This is very, very dangerous advice. The advice is based on the context of the commenter, not based on the context of the OP. This is why reading online advice is mostly crap: you have to have a great bullshit-detector and select ones that are most applicable to your situation.

Most of the comments in this thread are based on romantic ideals of first-world societies (Work less, stay in the present, be altruistic, travel, etc.). These principles only work in the right context.

If you have zero motivation and no life goal, then traveling won't do you shit. You won't magically find some inspiration on a tropical island. At the end of the 3-month (or god forbid, year-long) vagabonding journey, you will find yourself still empty, still goalless, and even more penniless.

If you don't know where to go in your career, having less stuff and doing things for other people won't do you any good. That is dancing around the problem. That is the equivalent of starting to meditate when there is a fire next door. That won't cut it.

Of course, meditation for emotional stability and investment is worthwhile (and advisable). For the third time I repeat, the context is important. If you don't know where to go and have no motivation, start working on exactly that: find your way forward.

I am not you, I don't know your life, so you should probably get advice from someone you want to be like, knows you well, and has no ulterior motives. But those people are hard to come by, so I will try to lay down the system that worked for me.

1. Befriend death.

Imagine a sniper shooting a bullet aimed right between your eyes, and time stops just when the bullet is a single foot away from your skull: What will your expression and thought process be like? Will you regret anything? What will you think about?

I will assume you have done that sufficiently terrifying imagination. Then think about that very moment, but when you will actually die. What will you want to have accomplished?

The most dangerous question of all: Why do you live?

My personal answer is, to enjoy life and go through peak experiences[1]. Life is a festival. I want to check out every attraction it offers. Your answer might vary, but the important thing is to fit the following steps based on your answer to this question.

The answers may not be generally applicable, but questions are.

2. Work your way downward from death.

Once you have defined your life's meta-objective, start making it more specific. To give an example (and definitely do not follow my examples word for word, that is the point!), I want to "Become a Polyglot (8)" and "Run an Ultra-marathon." Those would be my go-to peak experiences to work towards.

Of course, this is not a bucket list, so career things like "Positive Technological Shift" or personal things like "Become a Great Dad" matter as well.

It's okay if these change. They should change. But remember, the more specific a goal is, the more it's bound to change. But usually, the general, meta-objectives tend to be stable for longer.

3. Prioritize your goals. Then prioritize your prioritization.

So now set a number to them to be able to say which is most important for you. Numbered lists are infinitely better than bulleted lists.

4. Decompose a goal into multiple projects.

Decomposition, decomposition, decomposition. Take the abstract and complex goals and make them specific and digestible.

5. Decompose a project into multiple tasks. These tasks should take less than 5 pomodoros (25 minute blocks) to complete. If not, decompose further.

Check out the Pomodoro technique. This alone might help with lack of motivation.

6. Start working on those tasks.

Like goals, the projects and tasks should be numbered as well. Prioritize prioritization. Do number 1 first, number 2 second, etc. Cannot overstate how important this is.

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I must be honest, I got slightly angry. Putting this on paper (edit: bits) helped. So this was perhaps more therapeutic for myself, than helpful for you. But the world runs on compassionate egocentrism, so I do not feel guilty.

There are some tools that help with this:

1. Pomodoro Technique[2]

A lot of people (i.e. my past self) think the 25/5 is the important part. NO. The important part is getting rid of all potential places for distractions. Put your phone on Airplane mode, lock the door, use Freedom (the app), and get yourself into flow.

2. The Five Minute Journal[3]

3. The Productivity Planner[4]

Also, I have commented on this, but FightMediocrity's video on How to Stop Worrying and Start Living[5] is helpful, if worry is getting to you.

If you have career-related problems, then 80,000 hours by William MacAskill[6] is great. If you don't know what your "passion" is (hint: no such thing exists), then check them out.

Shit advice is mental masturbation. You read it, and go "Yeah, I will do that tomorrow!" But nothing fucking changes.

Good advice requires work and execution on the recipient. It's tough, but things actually change.

Good luck.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience

[2]: http://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomod...

[3]: https://www.intelligentchange.com/products/the-five-minute-j...

[4]: https://www.intelligentchange.com/products/the-productivity-...

[5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UYYzbzGk6s

[6]: https://80000hours.org/