get the ball rolling: Understanding motivation & momentum
I want to give an enormous shout out to KC Davis of strugglecare.com, and author of How to Keep House while Drowning. Her writing was the first time I came across the concept of motivation and momentum as separate processes: it seems we often talk about motivation to do something, expecting that understanding and desire to do a task is the whole ball of wax.
That’s often not the case - particularly for neurodiverse people, overwhelmed people, depressed or tired people. Motivation is the understanding that a task is valuable and feeling desire to do it. Motivation is about thoughts and feelings. Momentum is moving a body from stillness to motion, and gaining enough motion (to do a task). Laws of physics indeed apply: a body at rest stays at rest, and a body in motion stays in motion, until an external force is applied.
These are big topics with a lot of writing and research about them, so here are just a few strategies for each. But I offer this distinction in the hope that, if you have had trouble getting things done even with tons of motivation, and you have internalized this story about yourself and feel ashamed or hopeless about it, you might find some new understanding and compassion for your Past Self. You might have been doing your best with what you had, and that you had a gap in your momentum skills.
TIPS TO INCREASE MOTIVATION
Find YOUR why!
Most of us don’t like to be told what to do or feel forced to do something. Thinking of a task that way can easily invite our Inner Rebel to the surface. You might need to get a bit creative, but there is probably some way to connect to the task in a meaningful, personal way.
2. Remove blocker emotions
Reflect about whether feelings of shame, fear, stress, overwhelm, or resentment are present and work through them. Real quick: shame (eg thinking it won’t be good enough or you’re not good enough for the task) needs compassion; fear (eg failure or difficulty) can be faced with gentle encouragement and small steps; stress (eg too much to do or think about) needs tasks broken down in parts or let go; overwhelm (eg paralyzed by severe stress and feelings) needs to stop and calm down before taking the task in smaller parts with less pressure; resentment can return to Tip #1.
3. Connect with your Future Self
Visualize yourself doing the task 5-10 minutes in, almost done, and once you’re finished. Let yourself feel the relief, pride, etc of completion. Is there a task you can complete that feels like “a gift to your Future Self”?
TIPS TO START MOMENTUM
Find a buddy.
Get in physical proximity to someone working in a way that’s similar to what you need.
Move towards
Get physically closer to the task, giving yourself permission to not do the task yet. Prep your workspace, open your laptop, bring up the program/site you need for your work, with actual permission to not start working yet. Or dress for the gym, lace up your sneakers, grab your waterbottle and start your exercise playlist. (Eventually you get so close, it’s harder not to do the task than to do it!)
Permission to do parts.
No need to do all the dishes! Let yourself do some - 10 minutes while you listen to a couple of your favorite songs. Or do 3 dishes and walk away while patting yourself on the shoulder. And hey, if you want to do a few more while you’re at it, ok. If not, ok.
Happy tasking! You can do this!
