You will have moments where the motivation is high, you have the wind at your back, the sun is out, you are making great progress, you’re feeling great.

You will have moments where there is no motivation, the wind is blowing in your face, it’s pouring rain, you are moving backwards, you’re feeling hopeless.

The latter are the moments that define your journey. They are the moments that cause you to quit if you aren’t focused on the larger goal.

How do I motivate myself to pursue (some goal) rather than (some other goal), given (current state) over (timeframe)?

How do I motivate myself to pursue learning software development rather than playing video games?

How do I motivate myself to pursue financial freedom rather than happiness?

How do I motivate myself to pursue writing this book rather than spending my free time dissociating on social media?


Truly connect with what you are doing. have fun doing it. anything can be made into a game. Each step will be progressively harder, like a video game. Don't try to beat level 10 on day one. Start with the tutorial level. but as you improve and you will improve quickly at the beginning, you will reach a point where the novelty wears off and you need to find fun ways to keep the motivation up, make it as fun as possible to practice.

Why I wanted the job at Amazon

A Higher-Order Approach to Motivation