I’ve been running through a bunch of tutorials in blender as I noticed how I’ve progressed slower and slower until I reached the point where I just rather watch TV or play games than practice and educate myself about the 3D world.
Does anyone have any tips on how to cope with motivation and stay inspired to learn more?
Thanks!
It sounds like you need a project to work on. Some people can learn academically, and some need a project to put the learning in context.
Now you made me think about my self, i’m also having the same issues, I wanted to learn programming and Unity for 4 years now and In the beginning I started following youtube videos to make a unity 3d game but there were over 200+ parts, in the beginning I was motivated, I want to do this I want to learn this, but after a few videos not even 10 tutorials I think, okay I learned to use Unity but i am still not able to program or do things on my own, and gave up and go start to play games, but even that developing games is my dream trough I gave up every time, and now after 4 years of giving Up I found Ben and hi’s courses and that motivated me to start from scratch, I’m first starting with the blender course and I learned so much more in 1 section then in a whole year in school, and this is getting me motivated, but if you want to achieve something you should just go for it and not give it up, learning the fun way by making games haha, Believe me, After creating your first self made model in blender you will be proud and you will continue and get motivated, just do the thing you love
Hi Oscar,
There is nothing better than having a Friend who shares the same desire as you. Maybe team up with someone who is running through the course, you could help each other out and keep each other motivated.
Give yourself a goal. A project that you’re invested in and excited about.
I’m fairly busy, between work, my dog, gaming twice a week (table top) and other necessary uses of my time, there are plenty of times I would rather just sit back and watch TV, or read a book or something. I’m not saying I dont enjoy the course, as I really do, but sometimes motivation is hard to come by.
I dont though. I put in 1-2 hours a day to the Unity Course. More on my days off. I talk myself into it because I have a goal in mind.
I have a game I want to make. I’ve wanted to make it for a couple of years now. I’ve got a lot of it planned out on paper, and more of it in my head. Now I just need the skills and knowledge to make it a reality. That one game is what keeps me going when I would rather just kick back and relax.
It also helps not to look at the course like oh my god there 100 videos to go. It’s broken up into chapters for a reason.
Just look at it like, I’ve just got to get through these 10 videos, and I’ll know how to do THIS. Then when you get done with that section, think I’ve just got 15 more videos until I know how to do THAT. It’s not overwhelming when you think of it in that way.
This thread sounds like me ;_; I got to the point where my models had decent topology, but I still couldn’t texture well or add in bones effectively.
And then 8 months passed.
I find that, with the amount of content on youtube, if you try to do at least one 20-30 minute youtube tutorial per day (Like the cloth simulation, or the teddy bear one, or a simple rig, etc), then you’ll not only keep yourself on track, but pack your noggin full of essential and useful 3D tricks.
And a trick I used early on, is that just for fun, put on some time lapse 3D videos when you’re not doing anything, or playing a game. I think you’d be surprised just how much you’ll learn from these even watching passively, and they’re also relaxing and fun to watch. There is a deep innate human desire to watch something grow and take shape from nothing.
I agree with other replies but also think you should share your own products and ask your friends / community to say what they’re thinking about your job.
I agree with @he.lukasz above, by doing this there is a sense of accountability, when you are unable to push yourself, often having someone else that you have made a commitment to will help you to push on. So, if you were to show something on the forum for example, and then say what you plan to deliver in the following week, you would be making that commitment, you’d know that there may well be people on here that will want to see your promised deliverable. Remember, everyone is at different stages of their learning who is here, so regardless of how small that deliverable is it could well be the difference between inspiring someone else or not… definitely worth a go 
I must admit ive been struggling a bit lately myself. Have gotten a little disheartened that I’m still struggling to do things that I was hoping I would be able to breeze through.
Having said that I became a bit impatient (which tends to happen a lot with me) moved on to new things before I was ready and got distracted along the way. Whereas initially I did every exercise, I started to slack off in section 7 and decided to watch rather than practice, because i wanted to move on quickly without spending the time needed to build the assets that I should have. …and this has been my undoing, but it’s something that I can resolve by going back and putting the effort in, and something I’m starting to do now.
Sometimes it feels like there is so much to learn and so little time that the light at the end of the tunnel is not only out of sight but also unreachable. I think everyone goes through self doubt, and troubles with motivation at some point…but its important to push through it. Think about why you wanted to originally do the course - think about your goals and use them to help push you along.
I’m lucky in that I’ve got my brother doing the blender course as well…and he has overtaken me in leaps and bounds. I am really impressed with what he has achieved and to me he is a good example of what can be achieved if you persevere and work hard
Keep at it. The community here are great. Do something every day, even if it’s just 30 minutes. It doesn’t have to be the course…it can be a side project that you’re interested in but that will help solidify or expand your skills. and if you get stuck for motivation think about your goals and what you hope to achieve, look at what other people have achieved and use them as a muse to push you forward
I’m following this thread because this is something that could be helpful to me, too. I remember starting in the Unity course when I first graduated from school and didn’t have a job yet. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to develop some skills that I didn’t get in school, and I justified it by saying I was learning C#, and that at least would be a valuable job skill.
But I got sidetracked. I found out that the state agency that was giving me and my family benefits didn’t count continuing education as a valid job search activity (seems they would rather I apply for a job at McDonald’s now rather than do the work to qualify for a full programmer position down the road), and when that happened right during the Glitch Garden segment (which appears to be the most difficult segment of the course for most people) I never really felt like I could pick up where I left off - even when I got a job.
I also felt pressure to devote my energies to my family and less to “unrealistic” goals - like making games. But there’s a part of me that still wants to make games, so I’ve been trying to find a way to keep the dream alive, even in the face of all the opposition.
I think we can often be our own worst enemies, when it comes to a multitude of things such as putting ourselves first occasionally and criticising our own work/achievements. It sounds like you have a lot going on, as I’m sure most people will confess to, devoting energies to your family is very admirable but in order for you to be an asset to them you will need to make sure that you are at 100% also - and a part of that will be ensuring that there is some time for you in all of these other things. That may be as simple as perhaps devoting just 1 hour on a couple of nights a week to a bit of Unity development, or half an hour at lunch time to read some Unity resources. You will most likely feel less pressure regarding the game development if you can see some achievements, but I think human nature typically ensures it is harder to see our own achievements and to see what others are doing as better.
If it helps, I started the Unity course in March 2015. I worked through Text101, Block Breaker and Laser Defender. At each stage I felt compelled to do more with each and make them better, what actually happened was that I created such a large volume of tasks that making any changes to any of them felt like an enormous, never ending chore. Due to other things going on in my life, I then didn’t touch the course for almost a year, although dipped in and out of the Facebook pages as frequently as I could to see what was happening.
It was with the announcement/release of Ben’s book that I then bought it and started again. Out of the 24 chapters I have got to chapter 18. I have faced similar issues going through the book, e.g. the games I want to improve on, I make a list of features, and then don’t seem to get around it. But I did ensure I pushed on through the book (although these last couple of months I’ve not got back to it). I found using Trello was great for creating features/defects, but unlike a work environment, or even a home environment when people ask you to do something, there isn’t really any accountability when you are just on your own with it. I’m currently keeping my hand it as it were by moderating on the forums and the Facebook pages, and trying to answer other peoples questions when I can, that has been quite a good way of learning new things myself. But at the same time provides a handy excuse for myself as to why I haven’t done anything on my own game yet!
Accountability is quite a difficult thing I think to achieve if you work on your own, however, if you make posts to the forum or Facebook pages, or just announcements to friends and say “This is what I have done this week, and this is what I will have by the end of next week” you are effectively making a commitment, a part of your brain may well be holding you to that, some accountability is created, you don’t want to let down the people that you said you would deliver something for.
If you haven’t already, I would recommend finding where you were in the course, or restart a section and publicly make a commitment to being at a certain point by a certain time. Then schedule yourself to be unavailable for a couple of nights for family related things (only briefly etc), and find a bit of time for “you”. Once you get back in to it you will invariably be achieving more than you realise, so make what you’ve done public, even if it’s just words and not something we can play, you are bound to get some feedback and acknowledgement of your achievements which maybe you haven’t allowed yourself to see.
…and on that very note, I am now going to open Unity again and do something that I was thinking about the other day, it’s only small, but something that may be of use to other students here and I will see if I can get that done by the end of this week. So, you are now holding me accountable - pledge something yourself and I will hold you accountable Lets see where we both get.
Update
…but before I get started, I just wanted to share this with you also… it may not be what you are doing, it definitely is what I do… but this Ted talk is so worth watching - it should certainly put a smile on your face
There are great answers here, and I think I’ll throw in my two cents.
What you are feeling is normal for anything with delayed gratification. TV or videogames are instantly pleasurable and that’s why they are so attractive. It takes willpower and grit to learn something by yourself.
First of all, I forbid myself to have a 0% day. What I mean is that even though I don’t feel like it, I must do something, anything, to move ever so slightly toward my goal every day. Even if it’s trivial stuff, more often than not I find momentum and stay on it much longer than I anticipated. And if not, well I’m still farther ahead and every little steps count.
By the way, I recommend reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. This book really hits the nail on the head when it comes to procrastination and motivation.
Thanks for the recommendation/link Mr Demon
There is a point where everyone who is learning something new peaks. The easy stuff is over and you realize that you need discipline to actually learn the stuff at the next level. It’s the proverbial “learning to eat an elephant” or in the case of Blender, “learning to model an elephant.”
Many newcomers to development or modelling are surprised at how it’s not exactly what they thought it’d be like. Maybe that’s where you’re at. Is what you’ve learned from Michael in the Blender course what you thought it’d be like? Honestly, most of the free YouTube tutorials are **** and are free for a reason. Like others have commented, I learned more in doing the first 4 sections of the Blender course than I ever did in all the hours watching free tutorials.
Each section you progress to in any of the courses is going to take more time than the last one to complete. You are required to do more of the legwork on your own because that material has already been covered and hopefully practiced by you on your own. You will be accomplishing more complex stuff. You should be able to say at the end of each lesson, “I get it. I can do that.” There have been multiple times where I’ve gone back and DID the lecture again until I achieved mastery.
One bite at a time. Keep chewing.