[shakespeare47]

My biggest issue these days is just with motivation. I have a habit of procrastinating.

But, there have been times in my life when I was determined and motivated.... it's just that I try so hard, I get burned out.

The last 20-30 years or so have been a roller coaster of trying too hard, or not trying hard enough.

Anyone else been there?

[BeBrave483]

Same here. It seems pointless to try anything cos I'm convinced I'll just fail anyway.

Maybe when you are motivated you take on too much, and that's why you get burned out. I'm kind if the same, either no motivation at all or I'm totally enthusiastic about trying usually everything all at once. But that's not really realistic.

Maybe try taking it one thing at a time. My therapist used to say that sometimes you need to do the thing first before you feel the motivation. Which is kind of messed up but maybe if you actually do it you feel the benefits and then the motivation. Good luck anyway.

[shakespeare47]

I'd love to hear some success stories....

Anyone out there struggle with this, and yet have some success?

[Altered Moment]

My Biggest Problem Is Motivation

Me too. When I am very depressed it doesn't exist. But even when at my best I have always struggled with it.

I have always thought of it this way. In chemistry there is something known as energy of activation.



You start out low and then you have to add a bunch of energy to get the reaction going and then the energy is higher. I find that if I can get up enough energy to get over that big hump then it is smooth sailing. I am motivated and all into what I am doing. When I am depressed the line on the left is way way down there. Notice the line where it shows the catalyst. That would be like taking an anti depressant that is working for me. Just an analogy but I think it fits. Lighting a match to start the newspaper on fire to start a fire is a classic example. The fire just doesn't start by itself you have to add energy.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

Originally Posted by shakespeare47

My biggest issue these days is just with motivation. I have a habit of procrastinating.

But, there have been times in my life when I was determined and motivated.... it's just that I try so hard, I get burned out.

The last 20-30 years or so have been a roller coaster of trying too hard, or not trying hard enough.

Anyone else been there?

Yeah, it's an anxiety thing for me. I tell myself to have neither hope nor fear, and then there is nothing to get anxious about. Works sometimes.

[SnakeCharmer]

I have a big problem with procrastination. I've received a lot of help by reading books and articles by Dr. Bill Knaus, who's helped a lot of people with motivation.

I have to read material on a regular basis or I slide backwards. Here's an article from his Psychology Today blog. You can probably find a lot more by doing an internet search on his name. This article is just a small sample of his work. I have several of his books that I dip into whenever I start sliding backwards. At the bottom of this article there's a list of other Psych Today articles by him.

Do This One Thing and Stop Procrastinating | Psychology Today

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by shakespeare47

My biggest issue these days is just with motivation. I have a habit of procrastinating.

But, there have been times in my life when I was determined and motivated.... it's just that I try so hard, I get burned out.

The last 20-30 years or so have been a roller coaster of trying too hard, or not trying hard enough.

Anyone else been there?

Based on what you wrote, it appears that you are not familiar with the motto: "Do not work harder - work smarter".

Admittedly, there are situations that simply require elbow grease, so I am not discounting the need to try hard - at times.

Still, in today's world, given all the complex challenges, if you do not adopt the "work smarter" approach, regularly reviewing your progress, determining what is working and what is not working, discarding the methods that are counterproductive, etc., you won't get out of the rut you are describing.

If you have bipolar, some of the roller coaster experience can be explained by the diagnosis and going from an elevated state to a low energy state and back. I highly doubt, though, that the whole roller coaster experience is explainable by bipolar. I bet at least a good portion of the roller coaster is due to the fact that you do not know how to work smart, to break down work into doable chunks, to analyze your progress and adjust your methods.

Let me give you a trivial example from my life that illustrates the point.

I could not get my counters clean using Fantastic bubbles no matter how hard I tried. I asked a resident cleaning expert on the bipolar forum who knows how to clean for real and she advised me to buy a degreaser. A short trip to Target and I have Clorox degreaser in hand. A few sprays and a bit of wiping and the counters are clean (I can show pictures of before and after).
Did I work hard? No, I worked smart - I asked an expert for product advice and implemented it. The expert explained that Fantastic does nothing useful - it only looks good on commercials.

I realize that this might be trivial, but I wanted to illustrate with a small and clear point.