[Lesson 4] : Staying motivated

[Raphael]

I think this is something that needs to be addressed, since there are countless threads in the on-topic section about people announcing that they "lost motivation." After going for so long without any real success, it's easy to get frustrated and give up. So in this lesson I'm going to talk about some steps you can take to avoid this collapse in motivation. A word about self-discipline First of all, I think most people suffer from lack of self-discipline, rather than lack of motivation. It doesn't take any effort to be motivated, that's only the desire to do something; and I don't think anyone loses the desire to have LDs, they just lose the desire to work at it. That's where self-discipline comes in. You have to be consistent, dream journals entries and RCs need to be part of your daily routine. If you start slacking on that stuff, then you're really wasting your time. The people who have the most success are the ones who stay consistent over time. Regaining motivation Self-discipline allows you to reach your goals, but motivation is still the driving force. If you don't have a strong desire to LD, then obviously it's going to effect your work ethic. Loss of motivation is something that happens after you go through a long period without success. So how do you regain motivation? Try reading through the dream journal section where people have written about their lucid experiences. Read about all of the benefits connected to lucid dreaming. Try to go back to that original mindset you had when you first learned about lucid dreaming, and remember all the excitement you had . Watch some Rocky training montages, go work out. Exercise can really clear your head and help you regain focus. Set goals These are absolutely key, they give you something to work towards. And when you achieve your goals, it'll motivate you to work harder. As you get better, make the goals more difficult. It's the best way to gauge your progression, and it keeps you focused. Short term If you're having a lot of trouble just trying to get LDs, then your short term goals should be focused on the training. For instance, everyday make sure to do 1 DJ entry, and 30 RCs. Customize it for yourself, and make sure you're consistent with it. Maybe you want to do that 5 days a week, and then reward yourself on the weekend by not having to do it. You might even find that you have success on the weekend, because a lot of times you have LDs when you're not consciously thinking about it. But try to be as consistent as possible, I wouldn't recommend taking more that 2 days off a week. Long term Long term goals can be different tasks that you want to do while lucid, or to learn different forms of control. These are the goals that motivate you to put in the work on your short term goals, and it's ultimately what you're working towards. There's also the Task of the Month program where you can be rewarded for completing their LD related tasks. Please post any questions or comments you have! --------------------