How I Make Myself Study When I’m Lazy (it's not discipline)

I hate habits and I love motivation and because I feel like this sort of approach and mentality has been absolutely trashed recently with everyone telling me to 'ignore motivation, just show up', I've FINALLY stopped listening to that advice and found a system that works for me. Here it is for any other chaotic people out there who might see the world in the same way.

Having quit things I thought I wanted to do, hated myself because I can't stick to schedules I create, thought I'm incapable of achieving much due to my chaotic and indecisive mind: here is how I now thrive (a bit more) in chaos and lack of organisation, most importantly: without habits.

To make your life easier:
0:00 Intro
2:21 Redefining Work
4:53 The difference between Motivated and Unmotivated work
6:51 Why to affect your motivation
8:15 How I think of scheduling tasks
9:56 Increasing motivation is sharpening the axe
11:33 Tool 1: Skills vs Results
12:38 Tool 2: Making Tasks Work for Me
13:24 Tool 3: The Bare Minimum
15:12 Tool 4: Mental Barriers

If you want to stay in touch:

Or leave a comment, I (try to) answer 100% of comments :)

[atheneangelis]

Word of caution: The idea of "last minute hyperfocus" worked for me in high school, but it stopped working at some point when I got into college when things got harder, more complex and just generally more in volume. I realized I need to start WAY sooner and I can't just wait for the motivation to kick in. I ended up having half-assed projects and turning in unfinished papers because I told myself "I can do this later when I'm motivated" and it just made me have mental breakdowns right before the deadline, plus feeling guilty all the way during the process. So yeah it might work but it might also turn out differently

[yana.rya_____]

Really appreciate how you acknowledged that this doesn't work for all people! Too often productivity advice tends to paint with a large paint brush.

[areeshatahnee]

As someone with ADHD, watching your videos makes me feel so seen and so smart. People with our chaotic sense of productivity and bubbly motivation get told off for being disorganised and indisciplined, but coming here to listen to you makes me feel not so alone. Thank you, Elizabeth. I love your content and you.

[chamallow]

I wish I could work a bit more like this, but it's complicated for me because I'm an engineering student, so I need to do lots and lots of practice problems. There aren't many shortcuts. I think the best trick in that case is to make sure that you have activities outside of school, otherwise your schedule is too empty, you have no time constraints, and you end up procrastinating in your bed thinking "I have the entire day to start studying so I'll start later". Basically without that, your life becomes passive and boring.

[edbrito-swdev]

This channel is the only channel that has life and work advice that is actually useful for me and not just the stereotypical hustle culture stuff that everyone else does. Thanks!

[doaa]

the tools to increase motivation (sharpen the axe) are:
- skills vs result
- make tasks suitable for me
- learn only the bare minimum
- overcome the mental barriers

[raquelluz]

Your work perspective and tips are so ADHD-friendly! I was diagnosed last year and still struggle with trying to fit in the "typical" working method, and find myself discouraged and with low self-esteem. But your videos have definitely reignited the way I used to go through tasks when I was in school and uni, which worked so well for me until pressure and shaming from others made me try to change. Slowly, I'm trying to get back to what works for me, shame and guilt free. Great video, once again💖

[evernightrose]

Holy-wow. This is the first time I'm hearing a productivity video talk about emotional problems. My work has been so focused with helping students and people using their emotions as a strength instead of ignoring and making them a barrier, because we have all fooled ourselves into thinking that we are rational and if it is right in our mind, we'll do it, but actually we are just emotional and social beings and our motivation, effeciency everything is based on these. So thank you Elizabeth for thiss!

[AngDevigne]

This resonates HARD for my ADHD / neurodiverse self. Literally cannot do anything without motivation, but I can do ANYTHING with the proper motivation.

Don't know if you purposely market to the neurodiverse crowd, but I know for sure that we can benefit from your wisdom. Thank you for creating 🙏

[Lobstrique]

your approach to chaotic motivation actually changed my life in a way. starting from the fact that i now feel normal?? just because i see a person whos mind works like that and it works for her?? and ending with amazing useful tips. thank you so, so much, Elizabeth

i almost stopped feeling like I'm forcing myself to do stuff, and the associated guilt is mostly gone

[sup.]

I'm so glad you're speaking about this way of being. Self-help books and gurus always say consistency is key and they relate that to everyday, consistent, to the clock work. I can do dishes, laundry, take trash out daily, but not things that require a lot more mental work. I have to be in the "zone" for it. I can't just force myself to work and hope that the "flow" will kick in. The flow comes from my passion for life. It's all in my creativity and need for exploration that I get stuff done.
I, too, sent in papers last minute or studied last minute and got higher grades than my classmates and felt good and like shit at the same time. I never knew how to love myself and to understand and encourage the way I am until 24 years old. Too many people have this deep dislike for people like us and I can understand why. Some have to work consistently for 6 weeks on something that we master in 2 hours. It's a double-edged sword, I'm afraid. I can do those things, but it always feels it's at the risk of me not making it.

[kalpavriksha]

Hey Elizabeth! I kinda feel like we are a 'chaotically organized' community. I used to think myself as a super procrastinator when i was in a University. Now I find that my way of doing task is at the last hour with everything being sharpened by the axe. The anecdote of students getting less marks than yours though they always start earlier in a consistent way exactly resonates with me. I feel happy to find your community. Much love and support. 💜

[naomiuchiha]

I love how I can play this at 0.75 speed and it sounds normal xD
Also, this is vital advice, especially for writers. I am so tired of hearing i need to write everyday to get somewhere. It just .akes the whole process a chore instead of being fun. And I want it to be fun, because creating is what makes me happy.
So now, I only write when I feel like it, and I can enjoy it.

[rexloyer]

I hear what you're saying, and I think your channel is amazing for bringing contrarian viewpoints to light.

I do think you're 100% with the idea that you should try to primarily do things that you want to do HOWEVER, most things I really enjoy have a certain amount of "activation energy" (barrier of effort) to them. Put differently, this means I will not feel motivated to do them, until I get started. After getting started, I'm reminded of what I love about the thing.

I think framing a task in terms of what you can like about a task (for me, creativity, growing a skill, managing others, creating systems etc), finding taks that you will like, and pushing through the block at the beginning is more effective (and leads to more fun/ growth overall) then waiting to be motivated to start.

I do think that the heuristic of waiting for motivation applies to you, because you have a plate of interesting tasks already, so it is really a question of WHICH project you do rather than to do it at all (not to mention I gather you've accepted lots of repsonsibility which will help you overcome the activation energy for a lot of not the majority of your tasks).

I would guess however that many people watching this channel have much fewer passion projects than yourself and waiting to for motivation to strike to begin in a world vying for our attention would result in them doing less things that they are passionate about. Deciding to not wait can easily turn into not starting at all.

Anyway, just riffing here. Appreciate the video. Will be back for the next one.

[simoroshka]

in the big five personality I'm high on openness, neuroticism, and very low on conscientiousness. I was told that in order to be successful, I need to grow at least some conscientiousness (e.g. being more organised, consistent, have habits and so on), like it is entirely not possible to have good grades, career, and good life otherwise. But I am fine, as long as I don't try to force a structure on myself, I am doing well. I went through school, university, moving to a different county, getting another master's degree, building a career. And I am delighted to see these videos from somebody who is similar to me. I reflect on myself and my past, and realise that I was wasting sooo much energy and time trying to be "proper student" or "diligent worker", when in fact it is just not how I work.

[ZoeysMusings]

Your storytelling abilities and relatability make me so happy to be a part of your community, Elizabeth. You just get it. Sometimes it feels like motivation will be the bane of our existence because it comes and goes as it wills. Here's to sharpening the axe of motivation 💪🏽The list of reflective questions is gold. Thank you for your hard work!

[McGuire]

11:10 "If I can be motivated and get more done, I don't care if 'sharpening the axe' looks like procrastination on the outside."

I live by that mindset. Even when I was in college, I would do assignments the DAY THEY WERE ASSIGNED, and then just return to it it every so often until it's due. With tasks, I've always working chaotically fast and motivated like you've mentioned, and people usually ended up frustrated that I managed to produce more in less time and had more down time when they were "just slugging through the motions" of their tasks.

[lucaiozzo]

I feel so represented by this chaotic style of super focused and engaged when motivated and unproductive or dumb when not. Thank you for sharing this so we all chaothic people don't have to start from the ground to figure out how to be effective with our proyects and ambitions

[ShineVizzy]

I had that "motivation anxiety" to do things years ago and it turned into an actual anxiety disorder that doesnt let me do any tasks I'm anxious abut rn. Still looking for what works for me to not get anxious, but for now it's just sitting to do sth when I'm most chill and have no fear.
I'm genuinely thankful to your channel for showing me that I dont have to necessarily stick to a routine, and showing that chaotic work can work better for some people.
I feel like this idea let my mind relax a bit more and let me not work when I get anxious but get to work when I'm chill which lets me go into the float state for hours which I missed for the past 1-2 years. I love those videos. I love to get things that might work for me out of them. Great job making them

[lauratorrents]

I’ve been binging your videos for 3 hours now and honestly it’s been a turning point. Like man tell me why everyone else on productivity youtube is so focused on the consistent method when so many of us out there just can’t properly use it… thank you for validating us chaotic people in our chaos and making us see that it’s ok and that it can actually work for us!