To all the Procrastinators, Time-Wasters, and Doom-scrollers…

Here's why you constantly have zero motivation—and how to actually unlock it.

Heads up: This is a deep-dive article—about a 15-minute read—the culmination of about 7 years of research, and trial and error.

It gets to the root of your chronic lack of drive, motivation, and energy. Then it provides a clear, 5-step game plan to turn things around.

Still unsure if it’s worth the read? Expand to see what people said when I posted a draft on Reddit.

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-PART ONE-Why You Actually Waste Time

You’re stuck in a rut.Apathy, lethargy. Entire days wasted away on Reddit, YouTube, or TikTok.

You find yourself procrastinating on virtually everything, coasting through life in a haze of mediocrity.This isn't the life you want. You're eager to break free—to work hard, to improve your lifestyle... to get fit, find a better job, start a business, pursue a creative dream—but for whatever reason… it’s just been impossible.The motivation to start, and more importantly, to persist, always seems out of reach.So… you decide to dig.You decide to see if you can uncover something that will 'unlock' your motivation and get you to stop wasting so much time.At some point you stumble on a viral TikTok video, hitting you with a promising revelation:

Your issue? You're simply adrift in life, lacking clear purpose and direction.You need to establish your WHYs behind the many WHATs of your dream life… until you do, you’ll stay stuck repeating the same patterns.Ask yourself: Why do you want to work hard and achieve your goals? Why is it so important? Why were you put here on earth?If you make all that SUPER clear... if you turn your answers into visualizations, vision boards, motivational posters, affirmations… then… YES! You'll start to feel a burning drive and motivation to achieve your goals."

So, you do all that.And for the first time in a while, you feel a flicker of hope and a tinge of eagerness to get stuff done.

Ready to take action, you open up a work program—but then it hits you.That feeling. That dreaded “ugh I just don't feel like it” sensation.You try to willpower through it, but not 5 minutes later, you're back on Reddit. Then onto YouTube. Then TikTok.By the end of the day, you’re just back. You’re back to your old ways. Back to where you started. Back to feeling like an utter failure.

What gives?

Inspiration vs Motivation

Here’s the deal.You're confusing inspiration with motivation. You're assuming they're essentially the same when really they're not.The word motivation has its origins in the Latin word for “to move”. Interpret this not as the will to move—that’s the domain of inspiration—but as the capacity to move.All that “why” stuff is important… but it’s the stuff of inspiration. And inspiration is the conscious intention to get your work done and achieve your goals. But you have plenty of that. More is not the answer

Motivation is the subconscious green light to expend energy on tasks. Without it, you are physically and viscerally inhibited to burn mental calories and get any work done.

Imagine this with a car analogy. Inspiration is pressing the gas pedal—and you might be flooring it if you have a David Goggins audiobook going.

Motivation, on the other hand, is the car's fuel injection system.It's located way deep in the engine such that you have zero direct control over it. It includes an electronic console that “decides” to pump and inject fuel to the pistons, which, when ignited, is what actually propels the car forward.

Now, I’m not saying it’s unimportant to get clear on your “whys”—a car won’t go fast or far if the pedal is barely tapped.I’m saying… your fuel injection system’s been disabled. It’s refusing to release any fuel when prompted to.And that there is your real issue. That’s what’s causing you to feel lethargic, uninterested and demotivated. That’s what’s causing you to procrastinate and coast through life. And that’s what need to fix before anything else.Here's a 4-Step process.

-PART TWO-How to Actually Get Motivated

Step 1: Don’t do the things that suppress motivation.

Us humans have serious survival needs. There’s the obvious stuff like food and shelter, but we also have psychological needs like love, intimacy, status, connection, and novelty.Back in the day, the cost to satisfy those needs was egregiously high. It took boat loads of effort, time, and risk. We needed to be enticed to do the work; to be rewarded after paying the cost—which includes relieving the discomfort of wanting and craving—otherwise we’d sit around and do nothing.We therefore evolved a motivation-to-reward neural pathway; a system that subconsciously drives us to take on tasks and missions when an opportunity arises. To expend energy and take risks; to put in hard work… all in the pursuit of survival-affirming rewards.

For the pleasure of food, you had to hunt.For the pleasure of intimacy and sex, you had to court and risk being ostracized.For the pleasure of status, you had to acquire resources and form alliances.All of which took a lot of energy. But the reward would (usually) come. And it was always just worth it, meaning there evolved to be a tight balance between the reward and its cost.

But that’s all changed in a blink of an eye. With today’s vices, we trick our brains into perceiving that these base needs are satisfied with virtually no work or risk.For the pleasure of food, there's DoorDash.For the pleasure of intimacy and sex, there’s porn.For the pleasure of status, there’s social media.

For thrill and adventure, there are video games.For the gratification of acquiring knowledge, there's Reddit and TikTok.For the satisfaction of contribution, there's slacktivism and virtue signaling on Twitter or Facebook.

Every single one of our physical and psychological needs can be “met” through the shortcut of a vice—a consumable product that can trick our brains into delivering a reward via artificial or vicarious means.Today’s tech, food, and entertainment industries have left no stone unturned.And with these shortcuts, the time-to-reward is milliseconds.The energy cost? A thumb swipe.The risk? Zero.Sounds amazing, right? In many ways, sure, our modern utopia of abundant, easy rewards is exactly that. Amazing. But there are side effects.We're seeing unprecedented rates of obesity, addiction, and mental health issues. Chronic procrastination and underachievement have become real societal issues.And without the frame of reference of what our lives were like before all these vices, we're left to blame it all on our apparent impulsive, lazy, and indulgent nature.But we weren't built for this world. You weren't built for this world.You, the real you, isn't lazy. You, the real you, isn’t careless. You, the real you, doesn’t lack discipline or self-control.You're just being cognitively impacted by vices. And you're not even realizing it.

The Consequences of Shortcuts to Rewards

We humans evolved in a world of scarcity. Conserving energy was a matter of life and death. We're thus super averse to expending energy without a really good reason.I mean, it makes sense.A lioness is not driven to chase a herd of aggressive gazelles if she just ate a giant zebra steak. An elephant is not motivated to walk for hours under a hot sun to find a new source of water and plants if his belly is already full. These animals know it’s time to rest, to chill, to veg.

So, what do you think happens when you spend the entire afternoon indulging your vices—consuming junk food, social media, video games, streaming content, porn—and experiencing all sorts of rewards? What message is your nucleus accumbens (the motivation center that guards the fuel injector of motivation) receiving from your parietal lobe (the area that processes sensory information)?

I know these regions of the brain communicate through electric pulses and neurochemicals, but I like to imagine them communicating via office memos.

As a result of this messaging, the motivation center will squash any request from your cerebral cortex (conscious mind) to use up energy.It just won’t let you do more work.It doesn't matter if your conscious mind is flooring the gas pedal, demanding the burning of calories.It doesn’t matter if your conscious mind is stressed and panicking about the impending doom of reckless procrastination. About the consequences of neglected projects, assignments, or final exams.It doesn't matter if your conscious mind is pointing to the potential for real, earned rewards that come from actual life achievements, rather than vicarious ones.Your subconscious—the electronic console responsible for pumping and injecting fuel—is utterly convinced that you’re surviving exceptionally well, and that you need to rest.

Doing the work is simply non-negotiable.

Unsupressing motivation

The take-away is this: consuming vices do more—a lot more—than just waste time.Vices lead to a short-circuiting of your motivation-to-reward pathway.

They decimate the need for motivation and work to survive.They lead to your near constant state of lethargy—to that dismal, “ugh I just don’t feel like it” sensation and mental state.And when when you don’t feel like it, you can’t help but waste even more time. It’s as simple as that.

So… Step 1 is to consume less crap.Delete stimulating apps.Set up website blockers, and screentime limits.Relax and unwind with less stimulating activities: reading, writing, creating, socializing, self-care.Just cut out the damn vices.

Step 2: Arrive at the proper mindset

I like to say that motivation is a cat.

It won’t come to you if you’re desperate for it; if you need it to come. You have to sit still for a short while and “pretend” like you don’t actually need it. Only then will it saunter over to you.In a word, motivation comes only with acceptance. You need to find acceptance of all that is now, right here in front of you, in this tiny sliver of the present moment.Understand: The motivation to change things only happens once you come to accept the way things are.It's a colossal paradox. But it makes perfect sense once you realize that the most productive people out there aren't motivated because they hate their lives and are yearning for change. They aren't riddled with unsatisfied needs and wants. They already feel whole and complete as they are; yet they also have a fire lit under them to work, hustle and make themselves and the world better.But coming to acceptance isn’t particularly fast or easy. In fact, if you manage to go through with Step 1, you’re going to be left with an attention vacuum that will quickly fill with the thoughts, feelings and emotions—worry, anxiety, regret, self-contempt, stress, depression, boredom—that you’ve been impulsively using vices to relieve and escape from.So, it’s going to feel like "the now" is anything but ok. It's going to feel like your life, as it is currently, is just not good enough to “accept” as is.Day 1, day 2, day 3. They’re mostly going to be tough (especially day 3 for some reason).Anticipate this.

Mindfulness is key in this. Mindfulness allows you to detach from the experience. To observe your thoughts, feelings and emotions dispassionately, as if they are occurring outside you. As if they’re something you can ‘look’ at:

"Hmm… there it is again. That feeling. That dark cloud of depression and hopelessness. I feel it right here in my gut. It's not exactly pleasant, but I’ll just sit and watch until it passes.Alright. Now here is boredom. And here is the idea to relieve that boredom with “5-minutes” on YouTube. Hello, you two. Glad you could make it. I’m just going to watch you for a while…"

From there, from that detached observing state, it'll be possible to eventually come to a gentle acceptance of all that is. But this takes time. We’re talking days here, maybe a week or more… but it will happen.

Step 3: Start small with tiny amounts of willpower

You’re heard of the concept of tiny habits. It’s where you strip down and simplify a habit you want to take on until it becomes almost trivial to accomplish.One squat per day, when you want to be doing 50.One sentence written per day, when you want to be writing 5 pages.One line of code when you want to be programming an entire app.Starting small with fresh habits is essential.The trick is to just show up for the action, without forcing yourself to start right away.I can’t stress that enough.Show up for the thing. Sit and wait. Initiate the mindfulness thing. Then, see if a flicker of motivation occurs to you. If it doesn’t, see if you can use a touch of willpower to nudge you forward.If it’s really not happening—if you don’t, as they say, have the spoons—just let it go, close things up, and come back later in the day, if not tomorrow.

Once again, never force yourself to work.

Step 4: Engage in self-care

Motivation—in the free flowing amounts you crave—ain’t free. It needs to be earned.This happens by taking care.First take care of yourself. Get good sleep. Cook and eat well. Exercise. Practice good hygiene. Learn, create, explore. Take the time for low-tech recreation, relaxation, and play.

Next, take care of others.Nothing nourishes the human spirit like doing good for others. It could be for your immediate circle, but also for your community, people of the internet, or the planet. Whatever floats your boat.Positive action leads to positive feelings leads to the desire to take more positive action, and so on.The more you do good, the more you want to do good.The way to beat a procrastination problem is by cultivating a simple and subtle desire to do the work—it’s not by cultivating the ability to force yourself or to be “more disciplined” or whatever.And that happens through self-care; through doing all you can to indirectly support and nurture your body’s fuel injection system.

Throughout: Be patient and self-compassionate

Self-compassion and patience is key in all this.The state of your subconscious has nothing to do with who you are as a person. You wouldn’t look at a Ferrari with a disconnected fuel injector and conclude it’s a terrible or slow car.So be ready to accept the fact that flossing even a single tooth might feel like an endeavor. Be ready for the grind of spending a half-hour without picking up your phone or opening up Reddit on your laptop. Self-contempt and criticism in this journey are neither helpful nor deserved.All this takes time.Motivation is cultivated just like a plant (last metaphor, I promise).

You need to gently place the seed in the right soil, give it a spec of nutrients and a splash of water—see the four steps above—but then you need to let it be, so that it can germinate, extend roots (which you won’t see for a while) and finally grow into a fruit bearing plant.You can’t force it.You can’t make it grow faster. Too much sun and it burns. Too much water and it wilts. To much neurotic pulling at the stem and—well don’t do that.Let it be.Allow time to pass.Take this time to mindfully explore your emotions and inner sensations and detach from them. Process all that needs to be process; all that you’ve been escaping from using your vices.Again, seek out some professional guidance and support to best make sense of it all.And above all, be compassionate with yourself when (and not if) you slip up.Remember: your subconscious is still programmed to believe it’s best way to survive is through vices. You have bad habits, and habits don’t break easy.The journey won’t be straightforward and easy. It'll take time, a bit of effort, and some good defenses (webblockers, environmental changes, routines, support) to override and then rewire this programming.But it can be done.Believe me, with enough time…It can be done.

-PART THREE-Sticking with Step 1

For some of you, the above 4-step process will be enough.You'll have taken in the true cause of your lack of drive and motivation. You'll have a blissful moment of clarity...

Then you'll delete all the apps and go on to live productively ever after.

~ The end. ~

...But for some of you, well... it just won’t work out that way.

That was me for years.I knew exactly what my vices were doing to my brain. Plus I wasn’t enjoying them anymore. I was beyond done—consciously, logically, emotionally.But I kept coming back.

This despite the pangs of regret. Despite the ardent promises. Despite knowing how wonderful and amazing and happy my life could become.I just... I just had zero effing ability to stick with my resolutrions. And I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.

I mean, it should be simple, right?→ Don’t do the thing that’s actively harming you.→ Don’t do the thing that’s keeping you stuck, stressed, and depressed→ Don’t do the thing that’s slowly killing your goals, sapping your energy, erasing your self-respect.And yet… I'd do it anyway. Over and over and over. It made no zero sense.

Meanwhile, I kept looking under rock after rock of self-help resources, hoping I'd come across across a magic solution.Sure, some of it was “inspiring.” Sure, it reminded me to be tough and resilient. To never give up.But when it came to actually breaking bad habits? The advice sucked. It never went much deeper than:"Make yourself not want to do it—and then just stop."I tried that. I tried the "just stop" approach a thousand times over and failed a thousand times over.So... I stayed stuck. Repeating the same patterns. Year after year. All while quietly hating myself for it.It was a really dark time.

Why Self-Help hasn't worked for you

Here's the thing. Here's what a decade-plus worth of banging my head on the wall has taught me.It wasn’t that I—and by extension you—don't want to change into your best self. And it's not that you don’t know how, or have immediate access to such information.You have all the advice. All the tips. All the “10 steps to a better you” bookmarked and highlighted.The problem is, you aren't ready for this advice—even if it's basic and simple and "easy". It just wasn’t made for someone like you; someone in your current situation.I can explain better using an analogy.It takes an enormous amount of fuel to get a spaceship off the ground—hundreds of thousands of gallons. But most of that fuel is burned at liftoff. To push through gravity, fight the thick friction of the atmosphere, and hit an escape velocity of 11 kilometers per second.But once it's out there in the nothingness of space? It just glides. There’s barely any resistance. All it takes to completely change direction or pick up speed is a tiny push from a side thruster.And that’s exactly what most self-help and productivity advice is: It’s the side thruster.It works beautifully if you’re already in motion—if you exercise semi-regularly, eat decently, and manage your time generally well.In that case, a careful and precise nudge—a new tip, tool, or mindset—can help you go faster, smarter, better.But if your ship is still on the launchpad? As in, if you’re struggling with the basics… if you can’t stop doomscrolling TikTok or find yourself gaming until 2am night after night… if you procrastinate recklessly on basically everything... Then it doesn’t matter how “good” the advice is.It won’t move you. Or worse—it'll lift you just a little. Give you a short burst of hope, maybe even a few good days. Then you slip. Then crash. And you end up back where you started but worse off: burnt out, bingeing, and full of self-contempt and renewed despair.

It took me a long time to realize this. Maybe too long. But once I did, I finally stopped trying to fix myself with productivity hacks and self-control. I finally began the real work of examining what exactly was driving my self-destructive behavioral patterns and why.For me, that started with getting proper help.With the support of a caring social worker, I found my way into mindfulness. One book in particular helped me begin the tough but essential work of addressing my depression head-on. I learned to observe the dark, uncomfortable cloud it brought… instead of trying to escape from it through vices.

Mindfulness didn’t change everything overnight—but it did start to shift things.From there, I started exploring more unconventional perspectives—specifically memoirs from recovering addicts.

These were a lifeline for me.They were raw, brutally honest, and weirdly comforting (and I especially recommend We are the Luckiest).For the first time, I felt like I’d found people who actually understood what I was going through. Sure, their stories were more extreme—but the emotional core? Identical.And they weren’t about “optimizing your morning routine” or “crushing your goals.” They were about self-compassion. They were about finding your way to not doing the thing because you’d found a way to not want to do the thing. Because you found a better, more constructive way to cope with life's gauntlet of stresses and pains and disappointments.There was no talk of mastering willpower, summoning self-control, or muscling through a lifetime of urges. That old mindset... the one I thought was the only way... I could finally let that shit go.Honestly, that’s what I needed most. To just let go. It might be what you need most too.

The Habit Reframe Method 1.0

During this period, I knew I had to do something with what I was learning. So I started piecing together my own self-improvement system from scratch.Like any prototype, it showed early promise. But then one part failed… which broke another… until the whole thing collapsed.Still—I kept at it. Every time it fell apart, I’d stop, reflect, adjust, and try again.It took years of this cycle—build, fail, learn, rebuild. But eventually, through countless iterations, I landed on something that actually worked. Something that finally got me off the ground.Then in the fall of 2020—and on a total whim—I decided to write it all out and post it to Reddit.

The response floored me. Over 1,000 upvotes, dozens of comments, awards, and a flood of thankful DMs.The method had clearly struck a nerve with people fighting the same battles I was—and feeling the same frustration with everything else out there.

Feeling energized, I kept going. Over the next few months, I shared more frameworks and reflections, each one deepening the conversation.Soon after, I launched a Substack, began hosting webinars, and started group programs to provide direct support and accountability.And through it all, I had the surreal experience of watching hundreds of people not just resonate with these ideas… but actually apply them—and see real change in their lives.

Meanwhile, my own progress was accelerating.I was hitting milestones I once thought were out of reach. And with every breakthrough, it became clearer what it actually takes to escape the grasp of tech addiction and procrastination.So I set out to build something different. Something deeper.I took everything I’d learned—through my own hard-won battles and from coaching hundreds of others—and distilled it into a method that’s powerful, actionable, and most importantly… sustainable.

The (new) Habit Reframe Method

This thing is different.You see, most self-improvement systems assume your problem is a self-discipline problem. They say stuff like:"It’s not complicated: the solution to procrastination... is to stop procrastinating. Exercise self-control. Cut the stupid distractions, the laziness, the excuses. Adn just do the damn work already.Or else, your issue is not applying the right technique. They'll say stuff like:"Motivation is overrated. Motivation follows action. You don't need it to get started... just start and it'll come.That stuff sounds good, and it came to define my internal dialogue for years. But all it ever led to was failure, frustration and self-directed resentment.It was only when I stopped to question the core assumption of this approach that things began to change. Like, what if this idea that motivation is "unreliable" and so the solution is self-control… what if that’s patently false?What if it’s the other way around?What if self-control is what’s unreliable—so the solution is to diagnose why you're in a constant state of zero motivation, zero drive, zero energy, zero care... and then work to fix that?That’s precisely what the Habit Reframe Method is about. That's what makes it fundamentally different.It’s not an AI-vomit lecture on human behavior. It’s not an endless video course you’ll never finish. And it’s not vague advice that leaves you wondering, “Okay… but what do I actually do?”Instead, you get:

The direct support bit is key, by the way. I'm not pretending everyone learns the same way or will experience the same path. If you reach a sticking point—and you will reach a sticking point—I want to hear about it. You won’t be the only one... so any question helps me clarify and expand things.Bottom line is this: the Habit Reframe Method is a real, human-support, self-compassion-focused system. It's built for people who’ve tried everything else and are finally ready for something different. Something that actually works.

What Your Life Can Look Like (Sooner Than You Think)

Imagine yourself for a second living your best life...

And maybe for the first time in a long time… you feel like you’re back in control. Like your life is actually yours again.That’s what this method unlocks.

What Your Life Can Look Like (Sooner Than You Think)

Alright. You’ve seen what this method is about. You’ve seen what your life could look like if things finally clicked.And now, you can try the method—completely free.Signing up gets you a 7-day free trial with full, unrestricted access to everything:

There’s nothing held back. No watered-down preview. No “upgrade to unlock.”Just you, the full method, and 7 days to actually see if this works for you.And if it doesn’t? Cancel with a few clicks. No charges. No email refund requests. No guilt.But if it does? If this gives you traction you’ve never had before—then it’s just $29/month. That’s less than the cost of two pizzas, for something that could permanently change your relationship with technology, productivity, and yourself.And here's the best part: once your trial ends, your first payment unlocks permanent access to everything listed above.No pressure to stay subscribed. No strings attached.I too hate that everything’s a subscription now. So I built this differently. The monthly plan lets me offer a free trial (Stripe’s rules, not mine), but that first payment? It gives you full ownership. Stay subscribed for as long as you want to support this mission, and what it can do for others. Cancel anytime.👉 Click here to start your 7-day free trial and finally get off the launchpad.

Still Not Sure?

Totally fair. Let’s clear up a few things.“What if I’ve already tried everything?”Then you’re exactly who this is for.This isn’t another “wake up earlier” routine or habit tracker app.
This method was built for people who’ve been through all that—and still find themselves stuck.If you’re tired of motivation hacks that don’t stick, or advice that only works for people who are already in motion… This is your reset button.“What if I fall behind or can’t keep up?”There’s nothing to “keep up” with.This isn’t a cohort or course you need to race through before the content disappears.
There are no live deadlines, no daily tasks, no dread-inducing checkins.You can go at your own pace, implementing the method on your terms.
And remember: once you make your first payment, you’ve got permanent access.“Do I really need to pay for another self-help thing?”Only if it’s going to actually help.This isn’t about collecting more information. This is about finally getting traction.The trial is free. The first payment gives you lifetime access. The cost is low. The potential upside? Huge.And worst case? You cancel in a few clicks and go on your way, no charge. No pressure. Just a real chance to finally get unstuck.

You Don’t Need to Hustle Harder. You Just Need a New Approach.

You’ve tried pushing through.You’ve tried shaming yourself into action.You’ve tried every trick that works for “motivated,” already-out-in-space people who aren’t stuck in the same loops you are.Now it’s time to try something that’s actually built for you.Start your 7-day free trial of the Habit Reframe Method. Get full access. Try it for real. See what shifts—not just in your habits, but in your mindset and beliefs about yourself.If it works, amazing. If not, cancel in seconds. No charge. No awkward emails. No regrets.But you won’t know unless you try.👉 Start Your Free Trial Now.

P.S. Got questions? Not sure if this is the right fit for you?Feel free to reach out. I read every message and I’m happy to give you an honest answer—no sales pitch, no pressure.📩 You can email me directly at: [your email address].
(Or reply to any email I’ve sent if you’re already on the list.)I want this to actually help you. If it’s not the right thing right now, I’ll tell you.- Simon D.

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