O ok, I get where you're coming form now. For sure there are workarounds or rituals to augment your natural drive. I mean, peaks and troughs in motivation happen to everyone. Most people may have some practices and rituals such as going to sleep thinking about what you'll accomplish the next day (Marc Andreessen blogged about this) or keeping a running journal of what you hope to learn, accomplish (I do this), but I do think that the largest chunk of efficacy in maintaining the drive to "take it to the next level" comes via leveraging the community.
Success rarely happens in a vacuum. There is a fraternity of sorts among CEOs, there is a community among founders and any sort of craftsmen/engineers (this is why YC is awesome).
Personally I regularly schedule going to technical conferences even if it's not directly relevant to what I'm currently working on, and meetups to go to. These let me witness how awesome some people are and remind me of my desire to be like them, to learn from them. I'm sure most technical folks will agree with me that conferences are a huge motivator. As well as regularly scheduling lunch/coffee with people I really respect. These events remind me of what I'm "here to do" and I find brings me out of the troughs of low motivation.
Lastly - repetition comes into play always, in everything in life. My first startup I remember these rollercoaster rides of emotional highs and lows when we got a first customer (yay!), or found out about a competitor doing it better than us or beta users not liking the product (crap!). Now, being a bit more seasoned, I guess I'm just a bit cooler headed just by having "been there before." The same goes with coding a blank project. And with the boxing analogy I made in my previous post, even a timid person will probably become steeled once he has stepped in the ring many, many times.
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O ok, I get where you're coming form now. For sure there are workarounds or rituals to augment your natural drive. I mean, peaks and troughs in motivation happen to everyone. Most people may have some practices and rituals such as going to sleep thinking about what you'll accomplish the next day (Marc Andreessen blogged about this) or keeping a running journal of what you hope to learn, accomplish (I do this), but I do think that the largest chunk of efficacy in maintaining the drive to "take it to the next level" comes via leveraging the community.
Success rarely happens in a vacuum. There is a fraternity of sorts among CEOs, there is a community among founders and any sort of craftsmen/engineers (this is why YC is awesome).
Personally I regularly schedule going to technical conferences even if it's not directly relevant to what I'm currently working on, and meetups to go to. These let me witness how awesome some people are and remind me of my desire to be like them, to learn from them. I'm sure most technical folks will agree with me that conferences are a huge motivator. As well as regularly scheduling lunch/coffee with people I really respect. These events remind me of what I'm "here to do" and I find brings me out of the troughs of low motivation.
Lastly - repetition comes into play always, in everything in life. My first startup I remember these rollercoaster rides of emotional highs and lows when we got a first customer (yay!), or found out about a competitor doing it better than us or beta users not liking the product (crap!). Now, being a bit more seasoned, I guess I'm just a bit cooler headed just by having "been there before." The same goes with coding a blank project. And with the boxing analogy I made in my previous post, even a timid person will probably become steeled once he has stepped in the ring many, many times.