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How do you stay interested in something for a long time? (kbin.social)

submitted 2 years ago by birlocke_@kbin.social to c/AskKbin@kbin.social

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How can you have 1000+ hours in a single game, work on a personal project for 10 months, spend 4 years writing a novel?

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[–] bstix 1 points 2 years ago

You need to get a feeling of achieving something. Set a goal. When you achieve a goal you get a dopamine rush.

In gaming this is part of the game. There are quests and subquests or simply winning rounds, leveling up, etc.

For other projects you need to set your own goals. For long and large projects this might seem impossible to achieve, so in order to get there you need to set sub-goals. You basically need a purpose for every day you sit down and work on it. If you try to sit down and work aimlessly it will only be frustrating, but if you know what you're attempting to do right that day, you can keep focused on achieving that. Sometimes it won't succeed, but that just means that the goal needs to be broken into smaller sub-goals or doing "side quests" which will enable you to continue. A real life side quest could be to learn something, getting a new tool or making smaller tests on a specific goal.

The process is the same whether the primary goal is to write a song, code a program or paint a painting.