The Case of the Missing Motivation

If you are anything like me, then you want to write a whole lot more than you actually do write. I've spent so much time wishing I had more time and energy to write, then when the opportunity actually comes along, I don't take advantage. I just don't feel like writing and end up reading, watching tv, scrolling reddit, or endlessly prowling the kitchen for snacks.

Now, unfortunately I don't have some magical new way to write that makes it more exciting than any of those activities. See, when you're watching tv—or any of those other activities—you are getting an endless stream of reward (dopamine), and you're getting it for doing...well, basically nothing.

Life Is Like a Video Game

Imagine if you're playing a video game, and on the very first level, sitting right there in the starting room, are a bunch of gleaming golden treasure chests. They're full of the best loot the game has to offer: enchanted weapons and armor; potions, scrolls, and spell books; laser guns and collapsible space ships; everything you would get from spending hours and hours working your way to the final boss.

So, what are you going to do? Dive into the dungeon to start collecting rusty swords and minor health potions? Maybe pick up some fancy weapons and armor and start blazing your way through the dungeon, destroying kobolds, goblins, and orcs, in a single hit. That's...probably going to get old pretty quick. And what would be the point anyway? None of the rewards will be better than what you already have.

This is what we're doing when we do any high-dopamine, low-effort activity. We're giving our brain all the best rewards without asking it to do any of the work to get them. So then, how can we expect our brain to get down to the hard work of writing chapter after chapter with only rusty old swords to reward it?

Well, We Can't

So, we have to make writing the most exciting thing we do that day, not by somehow making writing way more amazing and fun, but by removing all the other activities that are more exciting than writing.

Remove video games, tv, addictive fantasy books (I’m looking at you, progression fantasy),  sugary foods, reddit, and any other something-for-nothing, high-dopamine activity from your day, and your brain is going to be begging for those sweet, sweet dopamine hits from writing the next scene in your book.

So give it a shot, and see how it goes. A great side effect of this strategy is you will have more motivation to do all kinds of low-dopamine, high-effort activities: Cooking, cleaning, exercise, etc. will all suddenly be a lot easier to do, because now your brain actually wants that little hit of reward that comes along with it.

Compromise

And okay, maybe we can’t all just erase the addictive activities in our life on a whim, but try this: get your writing done before you do any of those things. Save the video games until evening, afternoon, whatever you can manage. Whatever you do, don’t do them first thing in the morning, or it can ruin your motivation for the whole day.