How to Overcome Demotivation & Lack of Passion 

I've listened for over 10 years to this guy's advice, and honestly he's done a fair sight better than my parents in positively influencing what I do.

I always appreciate Sean talking about topics like these about life.

Ah I haven't seen a Day9 video in years yet the humility, humor, and genuine care that made the dailies such a big part of my daily life back then still remains. Love you Day9 & so glad to see you still making content.

You are a genius with that 50% strat. Going all in on your initial motivation feels right, but it leads to instant burnout and a spike in Demotivation. Thanks Sean I never really thought about it before

Oh man , I think after Total Biscuit left us you are the one that is keeping this good vibes honest gaming torch alive. Thank you for everything

Love your videos like this, Sean. This is an aside, but I’m 38 today and 26 days sober. The work I’m doing right now is what I’m not doing. And my mind is healing to the point where I don’t see darkness everywhere I look, just from staying off alcohol and weed. It’s hard, because I’m a 30 beer a night guy. But if you’re drinking or smoking heavily, consider your physical body a foundational step to making progress toward any other goal. For me personally, I cannot make a positive move one when I’m wrapped up in daily obsession with alcohol (whether I take my one-day or week-long breaks from it or not).

This is actually gold. I don't watch all the time but I've always been a big fan of day9. Cheers!

Sounds a bit dumb, but I feel like you make me a better person Day9. You might not intend to, but it certainly helps. I struggle with a lot of stuff you talk about, how to express opinions, how to express myself..

"It's gonna suck, just do it anyway!" is good advice for me. It goes along well with "Don't strive to be happy, strive to accomplish some stuff" I've heard elsewhere. Satisfaction along with rewards like pizza and a movie can evolve into happiness.

Having developed a pretty complicated game for 5+ years and still developing it, doing large amount of tedious work in both art and programming, I'll give my opinion. Not being motivated just means you have a lack of urgency. You don't truly feel like something is at stake when you avoid doing what you think you want to do, and that is the problem. Years ago I went on a hiatus while working on my game, and the only reason that happened is because despite what I believed, I did not truly want to develop the game at the time, and that is what demotivated me. Now that the success of my life and the expectations of others hinges on whether or not I can make the game, it's a different story. If you tell other people what you want to do like I did, it can really help.

I know all those things in theory but it always feels great to have someone, especially Day9, reiterate them, it's motivating.

Incredible Ted talk Sean! I was literally feeling super unmotivated these past few days, with no idea how and why. This video really helped! Thank you.

This is fire. Thank you Sean. Been watching you for almost 15 years now. This is exactly how writing started for me and thank you for sharing it. It's such a hard lesson, but so important for learning any skill.

THat is why Sean is just the Best! Long live DayJ! Thank you for all the years of inspiration!

Thanks Sean for sharing I had to give up on engineering really early on in college and I never ended up getting a 4 year degree.

Loved watching Day9 Dailies during my Starcraft 2 days. Was super happy to stumble upon his channel here on RU-vid. I met him once in person and he was just the nicest person (I think he could tell how nervous and starstruck I was).

A point he doesn't really linger on was talking about the things you're GOING to do vs. talking about things you've done. I think when we say "I'm going to start doing xxxxx tomorrow", you get that positive feedback and reward without actually doing the thing, so it sets up a positive loop that you can do over and over without actually going the thing. This is the loop I feel like I'm always in, and although I realize that typing this up is EXACTLY the same thing, I'm going to stop talking about what I'm going to do, and I'm going to just do it. Thanks Day[9]!

100% Motivation is not a precursor to Action. Noone wants to go to work, and yet you do that day in day out!! Schedule it, hold yourself accountable to it. Hell yeah.

That's such an amazing way to put it so sustainable, and fantastic easy to keep up and sustain rather than go fast and burn out

I hope this doesn't come off as too antagonizing to certain people, but I really feel like Sean's generation of streamers and content creators (Day9, Jesse Cox, Totalbiscuit, etc.) had a level of insight, maturity, and introspection that a lot of the new streamers don't have. It might just be a matter of the younger content creators still need time to grow up, but it's always really refreshing to hear Sean be self aware and talk about topics like these. Even on the gaming side, because Sean has some background in the technical side and professional side, he offers a level of insight into the different games he play above and beyond what others can offer.

This is great Sean, you should have a life advice playlist.

This is IMPORTANT. I'll share this everywhere. Hopefully it's gonna help many people. It's such a common feeling.

I used to watch Sean back when Starcraft2 first came out. I like that ring you're wearing, man. Good to see that you found your Felicity and leveled up!

This is fantastic, thank you :) I recently randomly got into watching documentaries about ultra marathon running. And one of the quotes kind of stuck with me - "Embrace the pain"... Which feels kind of similar as the core advice I'm taking away from this video: It's going to suck. Motivation comes second

I'd love to see a Day9 HealthyGamerGG crossover talking about a lot of the issues facing people, you're extremely insightful and are one of the longer running streamers in the gaming industry, and seeing your understanding and perspectives bounced off Dr K would be amazing

Sean, ive had so many problems over the last decade of trying to be an adult, and consistently you have provided ,through your videos, a vector of comfort through self improvement. Thank you

This video appeared on my feed just after I worked on my game for the first time in 5 months lol. Fixed the long standing dive kick bug I had. I'm often motivated by boredom and the feeling that what I'm making isn't really out there for me to play already. I'm the audience for my own game.

Day 9 is a treasure, I don't even follow him but can't help but love his advice because its so on point.

I love all your videos, but this type of video I find the most useful. I am also a creator, and run my own business, and your insights into how being human affects the constant grind of modern life really help me reset and renew my energy.

At around 8:30 you talk about doing social reinforcement about what you have done vs. what you want to do and this is actually super important. As someone with hard drives full of mostly unfinished projects with a few finished ones, I have my fair share of experience with this it's something I definitely noticed over time. When I talk about that cool idea or new thing I want to do with people around me, it almost feels as if I just rewarded myself before even taking the first step and it can be really detrimental to my overall motivation to get it done. It will usually be a much greater source of motivation to keep most of it to myself and show the result to someone when there's something to show. Often times, people may even give you ideas of things to improve which can give you the motivation to continue working on it and reach the next step instead of getting bored and seeking something new to work on. Getting ideas from other people when you're not even started yet just improves your scope on something that isn't even a v1 and it can really bring you down to make the mountain taller before you even started climbing it.

We need an audio book series containing advice, guidance and positive messages of support by Sean Plott. 10/10 would buy.

Thank you man. This advice came at the time I needed it most. I hope you keep doing these advices and story time sort of thing as they are my favorite thing from you!

I always come back to hear his rants and thoughts. Please do more 🙏🏻

Colleague sent me this video and I loved it, thanks for the talk, it has been very helpful

This video really helped me. I'm in a rut, I got an injury so I have to give up my one passion for a few month and I felt there was nothing left really. At work I feel demotivated by my superiors, I started other hobbies to get distracted and as you say the first 100 hours feel like shit... I'm really not having it right now. Your words made me realize to put down my expectations and also focus on myself and not my output. I feel much better now and back in control and actually excited for what's to come. Thank you so much for that.

You had absolutely perfect timing. I needed to hear this as I struggle with maintaining passion for my own efforts, even when the metrics don't show desired results

every time you have one of these takes, I enjoy listening to it, I'm lucky and I've rarely needed your advice, but I have countless times thought it was insightful, patient and never overreaching, I will definitely be dropping this to some friends subtlety.

This. This. A thousand times this. Sean’s insight on this topic and calm perspective always feels like he’s just talking directly to me.

your metaphor for socially looking to the past rather than burdening yourself with the future is actually beautiful. I never realized how important complaining is when it comes to contributing to the learning process.

Goddamnit Day9 always coming through with incredible advice.

God Sean you are still one of the most helpful people for my emotional experience, it's been over a decade and you still say exactly what I need to hear in the most open minded and humble way. I have yet to find another internet personality who is so relatable and full of useful thoughts that directly fits into my life, and it coming from a very down to earth place with no ambition to sound like a messiah. My favorite thing about hearing you is that it is so obvious that you actually went through what many of your viewers are going through, so it is very easy to humbly listen to what you have to say and just know that whatever you have learned at the very least actually worked for you. It is actually first hand advice based on experience and your own thinking. Ps. If you wrote a book I bet you would have to print a big batch of them to go around.

Remember, it's not about "do it anyway" It's about dedicating yourself to doing something and accepting that you are going to do it.

I started making music a couple of years ago and there was like a month in there of figuring out audio drivers, and I/O, and audio interfaces and it is exhausting. But, your comment on momentum is exactly what happens. Because eventually I knew it, and I could send midi to a synth and record the damn ideas into audio, and it's in seconds now.

Thanks Sean, I definitely needed this! Funny enough, I've been procrastinating on my coding project and this helped me get in the right headspace. Going to make myself a cup of coffee after this video and then attempt to do my project. 50% effort baby!!

omw to give another day of 50% effort trying to figure out how to authenticate users on my web app

Thanks Sean. Always appreciate these topics. Another couple of tips I've found: - start with really small amounts of effort. Try practicing for 5 minutes and no longer. Do that every day. If you can do five minutes every day you'll get in a habit of doing it and can gradually get longer and longer in your practice sessions. - figure out how to combine it with something you love. Sean really wanted to do 'Let's learn Starcraft' and used that to get better at making videos. I really wanted to learn Clair de Lune, and used that to learn piano.

5:30 "80% of the job is just opening unity" My friend, that hit way too close to home. I'm a professional developer and I still have to look up "hello world" tutorials now and again just to get started.

That was actually rediculously good advice

even though this was rambling, there were so many nuggets of wisdoms here and so much wholesome energy. This is why I love day9

Every time I watch one of these videos I have low expectations, not sure why, but after every video I'm just like "Damn... Sean's advice is always great". This is some great advice... Thanks Sean

I like this advice, I think lots of people especially in their teens and early 20s are inundated with this culture of "finding your passion". There's all this pressure that comes along with picking "the right degree" and "the right career" as if either of those things are going to define you as a person. I'd ask myself what I actually mean by the word "passion", and what the differences are between discipline and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and go from there. The note about something feeling awful for like 100 hours when starting out is also really important. One might have a certain level of mastery over the things they're familiar with, and going from that into knowing fuck-all about something just feels terrible. It's actually a great motivation to just never do anything new, so you have to fight that.

As a fellow older millennial I am loving the idea of the “elder statesman” streamer Sean is embodying here. He’s not trying to be the same as all the young streamers. He’s sharing the value of his life experience with younger viewers AND streaming. It’s so wholesome.

I've been watching Sean since Daily 1. I love how he speaks about life in seriousness.

I got my start in delving into electronic music back in your starcraft days and remember I had a Grooveshark Playlist from when you did your day9 dailies with starcraft!

To go along with this, I think it’s impossible to “outthink” demotivation, or any other mental issue. Sometimes you just have to go through the motions first, let your brain know what’s going on.

Day9 still helping us Be a Better Gamer in 2023, you love to see it

The timing for this video couldn't have been better for me.

Been listening to this man's advice since high school

Day9 thank you for always hitting me with this kind of stuff when I need it most. I don't watch you all the time, but whenever I pop in I'm almost immediately comfortable with a sense of familiarity. Appreciate you and what you do. :)

When I was at uni, I learned the very basics of programing, after I dropped out I decided that I wanted to really learn to program so I started an apprenticeship. Programming 8h a day for 3 years really helped me with the basics of it. So if you're struggling to make time to learn a new skill, and you're not already employed, an apprenticeship or entry-level job might give you the extrinsic motivation to have a shot at finding the intrinsic motivation to learn a skill. Also, thanks Day9, you're a great motivator.

day9 thanks for this i don't watch every video of yours but this felt good to listen i appreciate it much love

100% agree with the sentiment that the first 100 hours suck, especially with a programming project. So much of the initial work is just setup, hardening data structure, etc. Once you get the project set up in such a way that you can start toying with fun features it becomes fun.

That was excellent. Thank you

@Day9TV: Woulld you agree on the following aspects: --> 50% Focus: You can listen to music and sometimes let your mind flow, just remember to refocus from time to time. --> Use a 30 day project to decide if you want to get deeper or stop. Both are totally fine. You are not wasting your lifetime PS: HUGE THANKS for your video!

What's that one quote again? "I Only Write When Inspiration Strikes. Fortunately It Strikes at Nine Every Morning." I feel like that one goes very much in the same direction. Relying on motivation or inspiration is hoping for something that may or may not come. Developing strategies to not rely on either is how reliable progress is made in the long run.

This has come in the perfect moment in my life. Always loved listening to you talk about topics in life. Thank you a lot Sean!

seriously love this man

Good gosh this is such a fantastic piece of advice that hits directly.

Super good advice. Needed to hear that right now with my board game design work. Thanks man.

04:30-04:55 I love here how he is talking about focus and loses his focus on what he is saying

Man, I'm going through some though times and this was reaaly good to hear. Thanks DayJ

Hi, Some tips for this topic: 1. Two basic things to consider: a) goal b) means 2. The final goal (cause) of Human behaviour is Happiness. 3. Happiness is achieved by having perfect Virtue. (if properly defined) By learning the Truth. (real) By striving towards them. By helping others in those goals. 4. The cause of a subgoal is a higher goal. 5. You follow the series of causes that lead from subgoal to Happiness. (Cause of a Cause of a Cause, etc. Why? Why? Why?) If you have trouble connecting the subgoal to the final goal (with Why do that? Questions), perhaps you are not paying attention to keep the subgoals directed by the final goal. Subgoal is disconnected from final goal. You are "going blindly". 6. The things you do are to a degree instrumental, meant to make you learn the Truth and strive for perfect Virtue. 7. Lack of motivation can be caused by not seeing the causal connection between the subgoal and Happiness. Or by not believing that the good thing that you would want for Happiness is achievable and therefore not even attempting. Lowering expectations below possibilities. 8. Establish a clear chain of causes from subgoal to Happiness before you start anything if possible. Etc.

Still an awesome guy, speaking from the heart after all these years of streaming :D Love it man!

I don't have the time to watch all the gaming content sean puts out but I'll always stop by for a good rant because I could listen to him talk for hours.

I could definitely stand to reward myself more, but I think I’m weird in that I’m able to maintain really high engagement in whatever it is I want to learn. (I feel like I’m *constantly* learning about something in my spare time.) I can definitely get burnout, but normally I can spend days just obsessively learning a new skill or anything really.

Although agree with his views and love hearing his take, I will hasten to add that as someone who has never truly had a passion or drive towards not everyone lives that same experience. So if you are watching this, and like me, don’t feel like it reflects your life or lived experience don’t be disheartened. I personally feel like I have a thousand forever changing micro passions and projects at once and never finish anything. Forever chasing the next shiny thing because I’m bored of the last.

I love you Day9. I have watched you for so long! Always a treat to see your videos.

Thank you for this. Great vid

What I ended up having to do (in regards to any task/project/skill set I wanted to develop) was to literally state out loud "Just do the thing for 2 minutes". Saying it out loud is the only way I have found to break me out of my personal "analysis paralysis hell" and get me started. And you know what happens 99% of the time? Once I am 2 minutes into something, I have either already completed the objective, or "found" the energy to go about progressing/completing it. On the rare occasions where I truly am still struggling, I just move to another task on my list and circle back around later to the first one. I have found that it is super easy to fantasize about doing something and all the cool outcomes that might happen (becoming the best game designer, impressing your family, etc.) and spend all of your time/energy without actually doing the thing. In short: Just start, check in if needed and circle back, and done is always better than perfect. ❤

Every young person needs to see this

I'm about to start gradschool. This was super solid advice that I needed to hear!

This video should be part of the learning starcraft series lol

If you ever wrote a book, I would immediately buy a copy for every member of my family.

Motivation is a tease. If you wait until you motivated you would get nothing done like me.

Motivated < disciplined

thanks for the big brother hug

I'm sure this is fine advice for more mentally-focused people but I live my life by my feelings so this advice doesn't really work for me. I'm someone who rarely burns out but when I do I just use the tried and true method of taking a break and doing some things I genuinely enjoy to take the pressure off before getting back to what I was doing with restored motivation. However there are still some times when I know I'll have to grind at something with tunnel-vision until I enjoy it such as certain skill-based grinds in video games which is when I'd utilize this advice.

Teaching myself PLC programming - once struggled for over an hour trying to figure out why I was having issues before I realised I had done a silly and put a bit conflict in my program. Out on site diagnosing an issue several months later - immediately saw what the problem was and could fix it because I had been an idiot and made mistakes.

Def want a life advice playlist!

Thanks for posting this, really good advice.

It's simple: if I see a Day9 speech, I click.

Sean. I've loved your content for years. But your statement on drum and bass is breaking my heart T_T

This made me feel inspired :)

I needed this. Thanks man.

Day[9] Daily! the memories.

Great segment! I think you must have higher standards for your beepy boopy music than I do lol

Love you day 9

I sincerely almost cried listening to this. I think that I needed to hear this right now. I lost a job that I really cared about a while back and I have just been in an awful place mentally, and just really struggling to make myself get back into the workforce because I’m too afraid that I can’t be good at anything anymore. Your words helped to heal me a little bit, Thank you

Only slightly related to the topic of this video, but you have touched on these subjects a lot over the years, though from different angels and its always great when you do talk about these things. Two of the examples I have from you specifically is an old episode of Newbie Tuesday where you talked about Ranked Anxiety when playing Starcraft 2. You said one thing in that video that is something I will never forget. "To get good at something, you must allow yourself to suck". That one sentence changed my entire perspective on not only ranked in SC2, but with life in general and I will always be grateful for that. The other thing is when you started learning Age of Empires two. Paraphrasing; "When I go into things I like to just make a simple plan and ignore the result. A simple plan for a simple man. Because you know what? It is better to have a bad plan that you can work on, than no plan at all." Keep being awesome Sean. You help more people with your words than you probably know

Good advice.