So today one of my friends chewed me out for always being addicted to something; she told me it was not right to be so obsessed with a videogame.

That got me thinking. The thing is, I get addicted to things on purpose. I actively seek out things that I'm able to get obsessive over. Things that are rewarding or interesting and can soak up hundreds or thousands of hours of my time. I could restrain myself from the object/activity (whether it be a movie, videogame, tv series, book, or activity such as running or playing a sport) but I don't. I instead fan the flames of my addiction until I can almost think of nothing else.

See, being addicted to things is my way of coping with life. I consistently have no motivation or am bored.
However, when I'm addicted, suddenly I have an all-encompassing need. I NEED to do it. Now I have an incentive. My room is never cleaner than when I'm addicted, and my grades are never better. I use what I'm addicted to as a reward; the faster and better I do something, the faster I can get back to my addiction. I've been doing this for around 10 years now. I have straight A's, a steady part time job, and my chores always get done. It's been working for me, yet my friends statement made me wonder how other people motivate themselves, or cope, or whatever. (Since its obvious that she doesn't use addiction as her reward)

Anyway, point of the thread; How do you stay motivated? How do you force yourself do things that need to be done even if you don't want to? How do you cope with the necessities of life?

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Oi, this caught my eye...

Been up and running for a good 17ish years, and what keeps me going from point A to point B is music quite frankly...
Music is an extremely flexible force, and it can integrate with your emotions. I often vent out feelings of frustration or sadness with songs alike to it, beats taking it out on other people. I listen to upbeat songs in the mornings, especially on the bus in hopes of a new day and I save the most loudest and fast songs for homework and chores. When I pop my two headphones into my ears, I feel like I block reality out of my life, and everything becomes my own world, I zone out. In fact, there are times were I just blank out to the point where my body and mind goes into autopilot, and I in result forget certain things that I just did (It get's really annoying at times because then I end up losing things or I forget what to do next...). But, i've been doing and used to this sort of thing since I was a child, and my ipod has become one of my oldest childhood relics as a result.

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Hmm... I get addicted to things on purpose too, but they're not my source of motivation. I get addicted just as much as I get tired of them lol, unless I purposely try to stay addicted. Now that I think of it, I search for things to get addicted to but in the end I leave them alone and never really try to get hooked on it. More times I try to stay addicted to something I fell in love with, since I don't want to lose interest I make myself like them on purpose.

From how I see it, addictive things are "top priority". They are not to be interfered with no matter what. So making them rewards is not gonna help at all for me. But on the other hand, they never had interfered with my chores, my studies, or anything else. They get done, I suppose you can say on a whim. I felt like doing it, and always am able to feel like doing it when my mind registers that as something I should and have to do. Though there's one thing. I hate it when ppl disrupt my subconscious schedule and ruin my pace.

So I guess there's nothing really motivating for me, if I want to do it, I do. If I don't, I don't. Surprisingly that has worked out pretty well for the last 16 years. I like things either perfect or none at all from the start, so once I start something, I like that thing itself. Whether it's chores or study. I guess the only thing I can count as motivation is really, is I like seeing the thing perfect after finishing. Hm, close to something like a medal for me?

Oh but! I end up hating things that I just can't do... such as, PE classes that make me run! Though sometimes I would still run on a whim when no one's watching.

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What motivates me? The fact that I'll fail if I can't meet my deadline

I don't use my addictions as my motivation. It doesn't work like that. I'm not revising for a subject, I'm creating. I'm getting a degree in the creative field, so I can't go "right, I'll spend one hour coming up with this idea, then I'll reward myself" because it might take me more than an hour to come up with something, maybe less, it's unpredictable. If I'm in the mood to be creative, I have to use it up until I can do no more. It's tough staying motivated when you have to be creative, it can really drain you.
Don't even get me started on actually creating the said idea either. My motivation for that is the fact that I'll finally be able to go to bed after I'm done XD
There is quite a process too, so you can't afford to fall behind otherwise you'll be sacrificing sleep for a few days on end. That motivates me to keep on schedule XD

Luckily though, I enjoy what I do so it's not too bad. The only thing I really procrastinate over is the paper work, because that is just tedious and boring, but alas all uni work comes with it so oh well.

Fear, panic. Nothing else. It's an eternal crisis zone.

Being busy keeps me motivated. The more stuff I have to do, the better I am at doing them on time.

And caffeine.