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Eleftheria Batsou
Eleftheria Batsou

Posted on • Originally published at eleftheriabatsou.hashnode.dev

[35+5] Ideas to keep yourself motivated

Many people have asked me how do I keep myself motivated regarding coding/learning. For me, it's the passion of getting better and better, I'm not a perfectionist but I hate mediocracy. So when I think about that I can move on... Of course, not all days are the same. Some days I'm more hyped, I believe I can do everything, and other days I'm extremely low (and slow).

Motivation can be different for everyone. Remember though that motivation is not enough, you need dedication. That's how you'll make those dreams come true.

Many people can have a different opinion than mine and that's 100% ok, hence I asked my lovely friends on Twitter their opinion and I got some great answers😊.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

— Eleftheria Batsou (@BatsouElef) February 5, 2021

Family

  • "I love what I do, but I go through phases where I really don't feel like doing anything. During those times, my family keeps me motivated. I grew up broke, but my kids have it very good in terms of lifestyle. I don't want them to grow up as I did." - Brad Traversy
  • "Family for me too. I'm just trying to be a good example for my kids. Knowing that they depend on me and are watching my example is all I need. If I'm having doubts I write out my "why" and put it on the bathroom mirror or desk just to remind myself what it's all for." - Rod
  • "...now that I have little boys, I'm motivated daily to work hard so that they can have what more than they need!" - Kory
  • "Looking at the photos of my family. It kicks in the don't-give-up mode always..."
  • "Watching my mother every day.. reminds me that i don't wanna loose her at any cost.."

And much more ideas

  • "Seeing all dev on Twitter making amazing stuff so they boost my morale to do anything" - Manthan Patel.
  • Learning something new.
  • Getting away from negative people.
  • Tracking time.
  • My future self.
  • Talking with friends and family about my concerns. Start from zero if I have to.
  • Chatting with people on LinkedIn, Twitter, reading success stories.
  • Share your goals and journey here or even with a smaller group of friends; this helps you to feel accountable to stay on track.
  • Start thinking bout the final results
  • Remembering how it felt to live in poverty.
  • When you don't feel like doing anything it means you're either really tired or not doing something your heart and soul really want you to do. Even something outside of your norm, like doing something new for someone, something novel and new for them too.
  • Be yourself.
  • By working everyday, trying to move forward every day. Movement creates motivation. When you've got that momentum, and feel like keep doing more, that's the motivation for me.
  • By clearly visualising what will happen after I achieve my goal. For example, my goal is to spend my winters in warm climate countries, such as SE Asia. That keeps me motivated to keep learning to code (plus many other reasons to learn it, of course)
  • By putting new challenges every day (big or small).
  • By breaking down daily goals in smaller chunks and owning them. After a few wins momentum will catch up
  • By pretending the outside world isn't the way it is and focusing on what the virtual world can bring you.
  • By putting unhealthy amounts of pressure on myself.
  • I keep reminding myself that this life is once...only once, and I have limited time, need to do everything within this. So, motivation for me is to see ppl's happiness...by becoming something first myself and then help ppl to live their life in a better way:)
  • I take it one day at a time. Organizing helps me a lot to stay focused and motivated.
  • I set targets and give myself a reward if I reach that outcome, like my apple watch was a reward for losing 15lbs.
  • I just do what I want to do until I get bored, and then switch to coding
  • Whenever I feel demotivated I start looking for suggestions and advice from those people who are relevant to me in terms of my domain circle(software development)
  • When I dream I'm Tony Stark and when I woke up don't know how to create a switch with a LED. So that motivates me to work hard every day.
  • Mostly by pretending I'm making progress!
  • Music, motivational videos, books, walks, workouts, fresh air.
  • Money...

And some answers that made me laugh, but I really felt what they meant:

  • Looking at my crypto losses that keeps me going
  • How my landlord look at me every time
  • I need to eat
  • Victory ice cream is waiting in the freezer
  • My motivation usually depends on StackOverflow, GitHub, etc. As long as these sites have solutions for my problems, I stay motivated.

To conclude the top 5 most common and powerful answers are:

  1. Family
  2. Money
  3. Getting away from a toxic environment
  4. Setting up goals
  5. Learning something new

How do you stay motivated?


👋Hello, I'm Eleftheria, a front-end developer, master student, freelancer, public speaker, and chocolate lover.

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