Hi guys,

I'm sure many of you can relate to lack of motivation to do things when feeling depressed. For me, I struggle especially with chores and exercise. I literally haven't exercised in several months. x.x

So, how do YOU get motivated to do the tough stuff? Any ideas are appreciated.

[Skeezyks]

The Skeezyks doesn't know how... I just know stuff has to be done. So I do it.

[Yzen]

I sometimes try to imagine how I will feel when I complete the task. For me, cleaning up, doing chores and exercise take away some stress so I think about how releasing that stress will feel. It doesn't always work, but it seems to help.

[speckofdust]

For me, setting a goal to accomplish just one thing, no matter how small, helps sometimes. If I happen to fail at meeting that goal, I then have to counteract the nasty critic in my head (you're lazy, worthless, etc) with self compassionate words (give yourself a break, you are depressed) and reset the goal for later. It doesn't work everytime, but does work most of the time. Often I find that once I accomplish a goal, I can accomplish another one more quickly and easily.

[mindwrench]

One method I use is to drink coffee or energy drinks, and point myself in the right direction, and convince myself to do just a little bit of a task, and then a little more. It seems like the hardest part is to start doing something. Once your moving it's a little easier to stay moving than it was to start. It doesn't always work, but that's how the yard gets mowed and trash taken out.

I was about to ask the same question. I cannot figure the answer for me. I know I "have" to do things, and I manage to do them just to keep thing rolling, like paying the bills, cleaning the apartment, calling family, ... etc, but I always have this feeling I "have" to do them, which is to say, I've never felt happy about doing them, which implies I don't do them well/right. The same goes for my job; I do the minimum to keep it (I'm not proud of it). Actually, I even don't have the energy to read things that might motivate me and change my mind. I even struggled to write this post until the end. My mind is so blank to think, my hands are so weak to write, my body is so heavy to move, and my soul is so cold to live.