[Manan]

The main issues I have had with my illness( bipolar depression , add) is that of Motivation and procrastination. just being lethargic and not doing any work has not only ruined my work life, it also makes depression worst.

Medically I found most success in beating it with ritilin, but it made me manic , so that is no option. Nowadays I am on an antidepressant Wellbutrin (bupropion) and it has been somewhat helpful.

Non medically I try and trick my self into starting. Like thinking ok i will only work for 15 minutes than get back to what i wanna do. If i end up starting work, most of the times I find motivation to continue.

What techniques and medication do you guys use to mind motivation to work/Study?

[ptangptang]

I'm exactly like you. No motivation and a terrible procrastinator. There is a funny TEDx talk on YouTube about this guy at uni . I think he called it 'the art of procrastinating' . If I think of any tips I'll put them here.
Self motivation is hard for me. If you have no job, no partner, no family no friends there isn't a lot there to motivate you.

for me, it's not really an option to leave things.. i live alone, and if i don't do them, who will?

that still does not stop me putting things off for days and weeks at a time.. i suppose what helps me is working out what is actually important to do, and what can wait and is not so important

like.. i need to prepare and eat dinner- that's something i need to do every day or i'm just not going to eat

or.. i need to pay the electric bill- if i don't do it, i'm just going to sit their in the dark.

but other things.. i need to clean and tidy the house, not so important- as i'm the only person in the place, and honestly don't like it clean and spotless
or.. i need to get groceries. well i only get them wednesday, so it can wait

recently i've been putting off my faily trivia challenge- i should be playing it and exercising my brain, but i've not been- should really start again

Procrastination is a real problem for me, being at it's worst over the winter. Summer is a bit easier. I tried leaving post-it notes all over my home reminding me of the things I have to do this year. I do feel it helped. In addition I make a to-do list every night for the following day. It's my goal to do two things off the list. I will also say I worked really hard on coping with anxiety this past winter and my problem with procrastination seemed to improve as a result. Oh to be sure I still lazed around but eventually I couldn't play avoidance any longer and actually got things done.

[avlady]

i need personal permission to not do something i should. i procrastinate everything but seem to get things done under pressure anyway.

Procrastination is a HUGE problem for me. I told my caregiver, beginning in February, that we were going to have to make plan for 'spring-cleaning' and the only thing that we've done has been to give away some big-box items.

No movement on the knick-knacks, though.

In one way, I'm delighted that my caregiver will goad me on to get some things done. But there are some things - small things that would take no more than 15 minutes - that I can't get motivated to begin. And when my caregiver isn't here, I'll get a burst of energy, begin a task and quickly realise that I just can't accomplish the the task in my wheelchair and give up, in anger. Too many failures like this and I become the failure.

I become, again, that which I have always been: the child of nothing. Worthless and empty. The child/god of grand ideals and constant failures. I can't understand how anyone would want to be in a relationship with someone like me.

ptangptang said it well:

"Self motivation is hard for me. If you have no job, no partner, no family no friends there isn't a lot there to motivate you."

I guess that I would add "no self-esteem," etc., with a dozen of "a no other a couple of other things" tossed in, and you've the summation of my life as it has been for 20 years or so.

My doc got my lab work this morning. Everything was wonderful except my blood glucose. I have to get that under control but I've been saying that for years. But I don't want to go back to a nursing home where they can check it four times daily. I know that this is something that I can't put off because I know the consequences.

Okay, so that's my answer. In order to stop procrastinating I have to be faced with something worse than death. What's worse than death? Not quite the life that I'm dealing with now. Losing my fingers, hands or arms, maybe.

Just to get back to what ptangptang said. Were friends and family parachuting from the heavens, we might care about how our sense of being house proud had escaped us. We would probably be in such a state of baby-bawling that it would be the last thing to cross our mind, though. People; people that I once knew and loved, in my apartment?

But back to the OP– you said stop procrastinating to work or study. I've never really had a problem with that. Even though I can be really poor at a particular subject (maths) I look at maths as a challenge and I'm good at being angry enough to fight and win challenges. Very much the same with the work that I once did. I had a job where my success or failure could be quickly measured in monetary values at years end. I did not fail, I guess, because I did not like to fail.

So I didn't procrastinate when it came to work or study. But, now, earlier this week, I may have come across a a job, of sorts, that will require a minimal amount of investment but a great deal of study. It may be just what I need.

I don't find any challenge in dusting, I guess (I find more in decluttering, but that doesn't get my juices flowing), but I suppose that if I find something challenging then I'm less apt to find any of my 'it doesn't matter' attitude in it and find my curiousity bubbling over.

Yeah, that's what can (but doesn't necessarily) overcome my natural procrastination. An intriguing curiosity and an overwhelming challenge that is.

But as far as the other crap... I'll think about it over the next couple of weeks. Unless I don't.

i forgot to say...

i believe if you want something in life- you have to work towards to it.

life won't come to you on a plate... you want the good stuff, help yourself to get it.

[stewartmays1]

i guess keeping busy really helps well for me at least

[ptangptang]

Originally Posted by ptangptang

I'm exactly like you. No motivation and a terrible procrastinator. There is a funny TEDx talk on YouTube about this guy at uni . I think he called it 'the art of procrastinating' . If I think of any tips I'll put them here.
Self motivation is hard for me. If you have no job, no partner, no family no friends there isn't a lot there to motivate you.

The Ted talk is 'inside the mind of a master procrastinator...Tim urban'

I use a planner, for if I write something down I'm much more likely to do it. I factor everything in my planner (I even factor in the unknown). I'm retired from the military, but I choose to wake up at 4:00 AM. I have 3 alarm clocks: one is electric, one is battery and one is wind up.

Yeah, even I think I'm strange.

[sandworm]

put off procrastinating as long as possible. ( so my answer is humor )

[LadyShadow]

Music and more music!!! If I am in bed and can't move and don't want to get up I reach for my tablet and headphones and start playing something good. It gets my butt right up outta that bed!

[Yoda]

Looking for help with procrastination was how I found PC. Now I spend time here on the community and still procrastinate.

The most negative effect from my procrastination is household clutter is really bad. I sometimes go to a community for hoarders and clutterers. I like their method in chat where at the top and bottom of the hour people often go to complete a task, big or small. When we return to chat we support each other for what we have accomplished.

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

i forgot to say...

i believe if you want something in life- you have to work towards to it.

life won't come to you on a plate... you want the good stuff, help yourself to get it.

I don't believe that the things that I want in life will become a reality for me no matter how much I work for it.

I'd like to have legs again. I can't afford the types of prosthetics that I would need. The list goes on and on and on. I'd love to have teeth. Can't afford those. I'd love a heart transplant but my diabetes disqualifies me. I found out yesterday that even if I had the stamina to work, it would cost me $160 per day to get to work and back.

I'm not looking for pity but I'm not beyond recognising that I won't get everything by working for it. Not beyond recognising that there are very real obstacles that cannot be overcome. Not beyond recognising that I have physical and mental illnesses no matter the amount of effort that I am able to expend.

I never expected life to come to me on a plate. I was born to privilege and I worked to maintain that privilege until I lost my mind. Loosing it again, now, doesn't give me the impetus to give a damn about "the good stuff."

Damn. Muhammad Ali died.

[Pikku Myy]

For me it switches very quickly, motivation that is. This was until life and my illness truly blossomed. I am now on a kind of a manic high trying to address a very difficult situation in my life and I am away from the person that keeps me calm. The only motivation that keeps me level is seeing my mom smile

I am a very direct person and need motivation to survive.. call it creativity or life. I have to keep believing its there.

[Manan]

Originally Posted by sandworm

put off procrastinating as long as possible. ( so my answer is humor )

Its actually good advice though!

[Manan]

All these methods have been only somewhat successful for me. But I want to get to root cause of it. Why do we have to use these methods , while others can manage so easily.

I want the easy way out. Wish I could find some medication that would actually make me want to work with out me forcing my self. I wish there was some miracle drug

[LucyD]

I am looking for that miracle drug, too. I put off so many things and I didn't used to be this way. I have been this way for a long time now, though. I rarely have any visitors to motivate me to clean my place so it's get done when I feel like it which isn't very often. I try to do little things each day, though. Like today I am going to put the fan that broke in the garbage bin in the garage. Maybe I will throw out some more clutter, too. Can't stand clutter.

I think that maybe all the meds I am on have something to do with me feeling so much fatique and not feeling like doing anything. I need them, though, and know how I get without them; very down and cry constantly and more of other symptoms, too. Well, off I go to the garbage bin.

[Manan]

So I started working out in the past few days. And I have found that I have been feeling more motivated. Atleast today I do. Also feeling better generally.

Give it a try and see how you guys feel. I do feel exercise is the best solution for all of us. Just gotta find the motivation to start

[handheart]

Before i sleep i watch motivational videos by Eric Thomas ,J.K rowlink and also i watch imediatly when i wake up i do these thinks because it changes your habits from subconstient mind and help you to be more productive

Originally Posted by avlady

i need personal permission to not do something i should.

Exactly!

[Ceara1010]

I'll tell you later.

--Ceara1010

[TiredPilgrim]

I'm still struggling with this one.
--Break a big chore or project up into smaller tasks.
--Give myself actual deadlines.

Sometimes these don't work, especially when my anxiety about whatever I'm procrastinating is high. In those cases I procrastinate because acting on the item does not relieve my anxiety. IE, if I am worried about a project I am in charge of, working on deadlines related to preparing for said project do nothing to relieve the anxiety. In point of fact, in those cases, while working on the project, I feel the same level of anxiety as I might if the whole thing went bollocks up on me.

I'll make a list of three things that are my to do its for the day. And I focus on those.

[Quebec01]

Dear Yoda,
What is the name of that community for hoarders and cluttering. It sounds interesting. I'm curious to inquire about this group.
Thank you.