Motivation

[NeonSM]

Motivation is one of those aspects of life that I find to be most burdensome. To some, it comes naturally. But to others, like myself, it can be very difficult to find motivation; especially when doing something that I generally do not want to do. The thing is, there are always going to be things that you don't want to do. How do you find the motivation to do those things? Yes, this should be a very responsive and personal thread. Do not hesitate to bring up tasks and decisions in your lives that you are having a hard time getting motivated to get to. Hopefully other users in this thread will be able to help you find the motivation you are looking for.

I'll start us off with a question of my own: Reward is often connected to motivation, but what if even that is not enough to get you interested?

[Kraezymann]

I feel like this could be a worthwhile topic to have in a subforum for fitness...

I find that turning it from a "chore" into a "game/competition" helps for some. For others it can be just a matter of having a good enough reward.

For something like fitness, I'll turn it into a challenge, or use Fitocracy. The idea of making something as mundane as getting off the couch into a game or a competition against my friends helps immensely. Sometimes when people tell me they did something, I'll try and see it as a friendly challenge to me and "beat" them at it.

If I'm doing chores at home, I put on my headphones to help stamp out the unhelpful feelings towards it, and charge my controllers while I work so that when I finish my chores, I'm ready for a couple hours on the couch. If I feel like a slushie, I'll ride my bike to a much farther store to get it, rather than the one down the street.

If you can't get invested in something, then asking your friends for help might work too. Ask them to be the motivator for you, pushing you to do whatever needs to be done.

[xMUSICxMASTERx]

I've been having motivation problems as well, for as long as I can remember, especially with school. I'm in college now, paying for it all on my own, I know I'm doing what I want to do, but I still can't bring myself to complete simple assignments on time, or at all. I've gotten really tired of it so I'm trying to change my habits and spend more time doing useful things.

I recently started my 3rd semester, and I've been trying to improve, slowly at least. I'm starting by being a bit more organized, I've been making lists of all my due dates and being sure to check it frequently. Just by doing this, I think I've already improved and it feels good to be a bit more organized with what I need to do, and make sure I don't forget anything. I was thinking of maybe making myself a schedule to strictly follow, from the time I get home each day to the time I go to bed. Fit a couple of hours of studying in with breaks in between.

I would say that something like a schedule or some kind of system to be more organized with your time would be best. People get used to routine more than anything, and they feel good completing things that they have actually planned out for a while. It's kind of like your sleeping schedule, if you suddenly decide to start taking a nap at 5:00 each day and try to stop, you will feel tired at this time every day until you get used to not sleeping at that time anymore. You'll have an urge to fall asleep at that time, but you want to try and break the habit. (I hope that made sense lol). If you have a habit of playing games/tv/doing nothing all the time, then that is your routine. Try to put the things you need to do into your routine and get used to getting things done, and you'll maybe get an urge to get these things done, which would be your motivation. (This is what I believe in, and I'm going to try at least.) It may be a slow process and hard to get into the routine, but I think I'll eventually get there. Good luck to the both of us~

[xMUSICxMASTERx]

Another thing could be your mental health. If you're in a low mood all the time, you're not going to feel like doing anything. (Saying this from my own experience). Try to stay positive and focus on improving your habits. Doing the things you enjoy is also important, don't spend too much time all at once on just the things you need to do. Take lots of short breaks if you need to. Also try to do things right away instead of putting them off. Relief of finishing things last minute does feel pretty good, but it's not worth all the panicking beforehand. I think getting something done long before it's due feels pretty damn good, especially if you've been used to putting things off your whole life.

[NeonSM]

It is nice to get to hear from some people! Kraezy, I agree with you 100% that this would be useful in a fitness sub forum of some kind. Though i specifically have never really had too hard of a time getting to exercise, I understand that this is a problem for many people out there. I have been doing cross country and track since freshman year of high school (I'm a senior in college now). I can imagine how hard it must be for those who do not have familiarity with any sort of schedule. For those who have this problem, I would imagine that making a schedule could be a important tool for success. Maybe buy a calendar or something to mark what youd like to complete for the day. I agree that making a competition out of it could be a good motivator as well. I get in touch with a old friend from high school a lot on my breaks to run with. Having someone to depend on is always a good thing.

In response to you music master I appreciate the advice, and have had a lot of problems with school as well. For some reason I feel like, though I am on a good track to becoming something id love to be, it isn't really my reality (if that makes any sense). I've been trying to schedule my days so that it can become more real to me and so that I can become more motivated to succeed. Any extra advice would be helpful, as we seem to be having similar problems. And this is a bit personal, but hey, wth. I have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder that manifests itself in the form of head pressure. It makes me feel pretty shitty and it isn't making my problem with motivation any easier. If anyone has experience in this, or other mental illness like depression, id love to hear their experiences with life in general.

[korny]

Your mesolimbic pathway is probably outta wack brah. Get prescribed some addies

[SCWolf]

I find motivation in figuring out how to get things done optimally with the least amount of work.

[CammyGoesRawr]

Sometimes when I need motivation to do something (especially if i'm not doing it for myself) I take into consideration how a person or group of people may respond to the quality I'm performing at.

For example, My part-time job is very stressful. I teach at a karate "academy" as we call it. I'm there three nights a week, sometimes even four and I'm responsible for the well-being and instruction of anywhere between 20 to 40 students per night. Sometimes I just want to stay at home and sleep but then I remember that it's not about me, it's about them and helping them become better people, not just in the academy, but in their everyday lives. Sometimes when I'm getting things set up before a class, I'll be extremely frustrated and my mind will be all over the place. But then I see my assistant instructors around the class helping them while I'm busy with other things. And it clicks in that moment that they learned those leadership skills under me, and I need to continue being a role model to them.

So that motivates me, is how my work will affect those around me.

[Cavernio]

I struggle everyday. The desire to do nothing is hard to overcome. I don't have good advice. ADHD drugs and a schedule and routine that's centered around working towards getting your goals done is advice that's already been given. If I fuck up my gluten free diet (I have celiac disease) I get much worse. I should go see a doctor see if my gluten antibodies are below threshold...I have a feeling they might not be, but not due to any lack of intelligent diet choices on my part.

I guess another thing that helps me is to be social. Like, if I schedule an activity with someone, I'm far more likely to do that activity than if it's solo. Of course, then there's the whole idea of 'well why am I making myself do this thing if I don't want to do it?'

As soon as I consider 'oh I don't -have- to do this' I'm done for it seems.

I...there's just sooo much history of depression that I could write for hours trying to explain my experiences. When I give myself too much work I get overwhelmed and get depressed. If I don't give myself enough work it's bad in another way. Like, I was depressed because I was fatigued and couldn't focus and I couldn't accomplish what was once nearly trivially easy things that I needed to accomplish. Then, when I finally realized 'oh hey, you're only depressed because you keep trying at something that you're failing at, and you've got expectations of yourself that you're no keeping', I'm no longer super depressed but that didn't give me back my energy or fix my overall moodiness or, pertinent to this discussion, magically give me motivation. Falling in love was pretty magical for all of these problems of mine actually, and caffeine gives me energy, but it doesn't seem to be a permanent fix.

[Wayward Vagabond]

This speech gave me the push I needed

http://youtu.be/WTFnmsCnr6g

[djaero]

Your mesolimbic pathway is probably outta wack brah. Get prescribed some addies.

This is a terrible suggestion, stay away from DRI's of any kind for motivation (coke, amphetamines, caffeine, etc), they will only worsen your condition in the long run.


Motivation is a tricky thing, for me it simply comes down to having the right impetus for the task at hand. If you find yourself lacking in motivation, I would question your reasons for doing what you are doing and whether or not what you're doing is truly what you want, and adjust your behavior accordingly.

[korny]

It was mostly a joke, but if it is an issue of ones mesolimbic pathway being "outta wack" (which may very likely be the case), DRI's are very successful because stimulating ones dopaminergenic pathway is sort of the whole premise behind the rewarding effects elicited by increased synaptic concentrations of dopamine in the brain that are known for greatly improving ones ability to be motivated.

It is completely circumstantial of the person using them to say whether or not it worsens the issue of motivation down the line.

[NeonSM]

Wayward that motivational speaker was pretty nice! I enjoyed it, and it got me to get into some piano sooo +1. And dj, that is kind of what I am trying to do atm!

[Wafles]

Originally Posted by SCWolf

I find motivation in figuring out how to get things done optimally with the least amount of work.

This is a super smart way of thinking btw, your employers will love you

[Xtreme2252]

I don't believe in 'motivation' as most people do. I believe you have to push yourself to motivate yourself, and that if you just hold out for motivation you'll never do anything.

[V-Ormix]

I found if I dont do anything I actually "want" to do, doing some thing is better than nothing specially helping other people for example. :idk:

edit: i agree with djaero

editv2: Guess best thing is to make things happen. Exercising can make a person feel better at times to do things in general or at least that works for me.

[vidyamohhls]

That's very nice motivational details

[FF_rules]

Originally Posted by NeonSM

How do you find the motivation to do those things?

I'm a masochist probably; I drive myself into a corner and light the biggest fire under my ass. I have really bad motivational issues too; It's whatever though (people go about their lives at different paces). But really; I guess I can tolerate forcing myself without any real motivation, it's a shit way to do things though sometimes if by the end of it you feel no form of gratification.

[Reincarnate]

Discipline > motivation

The best way (in my experience) is to realize that you *have* to do something whether you want to or not. If you rely on motivation alone, you'll risk flaking out on your own goals.

It's sort of like brushing your teeth. You do it every day even if you don't really feel like it. If you don't, bad shit will happen and you'll just be paying for it later anyway.

[Trumpet63]

Motivation is a beautiful thing. It can keep you up at night working on a school project. It can drive you to create something new and wonderful. Most of all, it's the pathway to a low-stress life.

I think motivation is a universal problem, and it's not fair to expect every person to be motivated all the time. What I do to combat the apathy that comes from lack of motivation is try to be humble and realistic.

For example, I know that colleges exist to make learning easier, that's what you're paying for. There is no good reason why any person can't just open a book and learn whatever it is they want to learn. So while I am entitled to complain about my education, because I'm paying for it, I'm also not entitled to brag about it. This inevitably leads me to consider why I'm pursuing an education, why I'm taking classes that I don't care about. Then it hits me: I'm dumb as bricks, and I better learn this stuff, because it's gotta be the easiest thing in the world to the person teaching it to me.

Then somehow all my worries resolve themselves.