Keeping Motivated

Y

Yeddi

Active member
Hi All,

I'm just wondering what methods you use to keep you motivated, to keep pushing through when you just don't feel like it and your head is not in the right space.

I'm in a place where I should be incredibly motivated (I've made it though to the next round of the ultimate filmmaker competition) but I'm really struggling to finish my treatment. I know my story, I know where I want it to go, it's a story I believe in - I just don't feel like writing it. I push through little by little but it is very uninspired at the moment, to be honest my energy is as flat as a pancake and I'm not creating my best work. I'm wondering if subconsciously I'm self-sabotaging myself for a number of different reasons I wont go into. I need to reignite the passion in my writing, any ideas?

Cheers
Y
 
I think everyone goes through this. Its something I struggle with too. You're doing the right thing by continuing to make steps toward your goals, however small they might be right now. You'll be able to look back later and know that you were soldiering on despite the difficulty and you'll probably be surprised at how much progress you made.

It will get easier, or you'll have some breakthrough or something will happen to put this all in perspective. Just keep pushing until it does. Best of luck to you!
 
I say just keeping your dream in your head is enough motivation.

Right now, I'm shooting and editing a high school sports documentary in the hot sun and when I get home, I barely have any energy to do anything. But when I remember my dream, I open up final draft and start typing away.
 
Nice

Nice

Good for you Rockman! I hope you realize how much that sets you apart from the average person. The average person doesn't get where he/she wants to go, because after a tough day like you described, it's the same thing every night -- a few beers and TV. Nothing wrong with that sometimes, but it's sad to see when people can't find that inner motivation to pull themselves up and really do something special.

When I was in high school, and working on my first non-fiction book, I had so much homework and was always so tired that it was a real struggle to get anything done, but I knew that even 1.5 pages a day and I could write 10 pages a week, and that in 10 weeks I'd have 100 pages, etc. So it would add up, and I would be able to get there eventually. So I'd just decide that when I got home, I would do some writing for a few hours, whatever I could afford, and then I would start my homework after dinner. I would inevitably go to bed too late and only get 6 hours of sleep a night, but to me, it was better to start what didn't have to be done first. I actually do the OPPOSITE of most people in that respect -- if there are 7 things I want to do tonight, 4 of them must be done, 3 could be delayed, I do those 3 first, forcing myself to do all 7 in the end as there is no other choice. If I just did the other 4 first, I'd end up going, "Well... it's late, I guess I should sleep, oh well that sucks." I don't tolerate that so I have to re-arrange it so that it simply must be done. Burns me sometimes, but overall it has worked for me.

Some days I don't have the motivation, but what I try to do is write let's say one scene, or if I'm outlining I try to outline 2-3 scenes and really spend some time researching that could help with the characters, etc. It's just chipping away. I figure if I outline even just 2 scenes a day, I'll have my script outlined in probably 3 weeks or so. Not too bad. I find it faster to write the script itself than to outline it anyway, which to me is a tougher part...
 
Coffee, lots of coffee. The write environment (pun intended, LOL), like a coffee shop with cute baristas and a fireplace. Mood music; e.g. for writing horror/supernatural material I like listening to soundtracks from The Grudge/The Grudge2, The Uninvited, Unborn, The Return, Dark Water. Write something each day, if only a paragraph; even a raging waterfall begins with a drop of rain.
 
I agree I use lots of energy supplements personally. I have trouble getting through work if I don't have a good deal of energy coming, hehe.

I don't really do the music thing, though, I find it distracting. And a coffee shop I'd never get anything written -- bad temperature, usually too cold, constant distractions like coffee grinding, people walking by, talking, maybe a hot girl walks in, I lose my train of thought. It's just very bad environment. But I'd agree environment is very important, whatever works best for you personally is what is good.

I find that a clean place helps... When I'm not worried about my place being a disaster area, but look around and it looks somewhat well ordered, that makes me feel good.
 
I remind myself of the nubile young groupies who will be mine once the project is completed and everyone involved with it becomes wealthy and famous.
 
HAHA, that's funny. I usually get more motivated when I'm excited by what I'm doing, when I start coming up with ideas I really love. I get less motivated when I come up with 5 ideas in a row I think are seriously retarded, and begin to wonder if that's the best I can come up with, maybe this isn't such a good script after all ;) lol

BTW Mad I've always loved your second signature line, it's just absolutely true, and something really important to understand. Good stuff.
 
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