I'm looking for a word that captures that feeling of forcing oneself to do something that is not motivating anymore.
Normally when one has motivation, it takes little to no effort to start doing it. It is a natural thing to do.
However, if there be no motivation one may be compelled to do it for other reasons (eg: for social validation). In those cases, one forces oneself to do the task.
Is there a word for it?
I'd think this would be the antonym (in a certain profound sense) of the word "procrastination" wherein one forces oneself not to do something (which one should be doing). I'm looking for a word wherein one forces oneself to do something (which one need not be doing, as there is no real responsibility to do so; also because there is no intrinsic motivation).
I'll provide some related words so as to help the reader!
sticktoitive (tending to persist or stick to an activity or effort): This looks like the closest answer I could find, but it doesn't quite capture the part where the tendency to force oneself to persist/stick is done despite the lack of motivation or real responsibility.
fidelity (faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support): In particular, the "faithfulness to a [...] belief" part applies here, inasmuch as the forcing is done for "other reason" wherein that reason tends to be some imagined belief (eg: "If I don't do this, I'll be a demoralized"), often rooted in herd mentality. And the "continuing loyalty" part lends credence to the automatic/ semi-conscious nature (as opposed to it being thought-out) of the "forcing".
Example usage:
Jon [___ (unwittingly forces himself)] to continue participating in competition X, despite no longer having the genuine motivation for it. It would seem that he strongly believes on the worth of staying ahead of others, in order to force himself as that, and thereby risk spending time on otherwise meaningless activities instead of doing something out of genuine enjoyment.
anticrastination
does not capture the scenario I painted in the question. For the record, I did go over all the answers in this question before posting my question. None of those words (except maybe sticktoitive) satisfy me.