What are some ways you motivate yourself to work, after work?

I think having some mental separation between work and not work can help. So this might mean going for a workout/walk or a commute and an unwind routine

My main issue has been having the energy. Work is so draining so I find that working out frequently just generally increased my overall energy levels

Here's some of my methods:

• Listening to intense anime music and pretending I'm the protag but instead of killing titans, I need to code
• Shifting my mindset from "I have to code after work" to "I get to code after work"; there are 100s of millions of people in the world who don't have the access to do that, it's a huge top percentile privilege
• Remembering that your efforts will compound over time to create highly impactful changes in your life (maybe others too)
• Heaps of super personal & intrinsic motivators

Two strategies I've tried:

• Don't make myself work 4 hours after work everyeday at burn out on my side projects, instead 30-60 min consistently per day and then stop
• Mix up what I'm doing so I have a lot of variety. This isn't the greatest for going fast in one area but holistically I feel happy to make youtube videos Monday, Tuesday, build on my app on Wednesday, have fun with friends Thursday, Friday, build more on Saturday, fully unplug on Sunday

This one's easy: Completely forget about work and live your life.

If you like coding and building cool stuff (which I really hope you do if you're reading this on Taro), you should be able to genuinely enjoy your job. So by cleanly stepping away from work after work, you keep your energy levels up while fostering the capacity to miss doing the work. This is another reason why I encourage engineers to fully utilize their PTO and take longer vacations.

When it comes to productivity tricks during work, I resonate a lot with the anime music one. My favorite recently has been My Hero Academia (Go Beyond! PLUS ULTRA)

In general, work-life balance is extremely important and crucial to a long-lasting career. If this is something you're having trouble with, go through this playlist: [Taro Top 10] Work-Life Balance

Thanks for that take Alex, I love it!

One thing I might be getting mixed up on though is the side project importance. It is an awesome way to catch the eye of big tech or a start up incubator - but maybe that is more critical for Junior engineers and if you just knock it out of the park being in the top >10% at your company then that is a better use of time than trying to also do a lot on the side as a mid-level plus engineer (unless you simply are doing it with no ulterior motives than pure joy of doing it)?

One thing I might be getting mixed up on though is the side project importance.

For Big Tech hiring, I think excelling at your current role is higher ROI while side projects are better for a startup incubator.

Zooming out though, I actually don't see these as conflicting. I love being an engineer, but I have rarely worked a 60+ hours week. Side projects were a way for me to blow off steam after work and have fun while also continuing to build my skills (which translates back into my work performance). They sort of feed into each other if that makes sense.

If I need to strain to motivate myself, I usually know it’s a sign I need a break. A good break for me involves something vastly different and brings me joy and/or stimulation. That can include, meeting friends, watching a thrilling movie, going out for a show. When I come back from said break well-spent, somehow I can remember why I do anything I intend to do. When I’m drained, I can’t see past all of the work and see my initial motive. Everything feels hard.

But Idk if that is your case at all! I think I’m just getting old. All that to say, I believe it’s been powerful to remind myself of the “why”. If those reasons are compelling enough and are congruent with what I want to do and who I want to become, I don’t need any other motivation (other than good sleep/health/diet, friend/relationships, etc, etc).

I think this is a more “big picture” thing though. If you’re trying to meet some personal goal and you just gotta grind, personally, having an accountability partner has been very helpful.

Always go outside and get some kind of physical activity/exercise after work. This can mean going for a run, playing a game of basketball, hitting the gym, etc.

In busy times (ex. preparing for an important interview) I would at least go for a walk outside to reset my mind.