Feeling uninspired and unmotivated

[wakeupdead]

Feeling unispired to do my work (i.e read a book on C++ and one on electronics) that I had immense interest in till a week back. I took a break for a week, and now getting back seems impossible.

How to get over this?

What do you do when you feel uninspired or unmotivated?

 

[phyzguy]

I find that if I do things that I enjoy, eventually the motivation returns. Go for a hike, ride a bike, or whatever you enjoy. In a few days to a week, I feel like studying again. If you push yourself to do things you don't feel like doing, it is usually counter-productive (at least for me).

 

[barryj]

When it comes to learning a new programming language, I get motivated when I find a project that I want to do and this forces me to learn the language. For example..

Being a frustrated musician, many, many years ago I wanted to make a programmable drum sequence machine and a midi recorder (if you know what this is). At that time, there was no such thing although there are many on the market now. So I decided to learn C as a way to implement my project. Today, I want to learn Java and Python but I do not have a focus or project that seems interesting so I have not as yet learned these languages. On the other hand, I just bought an Android smart-phone. Now, I am inclined to learn to program it although I still don't have a good focus.

 

[cgk]

Almost all interesting or important problems involve *lots* of work which is utterly non-interesting and non-important.

The trick is not motivate yourself for these parts. The trick is to do what needs to be done even if unmotivated.

 

[MarneMath]

You force yourself to do it. Motivation comes and goes and can never be relied upon. When you need to do something, you just force yourself to do it until it's done. Fortunately though, motivation can come back, usually happens when you come across something interesting. I often like to read a technical book and think about how I can apply the topics to my current work or previous work or think about work it can be applied too. Thus that knowledge becomes immediately useful this more motivational.