How I Learned to WORK HARD with NO MOTIVATION

Summary

The video script explores the complexities of maintaining motivation while learning to code and the importance of discipline over fleeting motivation. It challenges the common belief that motivation is essential for action, arguing that it often leads to short-term gratification rather than long-term success. The speaker suggests strategies to bypass the emotional pull of motivation, such as gamifying the learning process and prioritizing long-term benefits. Additionally, the script highlights the impact of quality sleep on productivity and the role of Sleep A10 earbuds in facilitating a restful environment, even amidst noise.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Start with Lofty Goals: The speaker began learning to code with high aspirations, like getting a great job and switching careers, which eventually materialized.
• 🔍 Realize the Difficulty: As coding progressed, the speaker recognized the challenge of learning to code and the diminishing moments of motivation.
• 🤔 Rethink Motivation: The realization that motivation is fleeting and not a reliable driver for long-term action led to a shift in mindset.
• 🧠 Two Sides of the Brain: The speaker discusses the dichotomy between the short-term, pleasure-seeking side of the brain and the long-term, rational side.
• 💡 Bypass Motivation: Learning to bypass the need for motivation by focusing on the necessary actions to reach goals, regardless of emotional state.
• 🍬 The Danger of Dopamine: Dopamine, a hormone tied to motivation and pleasure, can lead to short-term focus and away from long-term goals.
• 🎮 Gamify Learning: Relating learning to gaming, like earning trophies or achievements, can trick the brain into finding long-term actions pleasurable.
• 🛌 Importance of Sleep: Quality sleep is crucial for productivity and hormone balance, affecting the ability to do hard work.
• 🎧 Sponsored Content: The script includes a sponsored segment about Sleep A10 earbuds, highlighting their noise-canceling and sleep-enhancing features.
• 🔄 Reframe the Process: Focusing on enjoying the process of learning and coding, rather than solely on the end result, can lead to sustainable success.
• 📚 Long-Term Path: The speaker suggests there is a sustainable path from beginner to mastery in coding, which they have shared in another video.

Q & A

What was the initial motivation for the speaker to start learning to code?

The initial motivation for the speaker was to switch careers and get a nice job, which was driven by having lofty goals in mind.

What challenge did the speaker face as they began learning to code?

The speaker faced the challenge of maintaining motivation as they realized how difficult it is to effectively learn to code, leading to less frequent moments of feeling motivated.

Why does the speaker consider motivation to be a bad thing in the context of learning to code?

The speaker considers motivation to be bad because it is an emotion that often leads to short-term actions rather than long-term benefits, and it is unreliable for consistent action.

What is the speaker's view on the role of the brain in motivation and action?

The speaker believes that one side of the brain is driven by emotions and short-term pleasure, while the other side is focused on long-term goals and rational decisions.

How does dopamine play a role in the speaker's perspective on motivation?

Dopamine is described as a powerful hormone for motivation and pleasure, but it is short-term focused and can lead to actions that are not beneficial for long-term goals.

What strategy does the speaker suggest to bypass the emotion of motivation?

The speaker suggests learning to bypass motivation by focusing on long-term gratification and adopting discipline, which involves listening to the rational side of the brain.

How does the speaker relate the process of learning to code to playing video games?

The speaker relates learning to code to video games by treating the learning process like achieving trophies or levels, which can trick the brain into finding the process enjoyable and addictive.

What is the importance of quality sleep according to the speaker?

Quality sleep is crucial for productivity as it affects important hormones and the speaker's ability to perform tasks and maintain discipline the next day.

What product endorsement does the speaker mention in the script?

The speaker endorses the Sleep A10 earbuds by Soundcore, highlighting their noise-canceling technology and suitability for both sleep and daily use.

What additional resources does the speaker offer for learning to code?

The speaker offers a path or template for learning to code from a complete beginner to mastery, along with practical tips for completing online courses.

What is the speaker's final advice on achieving long-term success in learning to code?

The speaker advises to forget about motivation and focus on discipline, gamifying the process, and ensuring a sustainable path for learning to code.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Overcoming the Myth of Motivation

The speaker discusses the misconception that motivation is the key to achieving goals, particularly in learning to code. They initially felt highly motivated by the prospect of a new career but soon realized the difficulty of learning coding. The speaker argues that motivation, being an emotion, is unreliable for consistent action. Instead, they suggest focusing on discipline and long-term benefits, comparing the learning process to bridging a gap between current abilities and goals. They emphasize the need to bypass the short-term emotional brain and listen to the rational side that considers long-term goals, highlighting the role of dopamine in driving short-term desires versus long-term success.

05:00

🎮 Gamifying Discipline for Long-Term Success

The speaker shares personal strategies for maintaining discipline in learning to code by relating it to the addictive nature of video games. They used to be addicted to the sense of progress and achievement in gaming, and they applied this mindset to coding by treating course completions as 'trophies' or 'levels'. This approach helped them to enjoy the process of learning, making it a pursuit in itself rather than just for the end result. The speaker also stresses the importance of quality sleep for productivity, sharing their experience with noise-canceling earbuds that improved their sleep and overall ability to work hard towards their goals.

10:02

🛠️ Building a Path to Mastery in Coding

The speaker provides guidance on how to build a sustainable path from being a complete beginner to mastering coding. They mention creating a template for their own learning path and sharing it with others, along with practical tips on how to effectively complete online courses. The speaker encourages viewers to watch a specific video that provides a detailed blueprint for this learning path, promising that it will be a powerful resource in conjunction with the insights shared in the current video.

Keywords

💡Motivation

Motivation in the video script is described as an emotion that drives one to take action. It is related to the video's theme as the speaker discusses the fallacy of waiting for motivation to act. The speaker argues that motivation is often short-term and misleading, causing one to take fewer actions towards long-term goals. For example, the script mentions that waiting for motivation might lead to only taking 20 out of 10,000 necessary actions.

💡Long-term Goals

Long-term goals are the objectives that one aims to achieve over an extended period. In the context of the video, the speaker contrasts these with the short-term allure of motivation. The script uses the metaphor of a gap between one's current position and their goals, emphasizing the need for consistent action, not just motivation, to bridge this gap.

💡Discipline

Discipline is portrayed as a critical component for achieving long-term success. It is the ability to take consistent action regardless of one's emotional state. The video script suggests that discipline involves listening to the 'rational side of the brain' and focusing on what is best for one's long-term benefit, such as learning to code or pursuing a career change.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is a hormone associated with motivation and pleasure. The script explains that dopamine is a 'potent weapon' used by the brain's emotional side to seek short-term gratification. It is linked to the video's theme by illustrating how dopamine can mislead one from pursuing long-term goals in favor of immediate rewards, such as the pleasure derived from eating sugar or playing video games.

💡Short-term Gratification

Short-term gratification refers to the immediate rewards or pleasures that one seeks. The video script warns against the pursuit of such gratification as it often detracts from achieving long-term goals. It is exemplified in the script by the speaker's addiction to video games and the immediate pleasure derived from collecting trophies and achievements.

💡Long-term Gratification

Long-term gratification is the fulfillment derived from achieving one's long-term objectives. The speaker in the video script encourages shifting focus from immediate pleasures to this form of gratification, suggesting that mastering a difficult skill like coding will lead to greater fulfillment and a better career in the long run.

💡Gamification

Gamification is the application of game-design elements in non-game contexts to make an activity more engaging. In the video script, the speaker uses the concept of gamification to suggest a method for tricking the brain into associating long-term actions with short-term pleasure, like earning trophies in video games, to stay motivated in learning to code.

💡Process

The process refers to the series of actions or steps taken to achieve a goal. The video script emphasizes the importance of enjoying the process itself, rather than focusing solely on the end result. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about the joy of pursuing higher levels in video games, drawing a parallel to the process of learning and mastering coding.

💡Quality Sleep

Quality sleep is essential for productivity and well-being. The video script mentions that poor sleep can lower important hormones and negatively impact one's ability to perform tasks the next day. The speaker shares a personal experience of how noise from flatmates affected their sleep, and how Sleep A10 earbuds helped to improve their sleep quality.

💡Productivity

Productivity is the efficiency of performing tasks or achieving goals. The video script discusses how factors like motivation, discipline, and quality sleep contribute to one's productivity. The speaker suggests that understanding and managing these factors can lead to higher productivity, especially in the pursuit of long-term goals like learning to code.

💡Sustainable Path

A sustainable path refers to a course of action that can be maintained over time without depleting resources or motivation. In the context of the video, the speaker mentions creating and sharing a path for learning to code that is sustainable, guiding viewers from beginner to mastery with practical tips and resources.

Highlights

The speaker started learning to code with motivation fueled by career aspirations but realized the difficulty in maintaining motivation over time.

Motivation is identified as an emotion that can be misleading and not always aligned with long-term goals.

The speaker suggests that relying on motivation is ineffective as it leads to sporadic action rather than consistent progress.

A shift in perspective is proposed, from seeking motivation to adopting discipline and focusing on long-term benefits.

The brain is described as having two sides: one driven by short-term pleasure and the other by long-term rationality.

Dopamine is highlighted as a hormone that can lead to short-term focus rather than long-term success.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of not being controlled by dopamine-driven short-term pleasures.

Learning to code is presented as a long-term pursuit that requires discipline over seeking immediate gratification.

A strategy to gamify the learning process by relating it to earning trophies or achievements is introduced.

The speaker shares personal experiences with video games to illustrate how progress can be addictive and motivating.

The process of learning to code should be enjoyable and not solely focused on the end result.

Forgetting motivation and focusing on the hard work, even when not feeling motivated, is recommended for success.

Quality sleep is identified as crucial for productivity and maintaining the ability to do hard work.

Soundcore Sleep A10 earbuds are introduced as a solution for achieving quality sleep in noisy environments.

The earbuds are praised for their noise-canceling technology and suitability for both sleep and daily use.

The speaker discusses the importance of choosing the right learning path and resources for sustainable progress in coding.

A personal learning path template and practical tips for completing online courses are offered as additional resources.

Transcripts

foreign

started learning to code when I was

first starting learning to code

sometimes I would feel really motivated

to learn something especially in the

beginning I had these ideas in mind

about like I'm gonna get a really nice

job and like all of that switch careers

which did end up happening but at the

beginning it was very easy to be

motivated by this because I just had

these lofty goals in mind but then once

I actually started doing it little by

little I started realizing how difficult

it actually is to effectively learn to

code and little by little there were

less and less of those moments when I

was feeling really motivated and it

became harder and harder to actually get

myself to do the work which I knew I

obviously had to do and so I started

asking myself the question of how can I

get myself to be more motivated so I can

reach all these glossy goals I had in my

much much faster and at some point I

realized that there was a completely

wrong question to be asking motivation

is the thing that most people wait for

before they take any sort of action most

people think that motivation is good

it's something that you want to achieve

something but motivation is actually bad

because what is motivation motivation is

essentially just an emotion it is one

part of your brain that is telling you

what it wants you to do at any given

moment but the problem here is the side

of your brain that's control this

emotion of motivation is not telling you

to do the things that you should

actually be doing for your long-term

benefit the way I think about this is

that you are here and over here are your

goals and in between there is a bunch of

action that needs to be done for you to

get there let's say for the sake of this

example that you need to take 10 000

actions whatever that means to reach

this goal to bridge this Gap but if you

wait for motivation you actually only

end up doing probably like 20 of all of

these actions because the fact is that

you are never going to always be

motivated you're probably only going to

be motivated like 20 of the time which

lead to the fact that you only end up

taking like 20 of the actions that you

need to take so what we need to figure

out is a way for us to do the rest of

this action the rest of these 8 000

actions even when you're not motivated

we need to essentially learn to bypass

this emotion of motivation the best way

to think about it is that the session is

two sides to your brain one half there's

this side of the brain which we'll be

talking about that is controlled by

motivation that's controlled by emotion

and this side of the brain is sort of

evil and pleasure shaking and it always

is just telling you to do the things

that will give you most pleasure at that

particular moment so it's a very short

term focused part of your brain and for

most people this is the side of the

brain that controls pretty much all your

action which is not very good for you

but then you've got this other side of

the brain which is really things about

the long term it's really like the

rational responsible guy who's telling

you what you should actually be doing

rather than what you want to be doing

unfortunately in most people's brain it

is this emotional short-term brain that

is a lot more powerful because they have

a very potent weapon called or dopamine

dopamine is essentially the most

powerful hormone that is in your body in

terms of getting you to do stuff it's

the hormone of motivation and also the

hormone of pleasure the reason we

evolved to have these hormone as humans

because obviously to survive we needed

to be motivated to do certain things

like go punt animals or whatever but in

the modern world things are very

different so that's why dopamine is very

short term focused things that give you

dopamine are things like eating sugar

back in the caveman days if you found

sugar if you found this amazing energies

that was like the best thing in the

world nowadays in the modern world

because of all the abundance we have the

things that give you these dopamine

rushes are not actually what you should

be pursuing all the time so that is why

it's crucial you learn to not be

controlled by the things that give you

dopamine the things that make you feel

good in the moment because if you want

to achieve the long-term success if you

want to learn anything like London code

you can't always just be seeking out

short-term pleasure you need to start

thinking about

long-term pleasure instead now yeah

sometimes the right things will give you

dopamine as well like doing good work

also gives you dopamine and also makes

you feel good but most of the time they

won't because most of the time you

always have some things some actions you

can take that will give you more

pleasure in the moment but these actions

are almost never the actions that will

actually lead to you reaching your goals

reaching your purpose and getting

long-term benefits so that's why you

need to stop listening to these

motivational side of your brain the most

important thing you need to learn is to

stop seeking short-term gratification

and instead start seeking long-term

gratification if you learn to code if

you do it successfully your life will be

so much better in the long term you're

gonna have so much more fulfillment when

you've mastered this really hard skill

and you can do all the cool things that

you can do with it and Pro you will also

have a really great career which will

just generally improve your life in the

long term but to get here you first need

to do the hard work and to adopt this

you need to have a discipline which

essentially just means listening to this

rational side of the brain always

thinking what is the long-term best

thing for me to do right now and if you

can't do this by sheer willpower there's

a couple of sort of tricks that you can

do to try to sort of cheat this pleasure

Seeker short-term brain into thinking

that what your long-term brain is

telling you is actually what will give

you more short-term pleasure as well

when I was young I was addicted to video

games the thing I would always do when I

came home from school was start playing

video games and the particular kinds of

video games I like the most are ones

where you can make progress if any of

you played PlayStation you know like all

the trophies that you can win then at

the end you get the platinum trophy or

whatever I was addicted to collecting

all of these trophies and getting all of

these achievements and just like beating

the hardest levels and all that what I

want you to do and what I did personally

think about learning new things relating

to coding as like getting trophies or

getting achievements or like unlocking

higher levels because when I do this I

find that I can sort of activate this

part of my brain that's addicted to this

progress that's addicted to playing this

game and trying to win it except I can

do it in something useful which is

coding so whenever I am following my

self-talk computer science path for

example whenever I complete a course

it's like I'm completed the level and as

a result I'm now unlocked all these next

level these new more advanced courses

related to that topic for example in

this way almost like trick your brain

become addicted about the fact that

you're trying to win this game of

getting really good at coding not video

science and whatever is playing all

these video games it wasn't always about

the end result because when you win the

game or when you get the end of the

level the news is like okay well what

now I guess I'll just go start the next

game right it was always about the

process it was always about the actual

pursuit of those higher levels not

higher levels in and of themselves if

you can start thinking about the process

of learning to code in this same way

because you're enjoying the process you

actually want to do it that is actually

the only way to sustainably achieve the

level of success that you will need to

like get a good job and a higher salary

or any of those things that you probably

started this process for but most of the

time what you basically need to do is

not even think about motivation at all

to forget motivation and simply do the

hard work even when you don't feel like

it

there's one more thing that's absolutely

crucial for your productivity that most

people neglect and that's getting

quality sleep because lower quality

sleep actually lowers a lot of your

importance hormones like for example

testosterone which makes you less likely

to want to do the hard things that are

necessary and I definitely feel this

whenever I don't sleep well the entire

next day is pretty much wasted my

workouts suck and I just can't get

myself to do the things that I need to

do so I had a bit of a problem when I

moved into this current flat with three

of my friends who I love you guys but

they don't exactly share my sleeping

pattern and they can be very loud in the

times when I actually want to go to

sleep that was until sound core reached

out to me with these the Sleep A10

earbuds they're basically earbuds that

designed with some of the best noise

canceling technology out there the four

point noise masking system can block out

up to 35 decibels of noise which is 15

decibels more than regular sleep earbuds

and exactly what I need to protect my is

from my loud flatmates the Sleep patents

come in this really Sleek case and as

the name suggests they are designed to

be the perfect sleep product blocking

out all unwanted noise and they also

offer unlimited relaxing content through

their app that you can also use to

record your sleep so even if you're in

noisy environments like me your sleep

never has to be compromised their sleep

Focus also shows in their design where

they've accommodated even side sleepers

but making these their smallest earbuds

to that but these are not just for

sleeping and this is the part I was most

surprised about I spent some time

comparing the sound quality of these to

my current airpods Pro and I have to say

that it's actually better and even like

much better especially the bass so I

think I've literally now switched these

as my main day-to-day earbuds so if you

want to start getting quality

uninterrupted sleep or you just want

some really nice earbuds for example to

focus while you're working you can check

out this sound core sleep a tents from

the first line of the description today

thank you for sound call for sponsoring

this part of the video this is all

really powerful stuff like you if you

just manage to internalize what I've

said in this video about becoming

disciplined rather than just thinking

about motivation like doing things to

gamify the process and to actually make

the process more enjoyable where you

don't need to wait to be motivated

because you actually want to do the

action it's really powerful but in order

to apply this obviously you also need to

know actually what you should apply it

to there's so many different courses so

many different resources and I'm sure

you're asking yourself what it's like is

very sustainable path that I can take

from complete beginner into absolute

Mastery I build a path like this for

myself and I share exactly what that

path is there's like a full template

that I share to you that you can just go

and follow as well as the actual

practical tips of how I complete online

courses in this video right here these

two videos together are gonna be super

super powerful I highly recommend you go

watch this video right now after this

one