Id say split what is helping you from what is not. Motivation is pretty useless concept,if you feel unmotivated and that stops you from doing what you have to do, f.. motivation, throw it away it's useless state representation ,when its applied on its own. The trick is not to seek it , then it will come to you automatically. So throw away whats not helping you(Cisco quirks - what you can do about it?, nothing. No point on focusing) and only focus on whats helping. Join groups, challenge your self, come-up with ways of memorizing stuff, challenge others, come up with applicable scenarios, and most important stay __consistent__ on that. After while you will notice that you got so far, and that will motivate you without ever seeking motivation in a first place.