Today I address the common feeling of low motivation while studying physics. Go to NordVPN.com/an... to get a 2-year plan plus an additional month with a huge discount!
Remember to discipline your equations instead of motivating them, and also remember to go to NordVPN.com/andrewdotson to get a 2-year plan plus an additional month with a huge discount!
When I decided to go back to school my therapist told me that motivation is a great way to get started, but it won't get you through it. The best way to look at it is to say "This is what I do." I am a student and I read text books and write papers. I am going into a physics based discipline and I do practice problems. It's important not to see it as "have to do" because that can lead to feeling guilt when you don't and will make it feel like a chore. Seeing all my coursework as something I do rather than relying on motivation or seeing it as something I have to do has helped me stay consistent and keep on task, even when I'd rather be doing something else.
That could work, but failing with that attitude sounds like the fastest way to have a full-blown identity crisis. Just keep the emphasis on "do" and not "I." Just because you're taking on the role of "a student" for some time doesn't mean it should be your answer to the question, "who are you?"
These are the same therapists who will then say things like "you are not your job" and "you are worth more than your work" when this line of thinking leads to negative consequences -- like interpreting setbacks and difficulties as personal failings.
Congrats on returning to school, as a returning student myself, I know how hard it can be. I also agree with the advice you shared, a lot comes down to mindset.
What helps me is realising that my work probably isn't nearly as hard as I think, and that helps a lot of the time. The whole discipline soldier thing doesn't really work for me at all, I just need to put the situation into a persepctive that my brain won't freak out about, and that is really all that has helped.
The issue with this strategy is that sometimes you wont be able to put things into the right perspective quickly enough. And so you may lose days or even weeks trying to find the right perspective before you get up and work again. So, this is why discipline matters. You just train yourself to slog through painful situations even when they suck; especially when it sucks. This way you dont lose time.
I am naturally a thorough person, I like to do all the derivation steps that get skipped in textbooks, and I like to really understand what I'm doing intuitively wherever I use a problem solving method. That's why studying quantum mechanics on a quarter system has been the absolute bane of my existence. "What does this sprawling mess of linear algebra and interaction integrals mean? Well we could spend a whole week exploring it, but we only have 10 of those, so we're moving on!" University is beating the disciplined physicist out of me *sigh*
Oh boy, I definitely resonated with this video! My motivation during my Physics PhD definitely took a nose-dive during the start of the pandemic and especially after reaching PhD Candidacy. I think what I came to realize was that for most of undergraduate + start of graduate school, I had relied a lot on the constant pressure and deadlines from class assignments, midterms, finals, etc. to keep me motivated to succeed, but after finishing all my classes and transitioning into full-time research, those motivating factors went away. Not going to lie, there was a stretch of time post-Candidacy that I literally didn't do anything physics related for what felt like weeks, and I was very ashamed of it. However, I think it was an important wake-up call for me that I needed to set up my own structure and routine outside of a classroom setting, and I'm happy to say that I've gotten back on track with my PhD now.
Glad you pointed that out! It is so weird going from intense structure of the first year or two to almost free again, definitely easy to star slipping there.
Motivation is what get's you started, discipline is what keeps you going. As a grad student, I look back at my early undergrad when I was just so excited to do everything versus now when I just kinda do things cause I know I have to. When you've been doing this shit for years in grad school or beyond, I feel like it just becomes like any other job you feel disciplined enough to do.
I'm a junior in Physics and Math and next week I have my finals. I absolutely needed this. Frankly I'm really glad you didn't just give us a whole speech on how to keep our motivation up 100% of the time. That kind of stuff just makes me feel worse when I can't seem to get motivated. Thanks for the words of wisdom Smart Man, time to sit my ass down and study for my quantum exam
For me procrastination has been a huge problem in school. At my university there is alot of self study and that is not optimal considering my procrastination. So the thing I do is I am always at university from basically 9-5 and work there. If I need to work more I stay there longer. Try to separate university and home. Make them a place for work and a place for non productive stuff. I have to bend this rule with huge assignments, but the deadline and importance would often be motivation enough. What this did for me was it created a shift in my brain. When I walk to the university I would have another mindset more fit for work that I just couldnt get while at home. It helped me not mix work and relaxing. Then working would be spent sometimes doing other stuff and relaxing would be spent being anxious of not having done enough. TL;DR I got a schedule, or discipline, which is in theme with the video. Don't underestimate that.
One of the best pieces of advice I've heard (regarding thesis writing, although I apply the philosophy more generally) is summed up as "you don't need to commit to finishing now, but you do need to commit to starting now." More narrowly, the advice was: force yourself to do 30 minutes of thesis-writing a day. If you get to the end of that 30 minutes and it's still painful and you want to stop, fine, call it quits for the day and come back the next day. You did some work, and eventually you'll get past the painful part and things will pick up again. But often - even when the part was initially painful - you'll find that after 30 minutes you just want to finish your section, or that you're otherwise motivated, and things will flow again, at least for a bit, at which point you work until you feel done for the day. And I find this really works for me: if I have something I'm avoiding, I usually just need to start, and then I don't want to stop. Newton's first law of working: it takes some force to get me to start moving (and that's the discipline part), but then I'll keep moving unless my work provides a substantial amount of friction.
I’ve lacked determination and discipline recently and had suffered in university for it. But I’m coming back next semester full steam ahead! It’s surprising how related doing homeworks and deriving equations are to making your bed and doing laundry. It’s all about discipline! I loved this video, thank you Andrew Dotson for this reassuring reminder! :)
What keeps me motivated is knowing that failure is NOT an option for me. I always knew I wanted to study physics and be the best I possibly could. So when push came to shove and I lacked motivation, feeling that I might fail to reach my goals enabled me to develop the necessary dicipline to keep on grinding.
Thank you! I lose motivation self teaching myself physics and mathematics. I’m a teenager that is busy with Calc 1 and physics 2. This really helped me because I sometimes lose motivation when I don’t understand certain things in physics.
Alsl study computer science, I promise it will help you a lot in the future. I also used to study physics and calculus as a teenager and even got international physics olympiad awards, but the truth is that there are not so many career options for physics majors. But at least it will help to get accepted to best universities, which is great. So, I wish you the best
@@wiserhuman21 Yeah I want to learn some programming and computer science but I haven’t had the time or motivation. In the Summer vacation is December (I live in South Africa so it is summer here) i’ll try to do some computer science. I don’t really know what I want to do with my life, but I do believe you’re right that I should do computer science. Money is tight right now so i’ll try my best!
I struggle with making myself study for an exam that's more than a day away. The thing that works the best for me then is to impose deadlines on myself to emulate the pressure of the upcoming exam. For example, I have a PDE exam in 3 days - but today, I HAVE to finish half of the suggested problems
I’ve been using discipline ever since my army days and all throughout my engineering degree path to “get things done” but I actually got something out of this video when you mentioned the discipline required to give a speaker your undivided attention. I always thought that if it wasn’t interesting to me within 10 minutes that it wasn’t worthy of my attention, but you’re totally right, I have an obligation to listen to the whole presentation and come up with a few questions. Especially for an expert who took time out of their schedule to present something to me.
I have found that I need to settle my emotions to be able to study, If I had a spat with my GF or is worried about something, if I don't deal with it before sitting down to study I will not be able to focus nearly as effectively as when I am "emotionally settled" - Emotional health is health! and take care of yourselves! Discipline is good but like Andrew suggests apply it correctly (This is meant as support"/nuance" for Andrews argument, not an opposition)
Most curriculum courses, even the most fun and advanced become such a pain in a semester. For example, I have learned more stuff about String Theory or Non-commutative geometry, on my own than on both the two courses I have already passed... The classes always demotivate me, the pace is always wrong, most of the time too slow and demoralizing shallow, and everything is done for the sake of solving some stupid exercises for some exercises sets with a super-pressuring deadline. Then you don't have the time to study what you really want to go in-depth. This constant avoidance of the full-depth explanations is so annoying. :(
I was struggling a lot academically up to my second year of Physics undergrad with a CGPA of less than 3. I thought I liked Physics, but I used to rely on motivation to study all the time. Or study advanced topics out of syllabus without any plan or continuity. Many of your vlogs, the tensor videos helped me at that time to pivot my strategy. I put efforts into trying to follow a strict schedule to study and after a few months they became habits. My performance improved tremendously and I graduated with a decent profile. This week I got my first acceptance to a PhD program! Thank you very much for all the hard work and I just wanted to let you know that you are leaving deep impacts on people thousand miles away.
I kind of accepted that my motivation comes and goes. Sometimes I can do an incredible amount of work in a month, sometimes I can't do anything useful at all for a month, except for day to day tasks. Although I do agree that discipline and motivation are not the same, and being disciplined is extremely important
Not a physicist here - I just enjoy reading about/learning a bit of physics on my own time - but this is solid advice for pretty much any field of study. Thanks for this!
For me it works like this, do I always have the motivation to study enough to be a physicist? No Am I willing to do anything else? Yikes, no, guess I'll just study I just think about my average day, and the opportunities to meet other physicists and work on such cool problems, I'll do what it takes to be able to keep my life this way :D
Thanks andrew, Im just finishing up with qft this sem and oh boy has it been a ride, my two brain cells had a tough time but things are wrapping up nicely.
I think that identifying yourself as a physics student and viewing school work as something you do, simply because solving problems and tackling difficult concepts is something physics students do can help. At least it helped me a lot. And motivation comes and goes, it's nice when it's around but discipline and hard work will get you further. Anyway, thanks for the vid Andrew, it was a good reminder. Cheers!
To me, motivation is the ability to keep one thought in your head for as long as possible. Meditation has been helpful for that. Relying on discipline was helpful in undergrad, but now in grad school I'm feeling more lonely and depressed, so I have to deal with my mental health sometimes (listening to music, meditating, journaling, calling my girlfriend) before being able to work on my research at all. Wish me luck lol
Right now I’m doing my thesis for my last year in Applied Phyiscs undergrad, and I guess for the proposal part I finished way earlier than the deadline. What pushed me to do so was a combination of different things; (1) I was lucky enough to study something I actually like, so who am I to slack off and take that shit for granted. (2) I aim to finish things before they’re due, because my anxiety peaks when I cram. (3) My personal manifesto throughout all of my school life is “work while others sleep, so you can sleep while others work.” And lastly, (4) I looked for the fun in what I did. I enjoyed learning how to format the LaTeX document, I enjoyed learning how to make different plots on Python, and I just enjoyed understanding things a little better each day.
A lot of my friends often tell me about how I’m a better student than them but I think it’s really that I’m just more disciplined. I don’t think most people understand the idea and it causes them to allow themselves to be more inconsistent. The problem I have been having is burnout. Without any meaningful break for what feels like since covid began, I don’t know how to summon the energy to keep going nowadays.
Spark notes: P_n is a degree n=0,1,2,... polynomial with P_n(1)=1, and the whole set orthonormal, with the dot product of polynomials (in this context) defined as P_m dot P_n = int_{-1}^{1} P_m(x)P_n(x) dx. Explicitly, P_n(x) is given by (n!2^n)^{-1} times the n-th (x-)derivative of (x^2-1)^n; this is called Rodrigues' formula. That's enough to clumsily brute-force your way through many problems. Also, they satisfy a recurrence relation in n, a differential equation, and are given by a generating function. Crucially, that particular generating function turns out to be extremely important because it comes up naturally in a bunch of physical situations.
Omg, perfect timing. I had a sleepless night and want to avoid all of my final homeworks, paper, and exam prep. I treat school as a 9-5 job and usually set myself timers for 25 minutes with 5-10 minute breaks in between work sessions. There's a name for this method that I can't recall at the moment. It breaks up my study sessions into small chunks that feel more manageable. I also give myself one day completely void of responsibilities, so I can recharge for my busy week ahead.
I do this too!!! It's been the best thing for me. I get overwhelmed when I think I have too much stuff to do, but when I use the Pomodoro Technique it makes me feel like I'm breaking my task into little chucks. I also get to look forward to a break :). One of my favorite podcasts has a playlist of focus music and he times the playlist to end after 30 minutes, then a 5-minute break, then another 30 minutes. It's called "Flow State".
Huh, that's an interesting perspective. I'll give it a go, it kind of forces you to rephrase the task as being an investment in yourself, rather than just being something you're supposed to do. Personally, I'm much more motivated to invest in my-self than whatever task I'm supposed to be doing, so I would imagine this line of thinking would probably help. I definitely was expecting some kind of skit. but this was a nice surprise.
My motivation is thin because I have a full time job I stay motivated I hate restaurant industry and I don't want to go back, Ever. Also I love how wierd physics is. Really love. Since I was 14
To add, most people beat themselves up when they procrastinate because of whatever reason and think that theyre lazy or something. To quote what Dr. K always says about it: Procrastionation isnt a problem but is a solution. What it does is it tries to conserve energy like "Why would I study this thing for a week when I can study it for a day?". So I guess while pushing yourself to finish something is good, it isnt bad to procrastinate every now and then (just my 2 cents lol).
I am able to keep on studying or see the end of an incredibly boring task because I don't feel obliged to feel happy all the time. And that's, why I am annoyed by talks like, do what makes you happy and follow your passion stuff. At the end of the day, I try to stay away from the added stress of trying to feel happy/good.
Do you have any tips on dealing with motivation in the context of depression? I've been falling behind in my studies because I have the odd day where I just cannot bring myself to get out of bed or do anything because of depression, and I can never find the time (or motivation) to catch back up with what I missed on my own so I end up having gaps in my knowledge
Guys listen carefully to what he's saying, don't dismiss it. He's actually espousing a philosophy called Winner's Mindset, not very academic sounding but nonetheless super powerful. It just means that winners get things done regardless of circumstances or feelings. They plug through their work on the good days AND the bad. It means to rely on self discipline and not motivation to see you through. This is difficult to do, but this is what's necessary if you're going to succeed at anything sufficiently difficult. Forget motivation, train up your self discipline. If you're studying your passion, the storm will pass on its own as you just keep going.
I'm in my first semester of my second year of Physics, I've been really struggling this semester because of online classes. In my country, classes have been online for over a year now, and though I could still power through the first year online, once the second year started things really came crashing down for me. But the most important thing I learned is similar to what you shared, Andrew. Set goals for myself and realise why I want to achieve those goals. Plan my time well to achieve those goals smartly, while also leaving aside time for things that I would like to do (outside of studying). I've gotten a lot of help from psychological and philosophical "influencers" too like Dr. K and Jordan Peterson, and they have really helped in forming a stronger foundation and belief/philosophy fot my own life. I really think that focusing on one's own personal development, philosophy and purpose is so important. And I believe that once one gets better at those things, it'll make them better at anything (but I personally think that the advantage is quite bigger for Physicists because I don't think one can last long in this field (or even make it into this field) unless one is very firm and confident with their reasons for doing so. Thank you for this video Andrew. It was timely and amazing!!!
It is weird with me I will be willing to spend the entire night on a problem and still be motivated to do more when I am on summer break. I realized I love physics and want to cherish every moment of what I learned rather than being given a four month timeframe in which I have to learn the content while competing for a job. I lost my motivation to study physics after seeing other perform way better than me, being unable to find a job and family pressure.
I have made it this far because of my well-practiced ability to convince myself that physics is my passion and a burning desire to solve problems out of spite. I’ll show you Ms. Dion from 8th grade- bet you don’t know degenerate perturbation theory. Also being on a research project really helped. It gave me an insight as to why I was suffering through the classes, and a taste of what I want to do in the future. Class work sucks but I love research, so I have a light at the end of the tunnel.
"Also being on a research project really helped. It gave me an insight as to why I was suffering through the classes, and a taste of what I want to do in the future." Good to hear. Maybe I will feel better about my work when I can devote the majority of my time to research endeavors after I finish my class requirements.
Introductory physics sucks, especially for a math major. The homework and tests are worthless. I feel like I'm learning nothing, but my university doesn't let me skip prerequisites ._. I'm doing way worse in my intro "cALcuLuS baSeD" e&m course than analysis and calculus on manifolds ._.
Thank you, very inspiring! This moment I am very disappointed with the academic life, and is good to share that there are a lot of things going wrong with our educational system, but also that there are other, more simpler attitudes we can take, to educate our will and improve on what we can control.
I was an undergraduate physics major back in the 90s. I went on to become a doctor. About two years ago, I was helping my mother clean out some old boxes and I ran across a cardboard box that contained quite a bit of my old college physics homework assignments, exams, etc. As I read through the problem sets and exam questions that I had answered long ago (most of which I could only very superficially understand now), I felt pleased that I had achieved such a level of understanding. It was the discipline and achievement itself that was its own reward. Of course if I had gone into physics as a career, this knowledge would’ve been more practical. But that wasn’t really the point for me and it may not be the point for most of you. I have a little mantra that I often repeat to my children. I ask “why do we do difficult things?” And they say “because they are difficult.” The point is to convey the idea that you won’t always know The result of your efforts in advance. But if you stay dedicated and get going, good things can happen even if you don’t know exactly what you’re aiming for.
‘Motivation’ is used as such a buzzword, awesome that you’re lowering its importance a bit! I think the idea that you have to be incredibly motivated for everything just isn’t sustainable or realistic.
Thanks for the video Andrew... I always thought people who do very good in Physics are always having some sort of motivation and many times I considered myself less competent in this field because i don't feel motivated enough. Now I have realized that completely relying on motivation is not the smartest thing to do.
I've had alot of the interest I had in physics get beat out of me over the years from formal study. One can only do so many intense hour+ problems that require pages upon pages of algebra, for an unsatisfying answer, before they snap and I think I'm about at that point. I hope I'm just tired of being in an academic environment for decades and am overdue for a change of pace. With this thought in mind, I'm trying to get into industry or solely focus on my thesis work. That's my hope but I remain skeptical.
Today I started the application process for MIT, but I'm currently homeless, BUT I know I can handle the course load bc I love what I do and I ain't gonna stop Plz bless my application scuffed feynman
As a math major, I hold myself to a high standerd. When I work trashy, make stupid mistakes, or having a slow day I never know what will heal my pain. I love math; my love for maths is what I use. I understand there does not exist a lifetime of mistakes is zero, stupid or not.
value identification formula: V =(10000*(difficulty + (immediate consequence)) /deadline) rate the difficulty on a scale of 1 to 100 rate the immediate consequence of 1 to 100 deadline is the time given in minutes
Thanks a lot for the talk. I am a taking my first semester classes in undergraduate physics. Lol I got mechanics in first semester. It feels good to read examples and the text given, but I feel I am kind of lazy and lose interest while solving problems. I think I've got discipline issues as well cuz that's the reason I opened youtube instead of completing the problem set. I really hope I'll be back on track. And I also met you and greeted you in the REYES event! :)
Feel like introductory physics is very formulaic. It's all understanding concepts, memorizing a couple of equations and manipulating them in just the right way, whilst maintaining the originals' elegance i.e. not messing up the math, to obtain new equations which are applicable to only some special cases/problem sets and then plugging in some numbers, if necessary. Do you get a similar vibe? Btw, what do find to more difficult: memorizing formulae or doing the math (or both)? If it's the former, then try to make better notes (preferably in your free time) by using/referring your lectures notes such that you write down the generalized equations and what all the respective letters/quantities mean (and their units in parentheses) beside them and then working your way down, specializing them for specific conditions/problems and again identifying what all the new variables introduced mean, and all their respective units, beside each special equation. You can also write down definitions and draw labeled diagrams before/alongside equations, wherever necessary, to make them easier and clearer to understand. You can even, at a later stage, make a table comparing equations that look similar for example (a very basic one), Newton's Law of Gravitation and Coulomb's Law. In this way, you get a quick-review notebook for future reference! (Do let me know if you find this approach useful or if you're already doing something similar) If it's the latter, then watch Andrew's video about it. (think it's called "How I Got Good at Math" if I remember correctly) He has also made a video regaring the thought-process that goes into solving problems, specifically for freshmen, titled something along the lines of "How to Solve Physics Problems" (Do watch these videos, sorry for not having memorized their titles perfectly) Regards
@@juijani4445 hahha I exactly feel the same! Thank your for the tip! I think I will follow whatever you told!. I am an unorganised person and probably that costed me many things. I should make sure I am more organised in maintaining notes and all.. May I know what you are doing? Like are you a physicist or a grad student...?
I just finished my Quantum 1 Exam today, have a Thermodynamics exam tomorrow, I've been working on my Bachelors degree for 5 years now and still have at least another semester to go. I'm so burnt out, I don't even want to think about applying to grad schools at this point...
Here’s a tip : If you’re feeling bored, just tell yourself “What, Can I not just sit for some while and read (or write) some text? When there are people out there who work in fields just to barely make a living, Can’t I just sit and do something much more simpler?”
@Andrew Dotson When you finish your formal education I sincerely hope you will keep posting. Its evident that you love communicating and entertaining. You have all the tangibles and intangibles needed to be a big star. I wish you all happiness in life!
I can think of so many times in life when I screwed up in school and many times it began by over committing myself and not making sure I had time to make sure I'm enjoying my life. I'm not saying we should blow off our work all the time to go out with friends but we do have to be mindful about making sure we are meeting our physical, emotional, and psychological needs. Those don't go away. They're as important as food and water. Remember, nature always wins so we must respect it.
Remember to discipline your equations instead of motivating them, and also remember to go to NordVPN.com/andrewdotson to get a 2-year plan plus an additional month with a huge discount!
why does nord vpn printing so much money
Don't think I missed that All Time Low reference at 0:37!!! They were my jam in high school
This could not have come at a better time for me, thanks a lot Andrew!
When I decided to go back to school my therapist told me that motivation is a great way to get started, but it won't get you through it. The best way to look at it is to say "This is what I do." I am a student and I read text books and write papers. I am going into a physics based discipline and I do practice problems. It's important not to see it as "have to do" because that can lead to feeling guilt when you don't and will make it feel like a chore. Seeing all my coursework as something I do rather than relying on motivation or seeing it as something I have to do has helped me stay consistent and keep on task, even when I'd rather be doing something else.
That could work, but failing with that attitude sounds like the fastest way to have a full-blown identity crisis. Just keep the emphasis on "do" and not "I." Just because you're taking on the role of "a student" for some time doesn't mean it should be your answer to the question, "who are you?"
These are the same therapists who will then say things like "you are not your job" and "you are worth more than your work" when this line of thinking leads to negative consequences -- like interpreting setbacks and difficulties as personal failings.
Congrats on returning to school, as a returning student myself, I know how hard it can be. I also agree with the advice you shared, a lot comes down to mindset.
Also something my mom always says that’s helped me, is to say this isn’t something I have to do, it’s something I get to do.
Thank you Mrs Dotson
It’s not low motivation brotha, it’s an insane difficulty to grasp the content that puts fear in my soul
EXACTLY it won’t bite and it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you keep stroking it
This is so true, sometimes physics gets so hard you want to run away and forget about it
Same lmao. I'm just so annoyed by the fact that kinematics is so hard for me.
What helps me is realising that my work probably isn't nearly as hard as I think, and that helps a lot of the time. The whole discipline soldier thing doesn't really work for me at all, I just need to put the situation into a persepctive that my brain won't freak out about, and that is really all that has helped.
Ah so you kind of convince yourself that it's never as bad as it seems which makes it more manageable, cool tip!
This sounds helpful..
Thank you
The issue with this strategy is that sometimes you wont be able to put things into the right perspective quickly enough. And so you may lose days or even weeks trying to find the right perspective before you get up and work again. So, this is why discipline matters. You just train yourself to slog through painful situations even when they suck; especially when it sucks. This way you dont lose time.
I am naturally a thorough person, I like to do all the derivation steps that get skipped in textbooks, and I like to really understand what I'm doing intuitively wherever I use a problem solving method. That's why studying quantum mechanics on a quarter system has been the absolute bane of my existence. "What does this sprawling mess of linear algebra and interaction integrals mean? Well we could spend a whole week exploring it, but we only have 10 of those, so we're moving on!"
University is beating the disciplined physicist out of me *sigh*
I'm feeling this reading math research papers
Oh boy, I definitely resonated with this video! My motivation during my Physics PhD definitely took a nose-dive during the start of the pandemic and especially after reaching PhD Candidacy. I think what I came to realize was that for most of undergraduate + start of graduate school, I had relied a lot on the constant pressure and deadlines from class assignments, midterms, finals, etc. to keep me motivated to succeed, but after finishing all my classes and transitioning into full-time research, those motivating factors went away. Not going to lie, there was a stretch of time post-Candidacy that I literally didn't do anything physics related for what felt like weeks, and I was very ashamed of it. However, I think it was an important wake-up call for me that I needed to set up my own structure and routine outside of a classroom setting, and I'm happy to say that I've gotten back on track with my PhD now.
Glad you pointed that out! It is so weird going from intense structure of the first year or two to almost free again, definitely easy to star slipping there.
we've all been there
Motivation is what get's you started, discipline is what keeps you going. As a grad student, I look back at my early undergrad when I was just so excited to do everything versus now when I just kinda do things cause I know I have to.
When you've been doing this shit for years in grad school or beyond, I feel like it just becomes like any other job you feel disciplined enough to do.
Easier to steer something that's already moving!
You look great Andrew! 75th!! Ready for Christmas?🎄Love ~ Mom💕💕
I'm a junior in Physics and Math and next week I have my finals. I absolutely needed this. Frankly I'm really glad you didn't just give us a whole speech on how to keep our motivation up 100% of the time. That kind of stuff just makes me feel worse when I can't seem to get motivated. Thanks for the words of wisdom Smart Man, time to sit my ass down and study for my quantum exam
good luck bro🙏🏽 i got a 91 on my quantum exam last week, you got this!
I had so low motivation to study physics that i switched to math
For me procrastination has been a huge problem in school.
At my university there is alot of self study and that is not optimal considering my procrastination.
So the thing I do is I am always at university from basically 9-5 and work there. If I need to work more I stay there longer.
Try to separate university and home. Make them a place for work and a place for non productive stuff.
I have to bend this rule with huge assignments, but the deadline and importance would often be motivation enough.
What this did for me was it created a shift in my brain. When I walk to the university I would have another mindset more fit for work that I just couldnt get while at home.
It helped me not mix work and relaxing. Then working would be spent sometimes doing other stuff and relaxing would be spent being anxious of not having done enough.
TL;DR
I got a schedule, or discipline, which is in theme with the video.
Don't underestimate that.
One of the best pieces of advice I've heard (regarding thesis writing, although I apply the philosophy more generally) is summed up as "you don't need to commit to finishing now, but you do need to commit to starting now."
More narrowly, the advice was: force yourself to do 30 minutes of thesis-writing a day. If you get to the end of that 30 minutes and it's still painful and you want to stop, fine, call it quits for the day and come back the next day. You did some work, and eventually you'll get past the painful part and things will pick up again. But often - even when the part was initially painful - you'll find that after 30 minutes you just want to finish your section, or that you're otherwise motivated, and things will flow again, at least for a bit, at which point you work until you feel done for the day.
And I find this really works for me: if I have something I'm avoiding, I usually just need to start, and then I don't want to stop. Newton's first law of working: it takes some force to get me to start moving (and that's the discipline part), but then I'll keep moving unless my work provides a substantial amount of friction.
I like it
me watching this as an engineering student: 👁👄👁
I’ve lacked determination and discipline recently and had suffered in university for it. But I’m coming back next semester full steam ahead! It’s surprising how related doing homeworks and deriving equations are to making your bed and doing laundry. It’s all about discipline!
I loved this video, thank you Andrew Dotson for this reassuring reminder! :)
What keeps me motivated is knowing that failure is NOT an option for me. I always knew I wanted to study physics and be the best I possibly could. So when push came to shove and I lacked motivation, feeling that I might fail to reach my goals enabled me to develop the necessary dicipline to keep on grinding.
Motivation
Thank you! I lose motivation self teaching myself physics and mathematics. I’m a teenager that is busy with Calc 1 and physics 2. This really helped me because I sometimes lose motivation when I don’t understand certain things in physics.
You should try study with friends it will keep you motivated
@Tejas its doesn't matter if only if he is interested
Alsl study computer science, I promise it will help you a lot in the future. I also used to study physics and calculus as a teenager and even got international physics olympiad awards, but the truth is that there are not so many career options for physics majors. But at least it will help to get accepted to best universities, which is great. So, I wish you the best
@@wiserhuman21 Yeah I want to learn some programming and computer science but I haven’t had the time or motivation. In the Summer vacation is December (I live in South Africa so it is summer here) i’ll try to do some computer science. I don’t really know what I want to do with my life, but I do believe you’re right that I should do computer science. Money is tight right now so i’ll try my best!
@@wiserhuman21 So he can be a slave of some company? How about no?
I struggle with making myself study for an exam that's more than a day away. The thing that works the best for me then is to impose deadlines on myself to emulate the pressure of the upcoming exam. For example, I have a PDE exam in 3 days - but today, I HAVE to finish half of the suggested problems
I’ve been using discipline ever since my army days and all throughout my engineering degree path to “get things done” but I actually got something out of this video when you mentioned the discipline required to give a speaker your undivided attention. I always thought that if it wasn’t interesting to me within 10 minutes that it wasn’t worthy of my attention, but you’re totally right, I have an obligation to listen to the whole presentation and come up with a few questions. Especially for an expert who took time out of their schedule to present something to me.
I have found that I need to settle my emotions to be able to study, If I had a spat with my GF or is worried about something, if I don't deal with it before sitting down to study I will not be able to focus nearly as effectively as when I am "emotionally settled" - Emotional health is health! and take care of yourselves! Discipline is good but like Andrew suggests apply it correctly
(This is meant as support"/nuance" for Andrews argument, not an opposition)
Definitely agree
Despite being in a completely unrelated field, forcing yourself to formulate and ask a question each class is a great strategy.
Most curriculum courses, even the most fun and advanced become such a pain in a semester.
For example, I have learned more stuff about String Theory or Non-commutative geometry, on my own than on both the two courses I have already passed...
The classes always demotivate me, the pace is always wrong, most of the time too slow and demoralizing shallow, and everything is done for the sake of solving some stupid exercises for some exercises sets with a super-pressuring deadline. Then you don't have the time to study what you really want to go in-depth.
This constant avoidance of the full-depth explanations is so annoying. :(
Didn't you get skinnier than before? If so, take care.
I always enjoy your videos. Thanks.
I was struggling a lot academically up to my second year of Physics undergrad with a CGPA of less than 3. I thought I liked Physics, but I used to rely on motivation to study all the time. Or study advanced topics out of syllabus without any plan or continuity.
Many of your vlogs, the tensor videos helped me at that time to pivot my strategy. I put efforts into trying to follow a strict schedule to study and after a few months they became habits. My performance improved tremendously and I graduated with a decent profile. This week I got my first acceptance to a PhD program!
Thank you very much for all the hard work and I just wanted to let you know that you are leaving deep impacts on people thousand miles away.
> Peacefully wrapping up your semesters
more like somersaulting myself a hundred feet up in the air while being on fire as I finish up my sem
I kind of accepted that my motivation comes and goes. Sometimes I can do an incredible amount of work in a month, sometimes I can't do anything useful at all for a month, except for day to day tasks. Although I do agree that discipline and motivation are not the same, and being disciplined is extremely important
Not a physicist here - I just enjoy reading about/learning a bit of physics on my own time - but this is solid advice for pretty much any field of study. Thanks for this!
For me it works like this, do I always have the motivation to study enough to be a physicist? No
Am I willing to do anything else? Yikes, no, guess I'll just study
I just think about my average day, and the opportunities to meet other physicists and work on such cool problems, I'll do what it takes to be able to keep my life this way :D
Thanks andrew, Im just finishing up with qft this sem and oh boy has it been a ride, my two brain cells had a tough time but things are wrapping up nicely.
I think that identifying yourself as a physics student and viewing school work as something you do, simply because solving problems and tackling difficult concepts is something physics students do can help. At least it helped me a lot. And motivation comes and goes, it's nice when it's around but discipline and hard work will get you further.
Anyway, thanks for the vid Andrew, it was a good reminder. Cheers!
I like it
To me, motivation is the ability to keep one thought in your head for as long as possible. Meditation has been helpful for that. Relying on discipline was helpful in undergrad, but now in grad school I'm feeling more lonely and depressed, so I have to deal with my mental health sometimes (listening to music, meditating, journaling, calling my girlfriend) before being able to work on my research at all. Wish me luck lol
Right now I’m doing my thesis for my last year in Applied Phyiscs undergrad, and I guess for the proposal part I finished way earlier than the deadline. What pushed me to do so was a combination of different things; (1) I was lucky enough to study something I actually like, so who am I to slack off and take that shit for granted. (2) I aim to finish things before they’re due, because my anxiety peaks when I cram. (3) My personal manifesto throughout all of my school life is “work while others sleep, so you can sleep while others work.” And lastly, (4) I looked for the fun in what I did. I enjoyed learning how to format the LaTeX document, I enjoyed learning how to make different plots on Python, and I just enjoyed understanding things a little better each day.
A lot of my friends often tell me about how I’m a better student than them but I think it’s really that I’m just more disciplined. I don’t think most people understand the idea and it causes them to allow themselves to be more inconsistent. The problem I have been having is burnout. Without any meaningful break for what feels like since covid began, I don’t know how to summon the energy to keep going nowadays.
Being too disciplined can be counterproductive too in the long run.
Watching this while in a zoom lecture talking about legendre polynomials. This is a great use of my time and will never bite me in the ass later.
Spark notes: P_n is a degree n=0,1,2,... polynomial with P_n(1)=1, and the whole set orthonormal, with the dot product of polynomials (in this context) defined as P_m dot P_n = int_{-1}^{1} P_m(x)P_n(x) dx. Explicitly, P_n(x) is given by (n!2^n)^{-1} times the n-th (x-)derivative of (x^2-1)^n; this is called Rodrigues' formula. That's enough to clumsily brute-force your way through many problems. Also, they satisfy a recurrence relation in n, a differential equation, and are given by a generating function. Crucially, that particular generating function turns out to be extremely important because it comes up naturally in a bunch of physical situations.
Omg, perfect timing. I had a sleepless night and want to avoid all of my final homeworks, paper, and exam prep. I treat school as a 9-5 job and usually set myself timers for 25 minutes with 5-10 minute breaks in between work sessions. There's a name for this method that I can't recall at the moment. It breaks up my study sessions into small chunks that feel more manageable. I also give myself one day completely void of responsibilities, so I can recharge for my busy week ahead.
I think the name of the method is pomodoro.
I do this too!!! It's been the best thing for me. I get overwhelmed when I think I have too much stuff to do, but when I use the Pomodoro Technique it makes me feel like I'm breaking my task into little chucks. I also get to look forward to a break :). One of my favorite podcasts has a playlist of focus music and he times the playlist to end after 30 minutes, then a 5-minute break, then another 30 minutes. It's called "Flow State".
Huh, that's an interesting perspective. I'll give it a go, it kind of forces you to rephrase the task as being an investment in yourself, rather than just being something you're supposed to do. Personally, I'm much more motivated to invest in my-self than whatever task I'm supposed to be doing, so I would imagine this line of thinking would probably help.
I definitely was expecting some kind of skit. but this was a nice surprise.
Thanks for the input! Investing in yourself is an interesting take
My motivation is thin because I have a full time job
I stay motivated I hate restaurant industry and I don't want to go back,
Ever.
Also I love how wierd physics is.
Really love. Since I was 14
To add, most people beat themselves up when they procrastinate because of whatever reason and think that theyre lazy or something. To quote what Dr. K always says about it: Procrastionation isnt a problem but is a solution. What it does is it tries to conserve energy like "Why would I study this thing for a week when I can study it for a day?". So I guess while pushing yourself to finish something is good, it isnt bad to procrastinate every now and then (just my 2 cents lol).
This motivated me to get disciplined. Lol
I am able to keep on studying or see the end of an incredibly boring task because I don't feel obliged to feel happy all the time. And that's, why I am annoyed by talks like, do what makes you happy and follow your passion stuff. At the end of the day, I try to stay away from the added stress of trying to feel happy/good.
Totally irrelevant comment but the beard suits you better 😂
Your fan from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
Discipline, motivation, curiosity,... all of that might be part of the equation, but so is luck. I think people love to overlook that one the most.
my grades are 👎
i wanna study ,i love physics
but there are patches i need to fill , but idk how to for example weak at math 🥺
flammable math slander is accepted here
Do you have any tips on dealing with motivation in the context of depression? I've been falling behind in my studies because I have the odd day where I just cannot bring myself to get out of bed or do anything because of depression, and I can never find the time (or motivation) to catch back up with what I missed on my own so I end up having gaps in my knowledge
I have a QFT assignment due in 2 hours, and here I am
This was very helpful! Thank you :)
How’d it go?
Guys listen carefully to what he's saying, don't dismiss it. He's actually espousing a philosophy called Winner's Mindset, not very academic sounding but nonetheless super powerful. It just means that winners get things done regardless of circumstances or feelings. They plug through their work on the good days AND the bad. It means to rely on self discipline and not motivation to see you through. This is difficult to do, but this is what's necessary if you're going to succeed at anything sufficiently difficult.
Forget motivation, train up your self discipline. If you're studying your passion, the storm will pass on its own as you just keep going.
I'm in my first semester of my second year of Physics, I've been really struggling this semester because of online classes. In my country, classes have been online for over a year now, and though I could still power through the first year online, once the second year started things really came crashing down for me.
But the most important thing I learned is similar to what you shared, Andrew. Set goals for myself and realise why I want to achieve those goals. Plan my time well to achieve those goals smartly, while also leaving aside time for things that I would like to do (outside of studying). I've gotten a lot of help from psychological and philosophical "influencers" too like Dr. K and Jordan Peterson, and they have really helped in forming a stronger foundation and belief/philosophy fot my own life.
I really think that focusing on one's own personal development, philosophy and purpose is so important. And I believe that once one gets better at those things, it'll make them better at anything (but I personally think that the advantage is quite bigger for Physicists because I don't think one can last long in this field (or even make it into this field) unless one is very firm and confident with their reasons for doing so.
Thank you for this video Andrew. It was timely and amazing!!!
I’m in ap physics c right now , I have no motivation but I don’t think it’s the career path I want to pursue so it’s ok
Your motivation is: you hope that one day Papa Flammy will let you out of his basement
Who are you and what have you done to Andrew! Return our long haired, bearded Andrew this instant!
You are so handsome
It is weird with me I will be willing to spend the entire night on a problem and still be motivated to do more when I am on summer break. I realized I love physics and want to cherish every moment of what I learned rather than being given a four month timeframe in which I have to learn the content while competing for a job. I lost my motivation to study physics after seeing other perform way better than me, being unable to find a job and family pressure.
Me he fought depression with decipline, it was hard times man.
The beard will come back, with a vengeance =)
typical andrew W
How do you come over severe question asking anxiety disorder?
I would've thumbs up this video, but the count is on 420 so... I'm sorry Andrew, you know the rules of the universe, perhaps better than most.
hey Andrew, do you have advice for people doing grad apps?
what about those of us that have high motivation but get stuck on a concept >_>
Finished first term in Cambridge 2nd year Physics. What a hell it was with Fourier Optics and Emag etc. This was so so needed
U look different
Calling me out, saw this as I was procrastinating my Atmospheric Science studying for my exam Friday...thanks Andrew!
I have made it this far because of my well-practiced ability to convince myself that physics is my passion and a burning desire to solve problems out of spite. I’ll show you Ms. Dion from 8th grade- bet you don’t know degenerate perturbation theory.
Also being on a research project really helped. It gave me an insight as to why I was suffering through the classes, and a taste of what I want to do in the future. Class work sucks but I love research, so I have a light at the end of the tunnel.
"Also being on a research project really helped. It gave me an insight as to why I was suffering through the classes, and a taste of what I want to do in the future."
Good to hear. Maybe I will feel better about my work when I can devote the majority of my time to research endeavors after I finish my class requirements.
Lol well I just finished my finals yesterday
Introductory physics sucks, especially for a math major. The homework and tests are worthless. I feel like I'm learning nothing, but my university doesn't let me skip prerequisites ._.
I'm doing way worse in my intro "cALcuLuS baSeD" e&m course than analysis and calculus on manifolds ._.
Thank you, very inspiring! This moment I am very disappointed with the academic life, and is good to share that there are a lot of things going wrong with our educational system, but also that there are other, more simpler attitudes we can take, to educate our will and improve on what we can control.
Any tips for low motivation with runecrafting? Other than tears of guthix...
Grinding for bloods is so worth it. Super afk
The slander of Flammable Maths XD
Me watching this vid to procrastinate…
I was an undergraduate physics major back in the 90s. I went on to become a doctor. About two years ago, I was helping my mother clean out some old boxes and I ran across a cardboard box that contained quite a bit of my old college physics homework assignments, exams, etc. As I read through the problem sets and exam questions that I had answered long ago (most of which I could only very superficially understand now), I felt pleased that I had achieved such a level of understanding. It was the discipline and achievement itself that was its own reward. Of course if I had gone into physics as a career, this knowledge would’ve been more practical. But that wasn’t really the point for me and it may not be the point for most of you. I have a little mantra that I often repeat to my children. I ask “why do we do difficult things?” And they say “because they are difficult.” The point is to convey the idea that you won’t always know The result of your efforts in advance. But if you stay dedicated and get going, good things can happen even if you don’t know exactly what you’re aiming for.
You look like a grownup young man😂🤣👏
Physics is going great, need a vid on dealing with low motivation for gen ed's.
Wow, that cheat code analogy really changed my perspective on motivation. You're the best, Andrew!
The ATL bit surprised me lmao
‘Motivation’ is used as such a buzzword, awesome that you’re lowering its importance a bit! I think the idea that you have to be incredibly motivated for everything just isn’t sustainable or realistic.
I was passionate in theoretical physics but im having low motivation studying physics and im considering engineering what do you think
Thanks for the video Andrew... I always thought people who do very good in Physics are always having some sort of motivation and many times I considered myself less competent in this field because i don't feel motivated enough. Now I have realized that completely relying on motivation is not the smartest thing to do.
I've had alot of the interest I had in physics get beat out of me over the years from formal study. One can only do so many intense hour+ problems that require pages upon pages of algebra, for an unsatisfying answer, before they snap and I think I'm about at that point. I hope I'm just tired of being in an academic environment for decades and am overdue for a change of pace. With this thought in mind, I'm trying to get into industry or solely focus on my thesis work. That's my hope but I remain skeptical.
i missed you. thanks for your videos
I was hoping for a skit ☹️
Ayyyy
Hold on, what's this? Andrew's beard is gone... Where did it go?
Today I started the application process for MIT, but I'm currently homeless, BUT I know I can handle the course load bc I love what I do and I ain't gonna stop
Plz bless my application scuffed feynman
As a math major, I hold myself to a high standerd. When I work trashy, make stupid mistakes, or having a slow day I never know what will heal my pain. I love math; my love for maths is what I use. I understand there does not exist a lifetime of mistakes is zero, stupid or not.
I am watching u since I was in class 11 now I am a undergrad physics student
Andrew and Jens feel probably more connected to each other than M&Ms
He is mein papa
thumbnail choice? Lol it says a lot about physics problems
who stole your beard?
value identification formula:
V =(10000*(difficulty + (immediate consequence)) /deadline)
rate the difficulty on a scale of 1 to 100
rate the immediate consequence of 1 to 100
deadline is the time given in minutes
Thanks a lot for the talk. I am a taking my first semester classes in undergraduate physics. Lol I got mechanics in first semester. It feels good to read examples and the text given, but I feel I am kind of lazy and lose interest while solving problems. I think I've got discipline issues as well cuz that's the reason I opened youtube instead of completing the problem set. I really hope I'll be back on track. And I also met you and greeted you in the REYES event! :)
Feel like introductory physics is very formulaic. It's all understanding concepts, memorizing a couple of equations and manipulating them in just the right way, whilst maintaining the originals' elegance i.e. not messing up the math, to obtain new equations which are applicable to only some special cases/problem sets and then plugging in some numbers, if necessary. Do you get a similar vibe? Btw, what do find to more difficult: memorizing formulae or doing the math (or both)?
If it's the former, then try to make better notes (preferably in your free time) by using/referring your lectures notes such that you write down the generalized equations and what all the respective letters/quantities mean (and their units in parentheses) beside them and then working your way down, specializing them for specific conditions/problems and again identifying what all the new variables introduced mean, and all their respective units, beside each special equation. You can also write down definitions and draw labeled diagrams before/alongside equations, wherever necessary, to make them easier and clearer to understand. You can even, at a later stage, make a table comparing equations that look similar for example (a very basic one), Newton's Law of Gravitation and Coulomb's Law. In this way, you get a quick-review notebook for future reference! (Do let me know if you find this approach useful or if you're already doing something similar)
If it's the latter, then watch Andrew's video about it. (think it's called "How I Got Good at Math" if I remember correctly)
He has also made a video regaring the thought-process that goes into solving problems, specifically for freshmen, titled something along the lines of "How to Solve Physics Problems" (Do watch these videos, sorry for not having memorized their titles perfectly)
Regards
@@juijani4445 hahha I exactly feel the same! Thank your for the tip! I think I will follow whatever you told!. I am an unorganised person and probably that costed me many things. I should make sure I am more organised in maintaining notes and all.. May I know what you are doing? Like are you a physicist or a grad student...?
Very useful idea especially there are many things in our lives which require persistence. And look much younger without beard.
Master in Engineering knowledge here💯💯🇺🇸
A solid video. The sponsor plug was fun. I think deadlines can be motivating.
I just finished my Quantum 1 Exam today, have a Thermodynamics exam tomorrow, I've been working on my Bachelors degree for 5 years now and still have at least another semester to go. I'm so burnt out, I don't even want to think about applying to grad schools at this point...
Here’s a tip : If you’re feeling bored, just tell yourself “What, Can I not just sit for some while and read (or write) some text? When there are people out there who work in fields just to barely make a living, Can’t I just sit and do something much more simpler?”
@Andrew Dotson When you finish your formal education I sincerely hope you will keep posting. Its evident that you love communicating and entertaining. You have all the tangibles and intangibles needed to be a big star. I wish you all happiness in life!
I can think of so many times in life when I screwed up in school and many times it began by over committing myself and not making sure I had time to make sure I'm enjoying my life. I'm not saying we should blow off our work all the time to go out with friends but we do have to be mindful about making sure we are meeting our physical, emotional, and psychological needs. Those don't go away. They're as important as food and water. Remember, nature always wins so we must respect it.