I have been playing SSNL for a living for 5 years now, but my lack of studying the game has prevented me from progressing as a player, while the games have gotten tougher. That's the main reason why I am playing one or two steps lower than I used to do back in 2008-09.

So my question is, how do you guys motivate yourself to learn about the game? Do you enjoy it, or are you doing it because it is necessary to keep having an edge?

For me, I don't enjoy poker like I used to anymore, and I simply do it to pay the bills. Even though I have DC and CR training site access and a bunch of good books (such as Janda's new one) on my desk, I tend to be scared just to start studying.

Any suggestions?

Studying is boring as hell, but has to be done. Also If you're playing as your only source of income at some point you need to figure out if you're going to actually work to get better or if there's some other job you'd rather be doing. Also FWIW Janda's book was incredibly helpful for me.

Motivation comes from a goal that is so important for you, or something so unwanted that you want to avoid it.

Maybe you want a family, maybe you want to avoid poverty. You can find motivation both ways.

To me the most motivating factor is that I beat the intellectual challenge. I used to play 1K cashgames for 3 years in a row, now im pretty much only at turbo-MTT's, and I dont care how low I play as long as I win. (or first learn something and then win even if there are couple losing months)

The global economy had very problematic years, that kicked many bad players out of games, and the remaining players improved. However, the good times will return next year, and we are back in business.

There needs to be a personal reason for your motivation. Personally, I LOVE that most of my opponents are motivated enough to play, but not motivated enough to improve. Some of the most profitable opponents I play are regs who come up with a rigid impression of my game and never deviate from it. I hope they never get the motivation to improve.

While a guy like me will still study on my winningest days, these guys sit and berate my "luck", use their style to beat some weak fish, and then come back the next day to feed me more money.

My personal reason for studying so much now is twofold:
1) I played at midstakes with lots of success for years, but never had the balls to move up. Now I'm extremely motivated to find out where I stand in the game, whether its nosebleeds or even a step or 2 higher.
2) All the extra study has resulted in drastic improvements in my game. Being in less tough spots, winning more with medium hands, and maybe most importantly, losing less with medium/weak hands.

It's kinda like how sometimes you don't feel like doing something, but once you start doing it, you find that it's pretty fun afterall. GL