What motivates you?

May 23, 2007 4:28 PM

I just successfully reached a life-long goal of earning a doctorate. While this has been an exciting and fulfilling process, I am now feeling somewhat lost. In about three months I start with a new job/program. Until then all my days and nights are free. I'm quitting smoking and starting back at the gym. I'd love to lose ten pounds or more and read some great books. While all this sounds great on paper, getting motivated and into action is entirely different. What are the things that get you motivated, moving, and out of the house (ideas, books, songs, etc.)?
posted by contog to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

I just took a semester off of college in order to transfer and I have had the saaaaame problem. I have found that the only way I can make my day productive is to schedule something with friends early in the morning. Brunch is great, cause it gets you fed, happy and free to do all the things you need to for the rest of the day.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 4:48 PM on May 23, 2007

Goals, man, goals. Join a gym. Go there at the same time everyday. No matter what. Work out on a cardio machine with a solid metric (miles, calories, whatever). Weigh in when you arrive. Work out. Weigh out when you leave. Watch yourself get faster and lose weight. Takes time. Be patient. You'll see progress everyday (well, every fourth day). Fuck diets. They don't work. You'll feel great in a month, or your money back. Repeat.
posted by MarshallPoe at 4:52 PM on May 23, 2007

Hey, you just completed a task which requires an amazing level of self-motivation! After I finished my Ph.D., I took the same approach to fun as I did to work-- research what you want to do (in my case, take up archery), research the tools you need to do this (which bow is better? Where do I take lessons?) and then apply your analytic skills toward learning/doing it. Set a schedule for yourself, just like you did when you were writing.

I found when I did that I sometimes "blew off" my archery for something even more entertaining. Imagine that-- blowing off fun for more fun.

Congrats and enjoy!
posted by oflinkey at 4:54 PM on May 23, 2007

Concentrate on the things that make you special and capitalise on them.

Find your voice.
posted by chuckdarwin at 5:00 PM on May 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Start preparing for your job. If it's an academic job, you are just starting up a much higher mountain than your PhD has been. Get your courses in order, if it's your first time teaching. And write as much as you can, because you'll be amazed at how much time you no longer have to read and write once you start teaching.

I've been out of grad school more than a decade. As hard as it seemed at the time, I look back on it as a golden age of freedom to create and think and read whatever I was interested in. It will never be the same again. Take a deep breath, have some fun, give yourself credit for the accomplishment, and then get your nose right back on the grindstone.
posted by spitbull at 5:05 PM on May 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

Attempt something completely beyond your ken.
Snorkeling. Toastmasters. Ikebana.
Reinvent yourself!
And my biggest congrats on your degree!
posted by Dizzy at 7:35 PM on May 23, 2007

Congratulations on the PhD! I also find myself feeling the same way after finishing a big project, kind of a missing limb feeling after being focussed on one thing. Seen as you have just finished a PhD however surely you have a pile of data/ideas that can be converted into academic papers. that way someone might actually read the stuff that's gone into your doctorate, plus it will be useful on your CV. Try and get yourself back into the rhythm you set up for yourself whle finishing the doctorate, though you don't need to be as hardcore, allow yourself a little more time off. There's another question up the page from yours which shows how flogged with work you are going to be in your first year if you get an academic job, get a head start now, but allow yourself some relaxation too.
posted by biffa at 1:56 AM on May 24, 2007