderness vacations.

I actually did a #2 break, the last couple of days. I have been working on a project for the last year, and we are approaching ship (still a ways off, but we can see it, from here). I was starting to feel quite “burnt.” As you approach “ship,” the work becomes a lot more “picky,” you have to say “no” to other team members, and you start to feel the responsibility, settling on your shoulders.

I took on a Web site project. I’m not a Web designer, by trade, but I do OK. It took me a couple of days.

It was one of those projects, where things had been allowed to “rot,” and I was cleaning up a “mess.” Gave me an excuse to grouse and rant, while I got the site back on its feet. I do a lot of volunteer work.

I’m done, and will be getting back to the main project, now. I’m looking forward to it.

One big problem, is that employers tend to take a dim view of employees “taking a break.” This is especially true of #2.

In that case, you may not have a choice. It can profoundly affect the quality of the deliverable. The employer needs to get with reality. It may not happen; especially if they are “self-made” type As (like many startup founders). Large corporations tend to be better than small shops.

I’m semi-retired. I can do what I want. I did not have that luxury, before.

This is sound advice.

To trigger a change in perspective in me, I start cleaning and organizing. Finishing or closing projects. This brings me back where I started and I can rethink from afar.

Organize.

This applies well to me. However, I was well into adulthood and several ruts before I realized I have an additional weakness: I'm (almost always) unable to change perspective without the help of others.

I don't mean that I need to tell others that I'm in a rut and need perspective change. I need the others – friends and colleagues – to help anchor my perspective to reality (or their reality) by simple having normal interactions with them.

Needless to say, the pandemic has made this hard. And I'm afraid that the older I get, the less I can rely on this very good mechanism I have for perspective change. Any advice?

(A therapist suggested I train my own ability to reality-anchor. It worked a tiny bit, but given enough time I always start doubting my own anchoring, and need peers to reanchor me. I know their view isn't canon either, but it feels objective to me. Mine feels shaky.)

For a self-induced perspective change that may not work for everyone: buy a war-time photography book, the ones with the really nasty gore, and have a two minute look at some of the pictures in the pages.

It's likely you'll physically want to throw up from just looking at the images, and this bodily reaction is for me one of the "deepest" ways of my body physically understanding how good I have it. I haven't had to do this in the last 5 years, and only did this 3 times total.

This can seem like it's wrong, and maybe it is, but it worked for me so maybe it'll work for you.

There's a side benefit to this, I've become more anti-war, which I think is a good quality to have.

This is a good thought and idea. I agree.

We need to step back and feel the bliss of small things that happens around that we miss to notice every day in life.

As it says above, don't put yourself under pressure on doing something. Just try to be aware about the things that you do every day. Taking a bath, having a meal -> Take a deep breathe do it slowly and enjoy it.

Then slowly slowly and eventually, you will come up with new perspective on how to approach life the way you want it to be. You will notice internally when this phase happens. All the very best!

If you're anything like me, or anything like 90% of humanity, you can't rely on motivation to progress in life (whatever your idea of progression is). None of the platitudes or self-help-shaped advice you read here or on Reddit will help you with that. You can't trick yourself.

What works for me is, as much as I don't like the word, discipline. I take an hour every week to review my routine and plans, when I'm inspired and motivated. The rest of the time, when I'm not motivated, I spend executing what I wrote down. In the beginning you will feel miserable, angry, and sad. But after a couple weeks you get used to being your own boss. No matter what you feel (unless you're physically ill), just do what's written down and defer the decision making process (is this what I should be doing) to that planning hour.

I've been using the same technique as you for at least 2 years now, and while I probably do get more done that way, sometimes I feel like it's sapping the life force out of me. Even when what I'm executing is creative, the process makes everything feel robotic. I'm really struggling with that lately.

I know exactly what you are talking about. After following Ultraworking Lights [1] for a couple of months, everything started feeling mechanical for me. So, I've stopped doing it and instead started doing anything I just feel like doing each day. Which comes with its own set of problems.

[1]: https://www.ultraworking.com/lights

The original question was about "how to break out of lethargy", and I think it might work for that. I think some people need "momentum" to get invested into what they want to do; the motivation doesn't come until they're deep into it. But yeah, like you said, it might not be enough in the long run.

It'd be great to be able to buy a pill that instantly turns anyone into a disciplined person.

It's something you can build slowly, and it tends to stick more that way.

Start by committing do doing your thing three times a week for five minutes at a time. Then five times a week. Then fifteen minutes at a time. Then an hour, and so on.

I get your point. But my opinion is that you will benefit more from a method to get things done, than from just waiting for your mood to improve. I rather not take drugs if I don't have a health condition.

That is true, but depending on how you are living your life, being disciplined can be differently challenging.

Just curious, why don’t you like the word discipline? Ut seems to work for you.

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.

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.

Video games, social media, Netflix, screen time, and similar passive activities can zap real life, sociability, and mental health right out of you.

I have electric fruit fly traps that produce blue light. Two flies with one stone. :)

I take a multivitamin, D3 + K2, zinc, magnesium, iron (deficiency), and fish oil. Low T can also cause many problems (a medication I was on caused it). Diet is important too.

Cardio exercise ^ 3.

Video games actually helped me a lot. It is a nice simple distraction and depending on the game, I got a small sense of achievement from it. One of my all time favorites is the portal series. A documentary on netflix that challenged how I think was very nice in helping me use my brain without having to worry about getting charged emotions. HN is the most useful social media sites I use and helps me stay in touch with the current state of technology.

Making screen time a boogeyman is not a useful way to help yourself address underlying issues. People escape using screen time, and in moderation it's healthy. Taking a break isn't bad. Mental health issue cause a drive to escape using technology. It's not the other way around.

Most people in school are young enough where deficiencies aren't a major issue unless they are also restricting their diet due to finances or other issues. Restricting can cause malnutrition but it's far from common. Just having an, on average, well balanced diet is more than enough. If there's a reason to suspect an underlying health condition, talk with a doctor.

I agree that cardio is amazing but other from of sports and activity is great too. Resistance training and yoga are exceptional as well. Archery is one of my favorites. The important thing is time and consistency, so finding and doing a physical activity you like is all that matters.

Getting checked out with a mental healthcare specialist pre-emptively is important. People have a yearly physical, I'd argue a yearly mental health check should be strongly encouraged too.

I'm coming back around to computer games. Short sessions, usually late in the evening is a great stress reliver and an alternative to alcohol for me.

Different types of game can provide different effects.

I don't play anything that's too competitive anymore, as I don't have as much practice time available. I also find solo/cooperative experiences to be more friendly, and less toxic.

Deep Rock Galactic has been great so far. I can go 'hypermode loot goblin' with the Scout, or a more relaxed pace with the other classes.

Exercise. Try daily rigorous cardio workout for 30 minutes a day.

AFAIK the brain releases endorphins or something when you exercise, so you actually get a high out of exercising (in addition to getting fitter).

Do it in the morning so that you'll feel good till noon atleast.

Once you're in a good mood positive things will start happening.

Cheers :)

I exercise regularly for years. Weight lifting, rock climbing, HIIT at home.

I've tried having rigorous trainings in the morning for weeks and the only thing that happens is that I feel tired for the rest of the day.

Only late-night trainings before bed work for me.

Sure. Different things work for different people.

Do what works for you. Cheers mate.

Agreed. People who exercise in the morning are weird.

This has helped me immensely. Nothing crazy, do 5 rounds of squats at your pace, 1 minute a part. Or sit-ups, push-ups, hollow-mans, etc. it wakes me up, and makes me want to work. I’m tired after, but that’s getting better as I get more into shape. Best of luck to all!

> AFAIK the brain releases endorphins or something when you exercise

People tell me this all the time, but when I exercise I just feel tired afterwards?

Maybe it only happens to people who are fit who have a history of exercising regularly?

(Disclaimer: I'm not a fitness expert; I'm just writing my own personal observation).

> People tell me this all the time, but when I exercise I just feel tired afterwards?

Okay, to normalize the discussion, consider stationary biking. For me I get the aforementioned high only when I exercise for atleast 30 minutes.

If I do it for just 20 or 15 minutes (instead of > 30 minutes), then as you said I just feel tired rather than good. I guess there's some threshold before you start feeling good, and this is probably different for different humans. Being the petrolhead that I am, I think of it like a turbo-lag followed by the turbo-kick.

> it only happens to people who are fit

I'm definitely not fit (though I'm not obese either) :)

> who have a history of exercising regularly? No there's a tolerance thing I think, based on what I read in [1]. So in the long run you need to exercise more to get that same level of feeling good.

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3025957/what-happens-to-our-brai... (I don't know whether or not the person who wrote this article is an expert.)

I don't think I've ever noticed this effect. At least, not in the way people lead me to believe it should be felt?

When I get to the gym and throw some iron around, my 'good feels' come from knowing that I got out and got some of my energy worked out, and helped improve my body/got enough exercise for maintenance. I think of it as a pleasure or satisfaction that I derive from knowing that I've done something good for myself, and not so much from the physical act of exercise.

The closest I get to getting endorphins is when I get a new deadlift PR. I get to turn off my brain and (mentally) go 'ooga booga', recruit my entire posterior chain, and put all I've got into it.

But I've also overdone it a few times, and seen stars/had blurry vision/wanted to lay down for a bit after that one rep, so maybe it's just teasing that breakpoint?

(for the record, my current all-time pr is something like 295, but I'm working back up from 275. Not winning any contests lmao)

I have the same issue. So I do it in the evening (even though everyone says not to). Improves my sleep dramatically, and the next day I feel rested (which is not normally always the case)

Of course, don't listen to 120 bpm music to 'energize' you while you do it. And YMMV.

I’m with you in this. I’ve talked to some of my friends about this and it sounds like 5-20% ish of people feel likewise.

To elaborate: I’ve very rarely felt endorphins from exercise. I’m in good shape, I’ve exercised a lot in the past (less so now), I even ran a marathon (not quickly).

After a short workout I do feel more awake and I like the bodily feeling of having exercised, but I’ve rarely felt any endorphin release during exercise which has pushed me forwards.

For example, the marathon I did was pure type 2 fun (fun in retrospect). However most runners I talk to say running is type 1 fun for them (fun at the time). Definitely not for me, it was miserable at the time.

This is one area where humans are quite different, I believe. I feel that I get nothing out of exercising (except becoming better at excersise, which is circular). But others definitely seem to do so, and get anxious if they don't.

I'm like 80% sure there was a study on this and not all people get an endorphin rush from working out.

And some people get a huge rush - these are the people who start to do Ironmans, Triathlons and extreme running (100km+ runs)

Start slow and build a habit.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

OK, this is pretty generic and others have said similar things already, but it helped me before:

- Set a "go-to-bed" alarm. When it rings, wrap up whatever you do and go to bed. Then sleep for 9 hours if you feel the need to.

- No screens nor books or any light in the bedroom when in bed.

- Exercising 20-30 minutes at once every day. A slow job or a fast walk is enough (unless your feel motivated to do more, obviously). Don't overdo it. Do it every day.

- A quick nap after lunch: 15mn with a timer, lay down, close your eyes and stay there.

- When stuck, take a quick walk or walk around the room. Move. Stretch. Don't stay down.

Hopefully this can help you process whatever is troubling you, and prevent your brain from idling on social media.

I was literally in a rut a few days ago. Super lethargic. Didn't want to reply to email, didn't want to make plans for the business...

Then I started surfing amazon books because, you know, anything to procrastinate working.

I came across one of Tim grover's book (Michael Jordan' trainer) and I downloaded the sample to read.

It's a little OOT but something he said rang a bell. He talk about humans overthinking especially in tough situation and gave a pep talk on being relentless. My takeway was "don't think, just do". Suppress the negative voice and just work on it. Nothing is easy. If you want something bad enough, don't think. Just do it.

I think it triggers my inner motivation on why I started my business and being hyper aware of the negative self talk.

So I put myself in robot mode and just started doing things.

I'm not sure how this is healthy for my mental health but it worked.

> So I put myself in robot mode

This is the key insight. A rut is entirely emotional. When you don't want to do something but you need to do it there is an emotional conflict.

Robot mode is not emotionless. It's satisfying a different emotion (fear, anxiety,etc) than desire. It might even be considered a form of bravery. In a crisis situation do you panic or do you 'just start doing things' and help without thinking about it? It's a similar response.

motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going. ;)

Ah, there's a secret, you stop trying. You need to do something difficult, new and unrelated. Cycle to Canada and buy a hot dog. Live off-grid for a week. Take your nephew to Disneyland. Something clearly defined, and a bit nuts. When you return, you'll feel much better.

How does any of that stuff relate to "stop trying"? It seems like doing something completely random out of the blue is the definition of "trying".

Fear sometimes helps. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

More positively, basic life management may provide a way forward. Make a list of all the things that are interesting to you. Whenever you are bored or without direction review the list for opportunities. That may mean entries in the list itself or any entry there. Most of the time there is some avenue for exploration and value generation that you already know has potential and also fits the mood and moment.

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.

Lol at the "just let go" vibe, then a stab of "adderall helps too" at the end.

A synthesis of this mindset plus trying (without unrealistic expectations) to develop good habits as other sibling posts point out is well worth a try. The key phrase I've heard is "committed yet detached". There are some good tools in the box, but no one-size-fits all solution to mental health.

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.

Getting out of a bout of apathy or lack of motivation can be difficult. Sometimes it can slowly go away on it's own, but I have found that it helps to make yourself do things that you don't want to do. You want to get out of the rut, so use that little bit of motivation to force yourself into doing things you may not otherwise want to do.

Options are fewer with COVID limiting social interactions, but within your own risk tolerance, force yourself to do something social, even if if you're going to be bored and uninterested. The change of scenery alone can help shake your mind out of its pattern.

Or if you can't bring yourself to that point, take your laptop-- or just your phone if your computer isn't a laptop-- to another location and do there whatever you would have done sitting at your desk. That can be as small a change as another room in your home, or the lobby/commons if you're in a dorm, whatever other location you have available.

The main goal is to gradually introduce changes to your current routine. It's not a silver bullet fix, but it's a small step that can help you get started.

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.

I would add to this: (1) make sure you're getting enough/regular sleep, (2) work on your mental state (there are many ways to do this, but meditation is one way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3XUee3-meA )

I am regularly frozen in place by these.

Here is the only solution that works for me: ignore the big picture unless your heart is clearly telling you that you are in the wrong place. The big picture is a mosaic of smaller pictures.

1) Focus on one small thing you can do right now that you can complete before you next feel the urge to, just as an example off the top of my head, play WEC Le Mans on an emulated Amstrad CPC again despite it having no productive benefit.

2) If you're not getting _anything_ of your many tasks done, it kind of doesn't matter much if the "one small thing" isn't from your most urgent project; any work is progress out of the rut.

3) at the same time, if there is one thing causing you major anxiety, address it productively, even if that means acknowledging that you are delaying it and someone else is a better fit. Sooner or later if you delay it too long it'll be taken out of your hands anyway.

This is only what I noticed about myself: the first step to getting out of a rut seems to be... taking any first step.

What I mean is: usually when I end up in a rut, it's because I had been getting into one for a while and only finally noticed. At that point, the rut is usually starting to get baked into a daily/weekly habit. To get out of it means refocusing on things that matter to me: fulfilling personal relationships, family, personal health/growth, intellectual curiosity, and career growth, not in any particular order, and usually I have a decent idea of where to start, but the rut keeps me from starting.

So getting out of the rut involves taking that first step. The second step becomes easier, then the third becomes easier, and so on. It takes extra willpower but I find that it works as long as I remind myself it's worth it.

Everyone's situation is a little different so you'll need to decide for yourself if this applies.

When I get into weird unproductive spirals I'm often sitting with the anxiety that I should be doing something else, the burn 6 hours doing nothing with that my anxiety over my shoulder. And do it again. And again.

My advice for that? Give yourself real time off. If you can, like a week with explicitly no goals. No plans. No anything.

If you can, avoid any reddit/twitter/yt doomscrolling if you're prone to that.

Because we're trying to get bored again.

Like super bored. Like sincerely board af. Not just tired or out of ideas what to do.

Get bored af like little kids do.

Hopefully you'll find old interests a little fresher and newer after that. Give yourself space to feel that spark of interest and excitement.

Once someone told me to do this exercise to find meaning:

Write a Meaningful Obituary of yourself. You just died. Old age. Your life was an absolute success in all the aspects you care the most. You had all your virtues shining and dominated all your vices and you write about why and how that happened through your life. You write this as the voice of the interviewer even asking details to you "afterlife-self" that is full of joy of leaving Earth in a loving state and peace of mind.

From time to time you can use that to remind yourself of what's really important or re-write the exercise as you mature psychologically as time goes by (your present self might care most about different things that your future self 2 decades from now).

My take is this:

1. Have long term goals, so you always have something to do to reach them.

2. Embrace the rut. Understand that we people are not machines that can efficiently run our program 24/7 and reach a goal. Some times you get bored and demotivated. Accept it, don't be hard on yourself. Play a game, have a beer with a friend, pick up something new, lie in your bed and stare at the ceiling. It will pass sooner or later.

Prescription stimulants. That's not good advice though.

Better advice is to look within yourself, figure out what you really know you should be doing, and go do that instead of whatever it is you're not motivated to do. Figure out what matters to you, find like-minded people, and the motivation will reverberate between you and your chosen community.

At least, that's what the successful people I know do.

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.

"The next layer of your unfolding purpose may make itself clear immediately. More often, however, it does not. After completing one layer of purpose, you might not know what to do with your life. You know that the old project is over for you, but you are not sure of what is next. At this point, you must wait for a vision. There is no way to rush this process. You may need to get an intermediary job to hold you over until the next layer of purpose makes itself clear. Or, perhaps you have enough money to simply wait. But in any case, it is important to open yourself to a vision of what is next. You stay open to a vision of your deeper purpose by not filling your time with distractions. Don’t watch TV or play computer games. Don’t go out drinking beer with your friends every night or start dating a bunch of women. Simply wait. You may wish to go on a retreat in a remote area and be by yourself. Whatever it is you decide to do, consciously keep yourself open and available to receiving a vision of what is next. It will come. When it comes, it usually won’t be a detailed vision. You will probably have a sense of what direction to move in, but the practical steps might not make themselves clear. When the impulse begins to arise, act on it. Don’t wait for the details. Learn by trial and error what it is you are to do.

[...]

And then, one day, a few years later, it is finished. This layer has dissolved. And the cycle begins again, and again, until you have penetrated all the layers into your deepest purpose. Then, you act fully, until that purpose, too, is dissolved in the bliss of the love that you are."

— David Deida

If you're looking for a list of concrete steps, this has worked pretty well for me:

1.) Identify an area of your life you want to improve. It can be anything, but it should be something you can see meaningful progress towards over the length of a year.

2.) Create or join a 'community' of people online who have insights into this area. For me, this means finding a stream of content though Youtube videos and podcasts, as well as a couple of subject-specific subreddits.

3.) Going forward, the majority of your passive content consumption should come from this 'community'. This will a.) give you enough of an overview on the subject to let you know if it's something you really want to pursue, b.) show you where to find step by step instructions on how to succeed in this area, and c.) provide meaningful involvement levels and time frames, so you have an understanding of how much effort and how long it will take to make progress.

4.) From there, set aside two to three months and start implementing whatever it is you think you need to do to see improvement. These two to three months aren't about making progress, but trying to find the unknown unknowns that get in your way.

5.) Then, create a long term goal, a series of sub goals (if you need to), and a list of daily activities or habits that will make meaningful progress. Implement these, and don't stop.

What you'll find is that improving your life in one area, such as fitness, will improve your life in a lot of other areas, including your academics.

If you want more information on self improvement, I strongly recommend Optimize.me, which has a lot of excellent content and is completely free.

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.

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.

I have exactly the same thing, gain a few small victories to increase my morale and gather a bit of momentum. I know people warn against this because it can result in perpetually avoiding the bigger items, but I haven't suffered from this.

When I could chose I would take care of smaller, easier exams first and then focus on big one. Some collogues of mine did the opposite, first they took car of the hard exams and then do the small ones.

I don't know if you came across this [1]: "If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.

By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.

If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right."

This kid of encapsulates what I do.

[1] https://alcalde.texasexes.org/2014/05/mcraven-to-grads-to-ch...

Usual culprit - your brain's dopamine circuits are fried by your daily activities like endless phone browsing, video games etc.

Cut down on dopamine junk and you'll find motivation without any effort.

Two things really help me:

1) acknowledging that deciding to watch a movie in the background, or be "kept company" by anything distractingly visual on a second screen, is a subconscious avoidance of the thing you aren't focussing on. Admit it, move on. In reality, I don't believe it is possible to work and watch a second screen. Work and listen to music or the radio? Yes, absolutely.

2) centralise your distractions. You're going to be distracted anyway, so as far as possible choose one thing to be distracted by; something that has its own inherent limits. If you're going to doom-scroll, try a set of interesting RSS feeds instead.

Mastering the subconscious is definitely a top trait for attention management / discipline and quality of life in general.

I noticed this pattern not too long ago: was reading a technical book, felt compelled to drop it and browse Twitter or similar. I "dug" into my head internally to find out a reason why (much like you do in meditation) - I wasn't tired or bored, the book was interesting and I didn't really want to quit it - and I simply couldn't rationalize a reason. It was purely a dopamine-driven habit which I was simply not in control of, it was automatic.

You hear a lot of talk how humans are just as programmable as anything else, and that was one of my personal come-to-Jesus moments.

Is there any evidence to this? Why is browsing the internet so bad for motivation?

By now it's fairly well known the most addictive apps & sites exploit your dopamine system to keep you hooked in:

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones...

There is lots of good stuff in here. I have battled acedia on and off for my whole life, and am going through it right now. I like St. John Cassian’s teachings, personally, and always find when I am given the impulse to return to them, my acedia goes away. He prescribes prayer and manual labor (not exercise, go fix, plant, or build something with your hands!). If prayer is difficult or objectionable to you, you might find some form of mindfulness helpful.

More from St. John Cassian on the “noonday devil”:

https://www.pathsoflove.com/acedia/cassian-acedia.html

Hope you feel better.

EDIT: Also, sometimes you are just tired and need a break. You know your situation best.

Sign up for Meetup and go and do something completely different and random outside your comfort zone, usual location and contacts.

That and exercise. A walk is good enough.

I'm 23, so I'm likely less wise than many commenters, so grain of salt!

I used to worry a lot about this, but over the time I noticed that I should expect to have slumps and peaks! It would be pretty unnatural to expect my performance to be completely consistent with no variance! Now when I'm in a slump, I know that I will eventually get out of it and that I shouldn't let it bother me too much. As long as the overall trajectory is upwards, I worry less about the monthly variance.

I have also worked out some fundamentals I always try to meet. Exercise, good sleep and a healthy diet are constants for me that I don't compromise on. I expect to slowly add more to this list as I grow older.

I feel like this when I spend too much time in front of a screen. I just go outside and walk. Even 15 minutes helps. After two weeks, I miss going outside if I don't do it. These days, I walk closer to 60-75 minutes daily.

For me there is one thing that works so much better than anything else: new goals. To the end of my PhD, that meant to just suckt it up and finish the work despite low motivation and frankly also workweeks far below 40h.

Later in life, motivation came naturally, I worked more and I am really happy with the outcomes. Sorry, that this is no advice that is immediately helpful, but I hope that it can be reassuring that streaks of low motivation as a student are kind of "normal" and not necessarily something that needs complex solutions.

I agree with this! Honestly, I felt a lot of the same emotions op felt the week or two after exams finished or when large projects wrapped up. To me, the sudden drop of going from 100% on and focused on accomplishing a goal to having it all finished was huge impact on my motivation. Finding a new goal helped to bring me back out of that low.

I set 10-year goals.

When I'm working on day-to-day things, thinking about the next three month project, sometimes I feel "this is completely pointless" and "why are they paying me to do this?" That's when I look at my goal and, hopefully, understand what it does for my bigger picture. My current goal feels awkward and completely "not me." But there's no question in my mind I can pull it off, and if I do, I'll be proud of the accomplishment. It will have meant something to me. The fact that I had a plan will also make it a good story to tell; from idea to completion (or failure).

I'm sure you're already able to get comfort (if not motivation) in the day-to-day by looking at the three month level (a course). You may be looking at the annual level to understand the courses (a program or degree). The question is how this degree ties into your life, at decade level. Education is just a stepping stone to building or researching new things. So how does what you currently do fit into your picture of life? What does it enable you to do? Who will it allow you to meet? Where will it take you?

And then... Never tell anyone about this goal. Don't put that pressure on yourself. The goal is for you, and you alone. You can come up with variations or tangents to tell people, if you think you can't keep quiet. I often tell friends about my 2-5 year plans, and previous 10 year plans. Those plans don't really matter to me. But my current 10-year plan is mine.

I get into ruts like this several times a year. Luckily with age I learned that before i start questioning myself too deeply I try these things first.

- Try going to bed early every night for a week. Going to bed early simply means early enough so you can wake up at 7.30 in the morning without the need of an alarm. - Find a form of exercise you like and do the absolute minimal amount of it needed to get some noticeable positive benefit. I have done 20k runs at a decent pace at various occasions, but I find that I can get 90% of the health benefit by doing a light 20m jog. The trick is making it so untaxing, and so easy to simply do that you can manage to do it repeatedly without relying on too much motivation or inner drive. - Try and give some extra attention to what you ingest into your body. Make some time to cook a meal for yourself (and some friends) and enjoy it. - Spend some time thinking about the things you take pleasure in and engage in those things. Have a glass of wine, smoke a cigarette and find someone interesting to talk to, put some music on, whatever it is just don't overthink it al so much.

With some time you might find you forgot all about this rut, and if it persists, maybe it's true you are not pursuing the right things, but hey that's also just part of the journey of life and you are a student so you should be examining these things right now.

Small victories.

Start with the smallest, simplest task you can complete. The endorphins from that you apply to the next small job and so on. Ideally each of these small tasks move you a tiny step towards your end goal(s).

The idea is to create and maintain a positive flow / momentum. If you stumble step back to something smaller and regain momentum. The difference with discipline (also a valuable trait) is that a good flow makes you _want_ instead of _need_, a more positive and less stressful mindset.

> with no motivation to do anything

Do you have some sort of goal in mind? I guess if you're asking this question, probably not? Then set some, just for the heck of it. Last year, I was in a similar situation, and somehow I began setting goals for each week: these goals are not result-oriented but process-oriented (I call it a success as long as I spend x amount of time on it); I'd also have a single goal that I'll target to achieve at any reasonable cost. I think the artificial feedback loop (simple goal, goal that I force myself to achieve at any cost, journaling down) made me feel good about myself, probably trained my goal-setting/motivation muscle that has long atrophied.

Another thing I want to mention is that in the book Mindset, the author mentioned that what separates the academic outcomes of students with mild depression is whether they continued with their daily routine or not. I've found this to be profoundly influential for me personally: I'd force myself to complete the actions that I normally did when I'm at better states, and when I feel happy and accomplished, I'd write down what I did, which has served as a tremendously useful source of energy (mostly for self-affirmation) and benchmark when I'm sad.

Finally, it's best that one never enters into such a rut state and it's worse if one stays in it for a long time (since I recall there are many studies showing that long-term stress causes physiological damages that are hard to repair). Therefore, I'd try to self-monitor for the behavioral changes that might signal I'm about to enter into rut, and kick off the prevention strategies.

YMMV but what helped me during studies was for example to watch my favorite series and at least have the open book in front of me and eventually go into it. Also if there is any lengthy stuff you need to learn (I mean weeks or months) it might help to start with the most interesting yet possibly completely irrelevant and way over the top part. Other popular tips I used to hear from others include studying at night. Oh yes and some structure helps, I mean having a high-level learning plan that helps you slice your tasks and days. Also for practically every exam I used to write myself self-written summaries of the material. (5-30 pages depending on how lengthy/difficult it was; using colors can help as well for particularly boring stuff that boils down to memorizing) Not sure if it's an option but finding for a particular exam (if it's more than a month of learning) a study partner is also great help because you can keep each other motivated and try to explain to the other. (That requires actually understanding the stuff...) Personally I also skipped most of the lectures which were not mandatory for me and instead only went only to the practical lessons where we had to present our exercises.

I assume that otherwise you feel none health-related issues, and it's just the "work-mode" that's affected. I also assume, that it's not a personal discipline issue, that is you usually have no problem following your own plans to completion.

Have you tried just letting yourself not doing it (whatever kept you at the desk) for some defined time (a day/week)? If this is affordable (wrt deadlines or income), then after awhile you may get bored with the not-doing and may feel the draw to get back to work on it again (thanks, the personal discipline).

Another thing I'd try would be to see if there's some subject blocker there, either specific to what you currently study or more general to the direction of your studies.

It may help just to talk to fellow students about a course/topic, or to a prof, even TA at the tutoring sesssion about your thoughts re direction of studies. Most people have had this sort of blockers at some point in life, different experiences, different solutions, but common feeling at the time.

And, of course, a universal advice. Get in tune with your animal nature - sleep well, eat well, take walks outside (rain or shine), use your body as designed, the mind will recharge!

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.

---

i. https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Recognizing the state is probably the most important skill to get good at. Whether it's from long term burnout or just a short term lethargy, you should practice acknowledging it instead of just wallowing in it.

My computer is a gateway into another world of positivity some days, and a self imposed prison on other days. But you can't solve computer burnout at the computer, so stand up, detach yourself from it, get some breathing room to regroup.

After that I usually go work on a physical project, go for a walk, go for a ride, be outdoors or if that's not possible be physical in some way, like a makers hobby. Weight training is a great option for indoors too.

Burnout can be related to overworking, but it can also be related to not being stimulated enough by your work, a long term anxiousness built up from all your time being spent on something that doesn't satisfy you. It's worth trying to identify and solve the cause of the burnout rather than just working around it.

Take a beat and write it down. You can try journaling or even brainstorming about the way you feel on a scrap piece of paper, and follow those threads out, unraveling it all out, asking yourself about the things you'd like to be doing that'd give you that sense of satisfaction. Whatever sparks your interest from those threads and scratches that itch, write it down in a checklist.

Start small. Prioritize your list by the least amount of time needed, and start checking items off it, get the ball rolling with tasks that will take 5-10 minutes. Motivation is something you build through friction. Find that friction in the journaling/brainstorming and by knocking out tiny tasks.

And most importantly, recognize that motivation is a wave. Being at 100% is not sustainable or desirable. Enjoy the lows, and wait for that new wave coming soon over the horizon. Good luck and take care of yourself.

Hi, this trick works well for me : tell yourself you're only going to start on the task and work for 5 minutes, and after that, you'll be free to give up and walk away. You'll find yourself working on it an hour later (hopefully) :-) Because often, it's starting the task that's the big issue.

I'm probably in the same situation as you are. This (1) really helped me out. The title on r/videos (2) reads: 1 hour lecture by renowned Professor on Procrastination: He claims if you know how it works, you won't ever do it anymore. Thought this might be helpful considering how many people here suffer from procrastination

(1) https://youtu.be/mhFQA998WiA (2) https://old.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/87s036/1_hour_lectu...

EDIT: Added link to the post which may have a few useful user comments

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.

Do something you enjoy, you need to feel better in order to be productive.

For me (typical overworker) lifting weights, binge watching anime, vaping weed, baking bread, dating girls and playing videogames all helped me to escape depression at some point in life.

The same things could cause you to become depressed, so understand when it's time to stop or put them in the background.

Besides plenty of leisure time, do the bare minimum you need to survive in your professional / academical career while you fix yourself and keep a physical exercise routine so you don't end up physically unhealthy.

Don't fix it with antidepressants; sure they may help temporarily but an addiction is the last thing you need.

Long, leisurely walks helps me break monotony. I literally wander aimlessly, both physically and mentally, observing nature, things, people, vehicles, whatever as I walk. No cell phone and no other artificial sensory inputs (e.g., ear pods/songs) except for those I encounter.

It is absolutely fine to be not motivated for long periods of time. IMO it is brain's way of telling you take it easy for a few weeks/months.

As you slow down you may get some sparks here and there that you may want to explore. It's OK if they are totally unrelated to your work. Explore those random alleyways, you never know where'll they take you.

I feel buddy. I have been there before. The one "trick" that has helped me tremendously: I force myself to to work on something just little bit. A tiny bit and then built on that. 10min, 15min a day. Just get a bit going.

What used to work for me: a military deployment to a combat location. The environment is completely different and there is pressure to perform but that pressure is immediate and real opposed to self inflicted inefficiencies in the corporate world as a programmer. You want to graduate from a keyboard warrior to an actual people manager doing meaningful work that does it.

But… you can only do that so many times. Eventually you will conquer those performance pressures as well and need something more. I used to dread boredom and the slow pace of other peoples inefficiencies but now I find comfort appreciating the relaxed life.

Try making this change incrementally. Set a very small goal for the first week. For example you could start forcing to sit at your desk for 5/10 minutes with no distractions and start small just making a list of what you should do. Give you a small goal after you managed to sit down. Slowly increase the time and start doing some exercise. Walk everyday of you can't do anything else. Walk a lot with no distractions, no phone/music, just the environment and your mind. Try to stick to a routine every day if possible. And then slowly increase those minutes at your desk every day.

Lots of good advise here, one more thing: Check your Vitamin D level.

A friend of mine did try to get herself out. Then a psychiatrist. She checked the Vitamin D. Vitamin D was added. "Rut" was solved after about 2 weeks.

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.

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.

The positive effects of psychedelics are exaggerated and is similar to using a blowtorch to remove weeds from your front lawn. Additionally set and setting are important, you'll get the most out of them when you're in a position to not need them and are just exploring life. Having expectations about what they may do will make it easier to fall into a negative spiral.

The studied therapeutic use of psychedelics always requires a therapist to help someone in a positive way. Generally recommending to take drugs recklessly in the way you have is irresponsible. If it's someone's first time and they go in blind without without a guide, it's reckless.

Additionally, going to a therapist will also help you see things differently. Drugs aren't required.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried psychedelics? Don't mean to imply that you are fully wrong in what you said, I just want to further know your perspective on it so I can reply based on that.

Let's just say I am very drug positive and believe in decriminalization of everything and legalization of everything non habit forming.

Psychedelics are powerful drugs. It's hard to know if someone can help themselves out of a bad trip or if they will spiral further. It's hard to know how much the people around them can help if things become difficult. They don't always change your perspective in a positive way. I am not saying the drugs are the reason for anything bad, but they do amplify what is already there.

I think you would agree that there are some people who shouldn't take psychedelics at a certain moment. Mindset in my opinion is much much more important than setting.

Psychedelics can easily become an escape and a way to avoid your real life and responsibilities. That's my main concern and why I am against recommending them generally to a reader of HN I don't know personally. Especially when it's someone questioning motivation and not something more existential.

I can expect an average reader of HN to do research. But I doubt most people find the answer to their lethargy in psychedelics. I don't think it should be anywhere closer to an initial response to what the author is describing.

I would argue psychedelics are most mentally expanding when the user doesn't feel a strong need to take them.

So im going to safely infer that you haven't done them.

Your argument boils down to "psychs can be dangerous, therefore some people shouldn't do them", which is a non statement, because this applies to so many other things, including certain vitamins for people with certain conditions.

Furthermore, when you talk about ambiguous terms like "can", you have to talk about some general sense of numeric probabilities of risk to be consistent with how you make decisions in day to day life. You definitely CAN get into a massive life destroying accident when you drive you car, but you chose to still drive because the benefit of efficient location change is worth it to you.

So for psychedelics solely based on research studies, here is what he currently know as far as benefits (im not going to link the papers, they are pretty easy to find though)

- Majority of people report positive effects in general.

- Majority of adults in studies who micro dose report anti-anxiety and anti-depression effects, and at those dosages, there is absolutely no reality altering experience

- In certain studies, a single dose can have lasting anti-anxiety/anti-depression effects for years, as well as evidence of breaking habits for other drugs like smoking/alcohol.

- Physiologically, the drugs are anti-addictive. Frequent use has exponentially diminishing effects. Furthermore, large dissociative trips aren't exactly a positive experience, they are mentally challenging and exhausting, so people are unlikely to use it as an escape mechanism.

- Physiologically, the drugs are very safe, no long term physical side effects. Of course there is a danger present if you buy synthesized LSD that is contaminated/cut with something, but for psilocybin, you grow the mushrooms yourself, and if you are buying them from somewhere, they really can't be cut with anything since they are not synthesized.

As far as dangers go

- Very rare cases of HPPD, usually associated with heavy repeated use

- Generally just a bad time for the duration of the trip (even on high dosages), no long lasting effects. Bad trips end being just bad experiences.

- Secondary derivative dangers from behavior resulting in disassociation due to large dosages, such as tripping/falling, e.t.c.

And thats pretty much it. Even for people with psychosis/schitzophrenia, the general recommendation is to avoid them, because there isn't enough data.

So if you look at all of that in terms of reward/risk, and do the same reward/risk for coffee, psychedelics are even better for you. With coffee, you can drink too much and become jittery and have a bad time, and it can be dangerous for people with heart problems, but for the average person, the benefits are generally positive (except caffeine is chemically addictive, unlike psychedelics)

Nobody is saying that you should do large doses off the bat either, its completely fine to do micro or mini doses, where you can feel the effects but still very much conscious and aware of reality.

So yes, I agree that some people shouldn't take psychedelics. I also agree that some people shouldn't drink coffee. For the majority of the population though, I absolutely believe that everyone who isn't psychotic/schizophrenic should try them, in whatever dose they feel comfortable doing. Not because of my personal experience, but because of the high statistical chance of a good experience, with downsides being very low risk.

This is exactly what I do. I recently had a really awful rut that didn’t end until after I dropped acid. I don’t do enough to get hallucinations but it really does help break me out of whatever pattern of thinking / behavior I’ve gotten stuck in.

I actually completely forgot about how much it helps me until I did it again that last time, and it gave me the strength to completely change my life around. I’m sure everyone’s experience is different though and if it isn’t proven in countless journal articles or endorsed by enough VCs, I don’t think the majority of this site would want to try it out.

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.

Because you’re a student: join a sports club.

Exercise cured SOOOOOO much.

Now, if you’re a little older and have some money you can do what I did: hire a personal trainer. The social part is important. The returns to this investment are obvious. Do it even if you are already athletic.

If you don’t have money and can’t join a sports club—rearrange your room, set it up for yoga. I also did this. If you’re really really bad, try DDPY. They even have a bed workout!

And if you can / need—do all three! I’ve actually sort of done all 3 over the past year and I feel so much better. :)

Go for a walk. Watch a whole sunset. Don't punish yourself for "being unproductive". The modern world is INSANELY complicated. Process your feelings. Notice your emotions.

Discipline works best for me. Moving weights or cardio exercises also does wonders - even short trainings with ring fit (I'm talking 15-20 mins) can make a difference.

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.

One thing worth mention is you should block all the easy options (social media, video, games) at morning/afternoon. For me once I do those easy things at morning they seem to stuck at working memory for long to hurt my whole day concentration. I allow those easy options at dinner time as a small reward and block them again at 21:00 to 23:30.

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.

Give in to some procrastination. Whatever thing it is that’s pulling your attention away, just go all in on it. YouTube? Fine. Video games? Fine. (As long as it’s not really physically self destructive..)

  Just scratch the itch.  You can even ban studying or work or whatever you are supposed to do for a few days.

After a while you will start to feel some ambition returning.

I always thought that motivation leads to action. But it's actually the other way round: Action leads to motivation which then leads to more action. So just do anything to get started, and then the motivation from doing something will hopefully kick in.

A rut is a vicious cycle, and the only way out it is to actively break it by doing something that goes against it.

Agree. Choose an action with a predictable achievable outcome. The example I read on HN a while back was going in to the backyard and shoveling a big whole and then closing it again. Totally pointless but rewarding. I don't have a backyard, so I do the dishes. Find out what works for you :)

.bg has a proverb: "when the cart turns wheels up, many roads are there.."

it's good because it is two-sided, like reality. While usualy only left-to-right a-then-b is assumed.. but there is the other way too, b-to-a, as it's about equivalence.

(so if you want many roads, ..)

There are not so many of these, i had some idea of collecting them..

Like "One is always learning while alive"

but.. Never did.

assuming you like your line of work, here are few things that have worked for me

1) hand off your current tasks to someone else and take theirs 2) help out with other things (depends on your employer). if you are a programmer try helping QA, write documentation, help marketing, etc. 3) try breaking up work into very small chunks. Do a chunk and reward yourself

Do the things that give you joy in life and stop worrying about the grind.

Travel, go camping, join a meet up group, go to the pub, etc.

You might be able to find something which provides motivation - e.g. if you're studying French you could go and visit France, if you're doing software development, you could buy a few single board computers and muck about with them.

Combination of 2 things:

A) Memories. Review your life and things you liked to do when you were young. Are you the person you thought you would be?

B) Deaths. I think of people close to me who have passed on. This reminds me our time is limited and shouldn't be wasted.

Sounds like you no longer want to be a student. That's OK. You can always come back to school later.

This used to work for me when I was younger so take it with a grain of salt. Try watching motivational videos from Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Les Brown or read self-help books like Think and Growth Rich or The Greatest Saleman in the World. They can motivate you long enough to start things but their effect diminishes with time.

Write things down.

Any time you think of something that you wish to do or something you'd want to explore, write it down somewhere so you can come back to it. This might be a notepad, back of your hand, or your phone; it does not matter.

The next time you feel lethargic, look at that list and see if there is anything you'd like to do off of it.

Working out is something that has helped me tremendously whenever I have fallen into periods where I have had little motivation.

Also, building a strong consistent routine with periodic habits (working out, cooking, gardening, others mentioned elsewhere or whatever suits your fancy) will go a long way.

Easier said than done, but the desk is no place for the evening. Take a walk. We got a dog, I hated it but now that I regularly walk I do really feel better. But it takes a while, it's like a diet for the mind, takes will power and the reward is not immediate. But stick to it.

Wild idea, but consider a psychedelic drug like LSD or magic mushrooms. They are a nice way to think different for a short period of time, and afterwards it's great to reflect. Do research before you try of course, so you know what it's all about. Practice safely.

Do you have a car? Try driving in one direction for about 50 miles, then driving back. If you come across a gas station or a tourist trap once you're nearly 50 miles out, stop there for a bit. It's not exactly a vacation, but it at least breaks routine.

There might not be any issue, but since it's wasn't brought up, I'll add that you might want to ask your doctor if running a quick blood check for iron might be a good idea. It's probaly nothing, but low iron levels can make you very tired.

Exercise, even just walking. Do it in a chain of 7 days in a row. It makes a huge difference.

I like to make lists of things I need and want to get done. Just in a tiny notebook I keep with me. Anytime I think of something I write it down. Then later when I’m sitting around unproductive I look at it and find something that I feel like doing.

Unless you have to, as in work or an exam, focus in something else for a while. Or better, just don´t focus in anything at all. Do whatever you please at the moment. Take a mental holiday. Recharge your batteries. What´s the worst that can happen?

Excercise. First of all. Hour each day.

Also, Lists. No joke.

When your dopamine and serotonin are shot.

Write out where you want to go.

Then break that down further and further until you have actionable lists.

Then just follow those lists.

Takes the dopamine and serotonin right out of the equation and turns the things you need to do into habit.

Leaving your usual context (work setting) and maybe getting some fresh air while doing so worked for me. Buying a bicycle and regularly taking some short-ish tours around my neighbourhood/city feels really nice.

The best way for me is to fill my life with other things. Social events (virtual or not), sports (even just the gym), reading, hobbies... Then life becomes easier and ideas and motivation flows again.

Bring yourself to do something first, then the energy and motivation comes.

As for what, something novel. Go someplace you haven't been, read something you haven't read, do something you haven't done.

The most actionable suggestion I can make is to go run or lift weights, unless you have some medical condition. It will improve well being and you will regain the desire to study or work.

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/

Sleep more at night time. Go running. Start a side project, preferably something with easy to achieve, yet rewarding steps. Work with it hour or 2 per day, just for pleasure.

You have to consistently want to get out of the rut long enough to climb out. This length of time is (at least) proportional to the extent of the rut itself.

Could this be seasonal (assuming you're in the Northern hemisphere)? Try a session on a sunbed, see if it makes a difference.

Start by doing positive things in small amounts each day - for me, making music and exercising. It adds up

Magic mushrooms. Exercise. A good sleeping routine. Elimination of negativity from ones life.

Start going to the gym and make sure you do cardio

Have you considered asking your GP about ADHD?

I'm not sure there's a silver bullet, it's a lot of small things that add up to a meaningful life. So my advice would be to look at the small things, and it takes time, you can't change everything at once.

For me, physical health is important (and for everyone really), if you're not physically healthy, you can't enjoy life. There are a lot of aspects to this, exercise, daylight, nutrition, sleep, stress, fun (which contributes to stress-reduction). There are a lot of different things you can do there, and it takes some experimentation to find out what works for you.

Then in the same way, you can look at career, relationships, what you do with your leisure time. My general point is, it's an accretion of small changes, changes in behaviour, that add up and compound, not one big 'eureka' moment.

In terms of general direction. There was a book I enjoyed recently, 'The Van Gogh Blues - The Creative Person's Path Through Depression' by Eric Maisel. Maisel's idea is that depression can come from a lack of meaning in your life, and that creative people are more susceptible to this than others, because by nature, they seek meaning more.

He had one exercise in the book, which was to write down what constitutes meaning for you, a kind of a personal manifesto in a way. It doesn't need to take long, I thought about it for 15 or 20 minutes. And for me it was generally: learning/growing, relationships with friends & family, having time to relax & reflect, and not being afraid to do hard things.

This helped clarify my thinking. After doing that exercise, I could think, 'How does this activity fit into what constitutes meaning for me?'. So for example, I could ask myself 'Am I going to play some computer games?'. And I would reflect and say 'this doesn't really serve any of my criteria for meaning, so may not be a beneficial activity'. I find this useful in general, in our capitalist society that seems to want to push us all the time to fairly mindless, unchallenging experiences that don't provide long-term meaning.

The nice thing about Maisel's idea is that it's subjective, meaning for you could be a bit different, but it helps to define it.

To be honest, the best advice you could receive will probably come from yourself. You alone know the details of your life. You alone have access to your mind, your emotions, your worries, your insecurities. You'll get out of this rut so long as you believe it's enough just to do it however you want, in your own way.

That all said... :)

Put down the phone. Close the laptop. Turn off spotify. Stare at the ceiling for 2-35 minutes with as little possible external stimulation. Listen to what's already being planned inside of your head. Unsuppress the background thoughts. You'll quickly find there's a lot of advice in there.. I've found that being intentional about doing nothing usually leads to something.

Here's a neat little algorithm to get some insight: maybe ask, "in the past, why did I feel motivation whatsoever?" Write down your answer. Then ask (like an annoying kid) "why?" to the answer you gave. Do this 7 times until you come up with an ultimate explanation - it'll probably be far removed from the first - which is a great thing!

Let's face it - you probably already know exactly what to do, have spent countless hours already worrying about your lack of motivation. Since worrying = thinking + pressure, you're already probably off to a great start to your personal solution! Many times in life the answer was sitting in front of your face all along.

Seems you need reassurance that maybe you don't have to keep avoiding the work, because it's not that scary after all. That said it's ok for it to feel daunting. For quite a few people, college really is.

Maybe external help is good too. Maybe there are people (who are already in your life) who will make things a lot easier for you but the only reason you aren't getting help from them is probably something like "since I haven't done it yet, it's too late to start!" which is often false :)

For instance, a professor who would - if only you'd just send a tiny 2-sentence email conveying "I just don't know where to start" - would give you the answers. Within reasonable academic integrity limits, lol.

Or maybe you have ADHD and are overwhelmed by the disconnect between how easy it is to set super high expectations for yourself but not really get invested if it's not interesting unless there's urgency? Real high expectations, and then getting caught in a cycle of disappointment and self-guilt-tripping. Maybe, maybe not, I don't know your life as well as you do :)

Oh! And one more thing.. the room you're in will change what you want to do. Library, cafe, blanket on the grass in a park. Move your body and your mind will follow.

The same way you go to the moon.

Easiest way: Change environment.

Maximize sunlight exposure

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 seriously becoming a detriment to your everyday function. Generally, for students, there's a mental healthcare provider you can access for free. It doesn't have to be therapy or even an ongoing thing, it could just be a visit to sit and talk to someone for an hour and have them help you figure out what's going on. Taking care of yourself means getting yourself checked out by a professional. They get paid to help you out. If you are feeling sick and it's not really getting better, you go to a doctor and they tell you if it'll go away on its own or if there's something more to be worried about. The same is true for mental health, but not everyone see it without stigma. It's your body and life, you don't need to care about what other people will think about it.

If you're in a place where access to professional is limited, there's a youtube channel I recommend Dr K. He's a Psychiatrist who did his residency at Harvard. He talks to online to popular streamers and gamers and his open discussions helped some of my friends change their perspective on what addressing mental health concerns means.

3 Motivation Styles determined by Personality by Dr. K https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRWX21lW_bU is a good video I would recommend for anyone in your position.

Helping myself physically helped me mentally. And that's good because I didn't have to think much to help myself physically, because of where I was starting, just moving at all was a good accomplishment.

I hope that helps, I know everyone says exercise but, to me, it lacks meaningfulness when it's not explained. Good luck.

b vitamins

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.