Laziness.
I do stuff now to avoid doing more stuff later.
this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025
35 points (97.3% liked)
Ask Lemmy
36099 readers
1497 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Good point.
IDK. I have an executive function problem so motivation and desire still aren't enough to get me to do anything.
Did you go see a professional about that?
Yeah, but it's a PITA. 6-8 months between appointments and half the time, the doctor has to reschedule when I show up.
If you do find out please let me know
Spite is my biggest driver. If I have a reason to do something out of spite I will not back down
Boredom.
But, really feeling it, not filling the gaps with the easy dopamine hits of information consumption.
lack
As someone who was suicidal as a child and never thought to make it past 18:
I guess I just like living. I like putting the effort and seeing the results, even if it's a lot of effort for just a small payoff. I also like knowing that I matter, and that people around me are happy with my pressence.
I also really like the thought of making a change. Be vocal about my life experiences and maybe changing someone's mind. Swimming backstroke to be true to myself, and making a stance. The normal way is not the only way, you know?
I also adore art. I like connecting to a piece of art, seeing human emotions molded into such a fasinating sound, ambience, coreography, phrase, whatever. Knowing that someone felt something so strong and constant, that they had to rush to create something, and express it, share it with everyone with a tint of creativity, just as I do.
To answer your question, I'm gonna go with: Find something you like, and just keep doing it. I love creative works and human expression, but maybe you like something else. Biology, technology, cooking? Connect with it and start small. A small flower in a pot is enough.
The only way I can now describe how young me felt, is blind. I spiraled into a really awfully negative nihilism after an ugly life event that made me stop believing in God (to this day I consider myself an atheist, and I don't think that's ever gonna change. And I don't want it to change). I thought that life did not have a purpose, that all the suffering and the pain and the bad thoughts were all for nothing, since there was no meaning to it all. My only refuge to the pain was daydreaming about a world in which I was never born, in which I didn't hurt my friends. Everything else, didn't matter. The things that made me happy weren't working.
The years went by, the feeling stayed there. "Why do this, if I'm gonna end up dying anyways?".
But eventually, my vision started changing. Maybe it was just growing up, maybe it was meeting new people that challenged my perspective of the world, maybe it was finding my currently favorite music artist and seeing his journey. My memory is a bit foggy due to all the trauma, sorry. But my vision started going upside down. Suddenly it clicked for me: Life has no meaning, but that's not actually bad. It's freeing, actually. Existence being inherently meaningless meant that I had no greater expectations. If there truly was no meaning, what's stopping me from doing what makes me happy, and just keep doing it? Besides life obligations, I could do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. That's prime environment for experimenting, for discovering myself, and finding my own, small, not cosmic-level meaning that made me wake up every morning: Happiness. I was gonna fight with life so I could get the happiness I deserved, and that's what I'm doing to this day.
I know this answer won't magically cure the depression of everyone reading this. Some people just have fucked up dopamine receptors, some people do cling to religion, some people don't have the amount of freedom in their lives to do what they truly like. But I'm throwing my story here for the chance that it lifts at least one person up, even if that motivations lasts for just the rest of the day.
I also know the future is looking real bad. The things I thought I could be doing 3-4 years ago are off the table. And people seem more hateful with each day passing. That has taken a toll on me. Sometimes I just want to quit. But I'll keep fighting, for the people who cannot.
This mf once walked away so far away from life he ended up getting a bird's eye view of what life really is.
Now dude's giving everyone the Buddha 26.2 public beta patch update.
I needed this today, so thanks!
Maybe I can give you something back as I also look in horror at our world "leaders":
We have been making life better for average people for more than 10,000 years. This, too, shall pass. And those of us who keep trying to make things better for humanity have a long winning record if you look at a big enough picture. Hang in there.
Hunger and money mostly, with the latter as a way to have experiences.
I think you're missing one. Curiosity, if you're romantic. Or dopamine if you're cynical.
We've found that intelligent animals will investigate simple puzzles in a laboratory setting, even when the potential for reward has been removed.
We've also found that if you give people a little puzzle to solve, in the absence of reward, people will attempt to solve it regardless. As soon as you offer to pay them, however, the desire to solve the little puzzle is gone entirely as soon as the money is gone. This was shown in a study where participants were offered a dollar per shape they recreated with blocks. Participants who were offered nothing continued to work even when they were left alone and weren't expected to.
That doesn't explain hobbies.
I lump in hobbies with experiences. The reason for getting money is so I can pursue hobbies and experiences.
This makes a lot of sense.
The fact that I can do something. I have the ability to try. Not that I will always succeed but the simple fact that I am allowed to make an attempt.
My drive typically comes from the satisfaction of making my family/friends happy.
That's good.
But what about making you happy?
Meh, not much about making me happy motivates me. It makes me happy to make others happy.
As long as you don't forget yourself mate..
I wouldn't know
brain chemicals
unable to execute suicide.exe, please contact your administrator survival instincts
thirst for novelty
Gimmie that dopamine.
What motivates someone to regularly work 80+ hour weeks or to create art or to care about other people?
My father is a workaholic, even after retiring he found a couple of jigs to keep him busy almost full time. I tried to get him into videogames after retiring (he used to play a lot of SNES and Sega Genesis back n the day) and he didn't find any joy in it
I hate working, I do it as a means to get money for traveling and for my hobbies and I spend a lot of time playing videogames
So I guess my father gets his dopamine directly from working and I work to get money to fund stuff that give me dopamine
That's how they get their dopamine. I asked my doctor one time if it was true dopamine makes us do the things we do, he said yeah pretty much. You and your brain are two different people. Your brain wants dopamine, you do things that provide it.
In the part of the brain called the basal ganglia, dopamine plays a key role in muscle movement.
The firing of dopamine neurons in the VTA is strongly linked to motivation.
Dopamine is key to the formation of memories, especially those tethered to reward and novelty.
Depends on the thing. Biological imperatives are kinda baked in genetically, for example. And how much "will to power" you have (in a Nietzschean kinda way) about different topics will determine how many fucks to give about any particular thing. There is probably some brain science that can point to particular regions as drivers of this process, which then becomes a mix of genetic predisposition, and also environment/experiences that shape brain development.
But take all of this with a giant grain of salt. These kinds of questions will have shades of an answer from different perspectives: philosophical, scientific, religious, etc. None of them are 100% correct because we still don't even understand consciousness
What percentage of that drive is learned from the enviroment?
Great question!
I have no clue. 🤷
From beyond the grave. Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.