in order for me to backtest anything at all requires days of talking myself into doing the work. is this bad?
any advice on things i can think about as motivation
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Break the whole task down into less intimidating smaller tasks?
These should be quickly achievable to give you some encouragement. You could schedule some easy tasks for the start of the project to gove yourself the impression you’e making rapid progress. Draw up a schedule rather than a to-do list.
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everytime i have to admit i was wrong about a concept my pride gets in the way. i dont want to admit i got it wrong and struggle to make the required change
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FTS of motivation, there is a quote, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
Backtesting is just like that. Doing a little bit each day adds up over time. The key is not to overthink it. Just start small with few trades or one setup. Once you get going, it gets easier. Backtesting is quite a task but it’s worth it in the long run.
That’s very common in “the human condition” but very alarming for potential traders. Trading is emphatically NOT a suitable activity for people who like “being right”!! 
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im also lazy
I kinda don’t wanna encourage “not putting in the work,” especially for something as helpful as backtesting. 
But, maybe it also helps if you reward yourself for each accomplished task or milestone? Then, you’d be more motivated to actually complete things. 
I had this phase before too!
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Oh, trust me, I totally understand! Backtesting can feel overwhelming, and I often spend days just convincing myself to start, it’s normal and definitely not bad. You’re actually being mindful, which is great. Something that helps me is thinking about how good it’ll feel to have clear results in my journal and know exactly what’s working. Try setting small, manageable goals instead of tackling everything at once.
I prefer “forward testing” over backtesting. Try demotrading your strategy ideas in live market rather than backetesting in a dead market.
I am of the opinion that demotrading helps you evade hindsight.
It would also help you with patience, which is not even a factor in backtesting
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I totally agree with this. 
I still have to do extensive backtesting, though, to determine what’s worthy of the time, attention and effort of forward-testing. Otherwise I’d inevitably be wasting most of my time forward testing things that have very little chance of working.
For me, the backtesting is an absolutely essential (and very low-time-consumption) method of getting rid of at least 90% of what I might otherwise look at. I’ve never found another way of doing that.
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Lots of motivation here!
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Putting in the work is tough, but breaking it into small steps helps. Start with 2-3 trades instead of overloading yourself. Mistakes suck, but they help you grow. The faster you adjust, the better you get.
How do you stay motivated when you don’t feel like working?
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@karlbauer
Backtesting is my worst enemy. 
I keep putting it off. Feels like too much work. But everyone says it’s key to improving and trying to start small and reward myself afterward.
How do you make it less painful? 
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By understanding that you can’t trade profitably without either learning to do it at least reasonably efficiently and accurately yourself (best) or by paying someone else to do it for you (second-best). This realisation really does help!
I hear ya’, though - it can be a pain. 
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I would advise you to break down your day-to-day activities. Ask yourself, “do you feel energetic in the morning or at night?”, For me the best time to back test and forward test is at night. Start now, the most profitable traders never waited for the right time to start.