Camus had something to say about Sisyphus. I don't remember if I was talking to you about this or to someone else, but he theorized that Sisyphus was probably happy. Of course, he also argued that the reason Sisyphus was happy was that he saw life as a hopeless, constant struggle, and that therefor his lot was no worse or different than anyone else's. He recommended abandoning hope, because we only find Sisyphus' duty horrifying when it is compared to success. If we don't hope for something other than constant, ridiculous toil, then we can be happy. Acceptance, I suppose.

I don't particularly like this view. I'm not sure that I don't like it because I find something wrong with it, though. I may not like it because my stubborn brain clings to hope and free will and all that stuff, and instinctively flinches from anything else.

Anyway, you were talking about motivation and how utterly useless it is, except as a starter. I've thought about that a lot, too. I wonder a little if some of the fascination that I have had with motivation all my life might come from being told "you can do whatever you want" so frequently. It's an admirable sentiment, and it's served me well a number of times, but it's also let me down. While I can do whatever I want, I don't think that's the most effective way to go about getting the life I want. The relationship between do-whatever-you-want and be-whatever-you-want was never really made clear to me. As you point out, there's a lot of stuff that motivation and wanting-to don't get done. Most of it is the stuff that has to be habit. Of course I don't actually want to [clean the bathroom]. It's an [unpleasant] task that involves [unsanitary] things. Feel free to swap out activities of your choice in the brackets, with appropriate adjectives. 

A lot of people seem to find success in focusing on their goal when they run out of steam for something. I have found that it helps to just make myself think about it. It's easy to stop doing something or not start and instead play a game or read something entertaining or watch Doctor Who (or Star Trek). It doesn't require much thought. But if I can put enough barriers between me and those easy things that there's room for thought, sometimes I can interrupt the impulse and point my brain at something useful. Want play game. Computer off. Do not play a game, silly wench, your kitchen is filthy, fix it. Ugh. Fix kitchen. 

This doesn't always work. In fact, it frequently doesn't work. I frequently manage to reduce my better thinking self to background noise, to low-level constant guilt that functions as a sort of radio station of should-should-should playing in my teeth. And then I play the game anyway. I would like to find a way to make it easier to help my brain make me do things.

And while I agree that motivation isn't necessarily helping build habits, the lack of motivation is certainly one of the things making it more difficult. The more things that are in the way of me cleaning the kitchen, and the fewer things in the way of me playing a game, the more likely I am to play the game. Lack of motivation is a pretty big thing in the way. It requires something equally big to make up for it. Or lots and lots of little things.

I like your four things that you need. I often feel I need those same things, although some of them manifest in different ways. Music is distracting, as is mess. As is another person who's doing something fun (grumble grumble). Good light is good. Feeling accountable to someone is good usually, but it can sometimes backfire. If I just tell someone I'm going to get something done, and it's not an actual assignment for a class or money, I don't have the same accountability. In fact, sometimes telling someone I'm going to do something makes me less likely to do it. I think there have been some articles about that, and about how talking about goals takes away some of your push towards them.

Having a roadmap definitely helps. The impression that I'm making progress helps. Sometimes I know exactly what I need to do, though, and I just don't do it. I've had a skirt sitting on my table with a sewing machine for an embarrassing amount of time, and all it needs is a hem. I keep not doing it. The time barrier is part of why, but mostly it is because I keep doing other things instead. Things that are easier to do because I do have motivation to do them, and because they don't take a lot of motivation to do.

Also, sometimes when I don't feel well I am better able to get some things done. I don't really know why that is either. Maybe I feel poorly in body so I get other things done to feel better in some way? Maybe feeling badly emotionally helps give me a masochistic push to get things done as a sort of punishment? 

Thoughts?