Mastering Motivation
04/15/12: The single most common symptom that my clients have reported to me over the years has been problems being motivated to do things they are supposed to do. Whether this is household chores, school assignments, or work tasks, many people struggle to get the things they need to get done, done. The following is a discussion on the elements that contribute to motivation, and some ideas on how to improve it.
Overview
Generally, motivation is defined as the desire or willingness someone has to do something. To accomplish anything at all, we need to have some kind of motivation. However, as simple as this seems, motivation is an extremely complex process that has a swarm of variables tied to it. To simplify it a bit, we will focus on the two major motivation types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Keep in mind that most people have a blend of these for any given task or goal.
Intrinsic Motivation: Anytime we are motivated to do something simply because we like it or want to do it, we are being motivated from within. This is called intrinsic motivation. This kind of motivation usually comes easily; out of our interests, drives, and desires. The things we are intrinsically motivated to do (like writing, art, hiking, gardening, relaxing, etc) are often the things that we don't do as much as we want to because of work, school, or other life obligations.
Extrinsic Motivation: When we are motivated to do something because we want the reward it brings (or punishment it avoids), we are being motivated by something outside of ourselves. This is called extrinsic motivation. This kind of motivation relies on incentives and gains like money or grades to get us to do things we may otherwise not do. Most motivation problems (like procrastination) are related to this stuff.
Enemies of Motivation
The following are the most common causes of motivation problems for my clients:
1. Ego Depletion: We only have a certain amount of energy each day to do things, manage our emotions, and navigate various situations. When we have used a lot of that energy, it becomes harder to motivate ourselves to do more things. This is a condition called "ego depletion" and you can read more about it here (link). Being busy, over-committed, not sleeping enough, neglecting things that restore you, or having a lot of stress will make ego depletion set in quicker, and will make motivation even more difficult. What we are generally left with is wanting to "zone out" or avoid things, which is one of the ways our bodies tell us that we are depleted.
2. Incentive Problems: Not having large enough incentives will make being motivated very difficult. For a lot of tasks, if the things we will gain by doing something aren't enough to be motivated, we put them off. Then what usually happens is that a deadline approaches and we start to feel stress and anxiety because of the potential negative outcomes looming. Essentially, the incentive that emerges in that situation is a reduction in the pain of the stress from procrastinating, and that can usually become enough for us to do it.
3. Bad habits: Habits are patterns of behavior that become automatic over time. All habits have a cue (thing that triggers the start of the pattern), a routine (the pattern itself), and a reward (what we get at the end). An example of a potentially bad habit would be coming home from work (cue), walking to the kitchen after hanging up your coat and opening a bag of potato chips, then sitting down in front of the TV for several hours (routine), and thus feeling more relaxed (reward). When something like this becomes automatic, it becomes much more difficult to change.
4. Making Work: One of the most common mistakes related to motivation is when we take an activity we are intrinsically motivated to do (like cooking) and then turn it into a job (being a professional chef). What happens for nearly everyone is that the intrinsic joy of the activity erodes, and we then have to rely on extrinsic forces to motivate us. This is the case to be made for keeping your hobby as something that's just a fun hobby, rather than something that needs to pay the bills. There are occasional exceptions to this, but most people are never motivated in the same way once it is a job.
Being a Master of Motivation
If you are having motivation problems and want to improve them, there are a few basic places to start. After that, things can get more complex. First, the basics.
1. Insight: Think deeply about all of the things that will motivate you to do something. An example list might include: recognition, money, doing the right thing, social pressure, anxiety, desire, obligation to someone else, spiritual beliefs, fear of death, competition, pleasing others, success, etc. If some things come to mind that you don't like so much, leave them on the list anyway since the important thing here is to be real with yourself. Also, when faced with a task, consider whether you honestly want to do it. Most people have at least some level of internal conflict (some part of you wants to do it, another part of you doesn't) in doing tasks that require a certain amount of stress or pain to get the rewards that come afterward, and denying that can make it more difficult to become motivated.
2. Up the incentives: If you are finding yourself unmotivated by the level of rewards you are getting for an extrinsically motivated task (or the things from #1 aren't there enough), see if there is any way to up the incentives. One good way to do this is set specific desirable goals such as getting a promotion or getting into grad school. Once these are in place, each smaller piece of work can be seen as a part of striving toward those larger rewards.
3. Premack's Principle: A classic strategy to help motivation is to engage in a pleasurable activity or experience after you complete a more painful or strenuous activity. We can set things like this up by making a specific goal to complete some work, and then make sure to do something fun or relaxing after we are done. For people that are more self-disciplined, this can work like magic.
3. Self-acceptance: If none of the previous things work, a way of reducing the distress associated with procrastinating can be simply accepting that you are the way you are. Not everyone is a super hardcore go-getter that is up at 5am training for a triathlon before a 12 hour work day. Instead, most people procrastinate on things they are not interested in, unless the incentives are high enough, and some of us value relaxation more than the 5am go-getter does. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in life that don't have large enough incentives to motivate ourselves to do them, or we just want to chill out more, and it is completely OK to be that way. Furthermore, if you can accept that you will procrastinate on things routinely, another thing you can do is simply to plan to do the work at the last minute. If that's what was going to happen anyway, why not just plan for it from the start and enjoy the rest of your time more?
4. Self-dialogue: If we are conflicted about whether to get some work done or relax, the internal conversation is usually very brief. However, if you want to get better at motivation, have an extended dialogue with yourself and see how it comes out. If the part of you that wants to relax usually wins, try having the part that wants to do the work continue to make arguments for doing the work. That part can also work on compromising (see #3). I've found with my clients that the longer they can have this discussion, the more likely they will be to do the work that needs to be done.
5. Good habits: Since I already wrote about habits (of the negative kind), we can also form good habits. Set up some systems where there are cues, routines, and rewards that are positive in your life, and let them become automatic. For example, what would happen if you came home everyday and the first thing you did was a 5 minute mindfulness meditation (read about mindfulness here)? Developing a habit like that could go a long way toward being healthier and increasing motivation afterward.
6. Rest: Sleep, diet, and exercise are ways of filling our energy tank. If you want the quickest solution to motivation problems, sleep more, eat better food, and move around more.
7. What Worked Before?: Exploring what factors helped motivate you to do similar types of things before, is also a good trick in figuring out what can help now. If the elements that helped motivate you in the past are no longer there, see if you can find a way to bring some of them back into the picture.
8. Connecting to Intrinsic Motivation: When the incentives aren't enough to motivate us, sometimes connecting the specific task at hand to something we are intrinsically motivated for can work. For example, if you have a work task that is tough to be motivated for, you could link it to a larger career goal that is intrinsically motivating like getting a promotion. If you are having a hard time with a school task, you could link it to the larger goal of getting into graduate school.
Inertia
Another thing to consider here is inertia, which basically is the physics principle that "bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, bodies at rest tend to stay at rest". Behaviorally speaking, when you are being productive you will have momentum to continue being productive. When you are watching 100 episodes in a row of something on Netflix, you will have momentum to watch more.
I think this is a commonly neglected principle that can give us new ways of structuring our day to increase productivity. Basically, when we need to motivate ourselves to be productive, the very first action is the most important. If we can get started on something right off the bat, usually we will get into the flow of the task easily and can stay in that zone longer. However if we sit down with the idea of working, but pull up Facebook first, we are starting a course of being distracted from the tasks we set out to do.
Other Issues
Lack of motivation is also one of the most common symptoms of mental disorders like depression, various anxiety problems, and ADHD. If all of the things written above don't do the trick, something else may be going on.
Depression: If your motivation problems are going along with a depressed mood (not just sadness, but emptiness, hopelessness, and general malaise), you may actually be struggling with depression, which may need more extensive care and treatment.
Anxiety: If part of your motivation problems come along with grossly excessive worrying, tension, fearfulness, and physical symptoms, you may have an anxiety disorder, which also may need more extensive care and treatment.
ADHD: Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder is one of the most over-diagnosed and misunderstood conditions in psychiatry. If your motivation problems and ability to focus on tasks began before age 7, and you have an extensive pattern impulsivity, excessive restlessness, and difficulty completing tasks on time, you may be struggling with ADHD, and there are a variety of treatments available.
In Conclusion
Counseling can be incredibly helpful for understanding and improving motivation issues. If you have difficulty with motivation and are interested in going further in depth on this stuff, you can contact me here (link) to set up an appointment.
Overview
Generally, motivation is defined as the desire or willingness someone has to do something. To accomplish anything at all, we need to have some kind of motivation. However, as simple as this seems, motivation is an extremely complex process that has a swarm of variables tied to it. To simplify it a bit, we will focus on the two major motivation types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Keep in mind that most people have a blend of these for any given task or goal.
Intrinsic Motivation: Anytime we are motivated to do something simply because we like it or want to do it, we are being motivated from within. This is called intrinsic motivation. This kind of motivation usually comes easily; out of our interests, drives, and desires. The things we are intrinsically motivated to do (like writing, art, hiking, gardening, relaxing, etc) are often the things that we don't do as much as we want to because of work, school, or other life obligations.
Extrinsic Motivation: When we are motivated to do something because we want the reward it brings (or punishment it avoids), we are being motivated by something outside of ourselves. This is called extrinsic motivation. This kind of motivation relies on incentives and gains like money or grades to get us to do things we may otherwise not do. Most motivation problems (like procrastination) are related to this stuff.
Enemies of Motivation
The following are the most common causes of motivation problems for my clients:
1. Ego Depletion: We only have a certain amount of energy each day to do things, manage our emotions, and navigate various situations. When we have used a lot of that energy, it becomes harder to motivate ourselves to do more things. This is a condition called "ego depletion" and you can read more about it here (link). Being busy, over-committed, not sleeping enough, neglecting things that restore you, or having a lot of stress will make ego depletion set in quicker, and will make motivation even more difficult. What we are generally left with is wanting to "zone out" or avoid things, which is one of the ways our bodies tell us that we are depleted.
2. Incentive Problems: Not having large enough incentives will make being motivated very difficult. For a lot of tasks, if the things we will gain by doing something aren't enough to be motivated, we put them off. Then what usually happens is that a deadline approaches and we start to feel stress and anxiety because of the potential negative outcomes looming. Essentially, the incentive that emerges in that situation is a reduction in the pain of the stress from procrastinating, and that can usually become enough for us to do it.
3. Bad habits: Habits are patterns of behavior that become automatic over time. All habits have a cue (thing that triggers the start of the pattern), a routine (the pattern itself), and a reward (what we get at the end). An example of a potentially bad habit would be coming home from work (cue), walking to the kitchen after hanging up your coat and opening a bag of potato chips, then sitting down in front of the TV for several hours (routine), and thus feeling more relaxed (reward). When something like this becomes automatic, it becomes much more difficult to change.
4. Making Work: One of the most common mistakes related to motivation is when we take an activity we are intrinsically motivated to do (like cooking) and then turn it into a job (being a professional chef). What happens for nearly everyone is that the intrinsic joy of the activity erodes, and we then have to rely on extrinsic forces to motivate us. This is the case to be made for keeping your hobby as something that's just a fun hobby, rather than something that needs to pay the bills. There are occasional exceptions to this, but most people are never motivated in the same way once it is a job.
Being a Master of Motivation
If you are having motivation problems and want to improve them, there are a few basic places to start. After that, things can get more complex. First, the basics.
1. Insight: Think deeply about all of the things that will motivate you to do something. An example list might include: recognition, money, doing the right thing, social pressure, anxiety, desire, obligation to someone else, spiritual beliefs, fear of death, competition, pleasing others, success, etc. If some things come to mind that you don't like so much, leave them on the list anyway since the important thing here is to be real with yourself. Also, when faced with a task, consider whether you honestly want to do it. Most people have at least some level of internal conflict (some part of you wants to do it, another part of you doesn't) in doing tasks that require a certain amount of stress or pain to get the rewards that come afterward, and denying that can make it more difficult to become motivated.
2. Up the incentives: If you are finding yourself unmotivated by the level of rewards you are getting for an extrinsically motivated task (or the things from #1 aren't there enough), see if there is any way to up the incentives. One good way to do this is set specific desirable goals such as getting a promotion or getting into grad school. Once these are in place, each smaller piece of work can be seen as a part of striving toward those larger rewards.
3. Premack's Principle: A classic strategy to help motivation is to engage in a pleasurable activity or experience after you complete a more painful or strenuous activity. We can set things like this up by making a specific goal to complete some work, and then make sure to do something fun or relaxing after we are done. For people that are more self-disciplined, this can work like magic.
3. Self-acceptance: If none of the previous things work, a way of reducing the distress associated with procrastinating can be simply accepting that you are the way you are. Not everyone is a super hardcore go-getter that is up at 5am training for a triathlon before a 12 hour work day. Instead, most people procrastinate on things they are not interested in, unless the incentives are high enough, and some of us value relaxation more than the 5am go-getter does. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in life that don't have large enough incentives to motivate ourselves to do them, or we just want to chill out more, and it is completely OK to be that way. Furthermore, if you can accept that you will procrastinate on things routinely, another thing you can do is simply to plan to do the work at the last minute. If that's what was going to happen anyway, why not just plan for it from the start and enjoy the rest of your time more?
4. Self-dialogue: If we are conflicted about whether to get some work done or relax, the internal conversation is usually very brief. However, if you want to get better at motivation, have an extended dialogue with yourself and see how it comes out. If the part of you that wants to relax usually wins, try having the part that wants to do the work continue to make arguments for doing the work. That part can also work on compromising (see #3). I've found with my clients that the longer they can have this discussion, the more likely they will be to do the work that needs to be done.
5. Good habits: Since I already wrote about habits (of the negative kind), we can also form good habits. Set up some systems where there are cues, routines, and rewards that are positive in your life, and let them become automatic. For example, what would happen if you came home everyday and the first thing you did was a 5 minute mindfulness meditation (read about mindfulness here)? Developing a habit like that could go a long way toward being healthier and increasing motivation afterward.
6. Rest: Sleep, diet, and exercise are ways of filling our energy tank. If you want the quickest solution to motivation problems, sleep more, eat better food, and move around more.
7. What Worked Before?: Exploring what factors helped motivate you to do similar types of things before, is also a good trick in figuring out what can help now. If the elements that helped motivate you in the past are no longer there, see if you can find a way to bring some of them back into the picture.
8. Connecting to Intrinsic Motivation: When the incentives aren't enough to motivate us, sometimes connecting the specific task at hand to something we are intrinsically motivated for can work. For example, if you have a work task that is tough to be motivated for, you could link it to a larger career goal that is intrinsically motivating like getting a promotion. If you are having a hard time with a school task, you could link it to the larger goal of getting into graduate school.
Inertia
Another thing to consider here is inertia, which basically is the physics principle that "bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, bodies at rest tend to stay at rest". Behaviorally speaking, when you are being productive you will have momentum to continue being productive. When you are watching 100 episodes in a row of something on Netflix, you will have momentum to watch more.
I think this is a commonly neglected principle that can give us new ways of structuring our day to increase productivity. Basically, when we need to motivate ourselves to be productive, the very first action is the most important. If we can get started on something right off the bat, usually we will get into the flow of the task easily and can stay in that zone longer. However if we sit down with the idea of working, but pull up Facebook first, we are starting a course of being distracted from the tasks we set out to do.
Other Issues
Lack of motivation is also one of the most common symptoms of mental disorders like depression, various anxiety problems, and ADHD. If all of the things written above don't do the trick, something else may be going on.
Depression: If your motivation problems are going along with a depressed mood (not just sadness, but emptiness, hopelessness, and general malaise), you may actually be struggling with depression, which may need more extensive care and treatment.
Anxiety: If part of your motivation problems come along with grossly excessive worrying, tension, fearfulness, and physical symptoms, you may have an anxiety disorder, which also may need more extensive care and treatment.
ADHD: Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder is one of the most over-diagnosed and misunderstood conditions in psychiatry. If your motivation problems and ability to focus on tasks began before age 7, and you have an extensive pattern impulsivity, excessive restlessness, and difficulty completing tasks on time, you may be struggling with ADHD, and there are a variety of treatments available.
In Conclusion
Counseling can be incredibly helpful for understanding and improving motivation issues. If you have difficulty with motivation and are interested in going further in depth on this stuff, you can contact me here (link) to set up an appointment.
