Motivation

Give up alcohol!!! I have much more energy when I ditch the booze!
And get outside every day for a walk , even if it’s just round the block . I get bouts of feeling low every now and then , and this works for me.

Callistemon - what about the Nativity set?

The present cold weather will probably motivate me to put away any remaining summer clothes and get out my winter woollies. Apart from that I have great difficulty as well.

old butstilluseful
no, it is not an aged thing, I am 84, and only advanced by 20 odd years (in my mind/body) after my dh died last year. so now.. yes, for me,, it is useful to have some human contact.
my Craft club that I attended before..... well a couple or more of us still try to meet occasionally,, (I am not a Crafty person, but I try)

so for me, yes human contact,
the web is very supportive also, next best thing, I suppose in my circumstances , ie. grieving as well as covid, it is time! and perseverance, and I am a Christian, well try to be.

so we all support one another, here and elsewhere,, I love to see/hear the variety of lives that are shown to me from your posts.. so a thank you

and let`s all keep on keeping on. that`s my old mum talking to me.. gosh, yes, I hear her ... you?

Making small changes can make a huge difference over time and can be more successful than the Big Resolution, which is easy to forget or find daunting. Choose a small 'tweak' in your day towards the change you want - it can make a real impact if you stay 'awake' to the change you want, rather than being on automatic pilot. Sometimes it helps to piggy back a new thing you want to do on an existing habit - so, for instance, when you've cleaned your teeth, follow that with whatever is the new thing you want to keep doing. Also - its easier by far to do something you really want to do - not something you think you 'ought to do'. So check if you really really want to do it and you will find more energy and motivation and take the first practical steps.

I too, like many others find motivation hard, but a few things I am now doing which helps me is saying to myself ; Don’t Be Lazy, don’t be lazy, don’t be lazy, don’t be lazy, over and over until I get going. I give myself a time scale, say 1 hour and oftentimes I do get engrossed past the hour. I try and do one thing every day. I am currently clearing out 40 odd years of stuff from every cupboard & drawer. Looking at filled sacks of off loaded things gives me a great sense of achievement. Small steps. I hope this helps.

I say that whatever I do it's like a journey and can be started by just one little step. If that doesn't work then I remind myself that if I put it off until tomorrow then that'll be a day when it can't be done and I had an instance of that this week. I'd been meaning to finish painting the shed but couldn't be bothered. The weather forecast pushed me into getting the job done during the sunshine. Today it has poured with rain. Wasn't that a good thing I made the effort?
It doesn't always work though. By nature I'm lazy and could just laze about in a field watching the clouds roll by.

I used to have T shirt, which read JUST DO IT. I don't know what happened to it. But when I need motivation I always think of it and it helps me get on with a job I don't want to do.

Well, we all have to do chores that we don’t want to, so I get through those as swiftly as I can ?. Then I can get into doing things I want to do...and if I really really want to do it, the motivation is natural. If I’m not that bothered, it isn’t. It takes some thought.

At the risk of being repetitive, (I've written this once or twice before ?) you have to want the effect or result more than you want the alternative or you won't do it. I learned this many years ago on a professional development course at work. For example, if you want the doughnut more than you want to lose weight, you'll choose to eat the doughnut. You may fret about being overweight but until it worries you enough, you'll make excuses. You have to decide where your priorities lie.

People often find that a scary diagnosis suddenly crystallizes the decision to act. I was told I was on the cusp of pre-diabetes. I gave up chocolate, sweets, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals etc. immediately. I want to be healthy more than I want those things. Distraction is a huge help when you're trying to change certain behaviours. Do something to take your mind off whatever it is. Read a book, take up or restart a hobby, go for a walk, join a club, watch a film, set a timer...

I want my house to be tidy but I enjoy reading or being outdoors more than housework, so my house could be a lot tidier! I don't want a tidy house badly enough!

Write a list of things the night before. Doesn't work if you do it in the morning. Cut nails, clean hob, half hour walk, hand wash bras. Cross them off as you do them. Learn a new skill - on.your list put look.up 3 websites to do with crochet or whatever. Some things you just need to.make an initial phone call to start things off. Call x re blocked gutters. On your list as well.

I write my goals in my diary and treat it like work that has to be done then tick it off when accomplished. I have a full diary and love it.

A bit at a time keeps me going. If I spend too much time on anything, I get bored.

Rewards work for me as well, a new book, coffee and a biscuit etc. I have also learned not to set myself unrealistic targets otherwise I just give up, small steps. I have been a week without chocolate and sweets now, I feel better but miss my daily fix.

My day can easily be frittered away doing small tasks routine tasks. So I try to work towards special things I have booked. I have a list of longer term goals i.e. this years holiday transferred to next - find out what the company are doing. I have booked a course at an adult education college - Higham Hall in Cumbria. Now I am reading books and doing activities towards this course. The holiday is a writing course so I am looking up the authors who are teaching it and will get a book or two etc. I do have a mundane tod list or short term things i.e. physiotherapy appointment, car to the garage etc. And then middle type things such as family, painting class, friends Zoom. So I do have something to do and look forward to weekly. I also have a daily routine of shower, breakfast etc and then emails and gransnet. Hope this helps.

I stopped drinking on the 2 August and since then I am looking for things to do all the time. Knitted Christmas jumpers for the GC's recovered dining room chairs (can't beat You tube for learning these skills) now making a bench cushion for a toybox and starting (again!) my 1 hour a day Spanish refresher course for our winter long stay in Spain at the end of November. So much more energy when you go Alcohol Free.

Set small and reachable objectives. Don' t beat yourself up if you don' t meet your objectives. Get rid of projects, sewing etc that yiu never finished because you are not going to ! Think about the obstacles preventing you from reaching your goals .....real or imaginary ?

I’ll be reading with interest too....

Lizzypopbottle: wondered how set a timer worked ! Then couldn’t be bothered to prepare lunch, set timer for ten minutes and hey presto I was up and doing within 5. ?

Lack of motivation is a strange phenomenon because in theory now we are spending so much time at home we should be tackling all those things we should have done before, but are not now doing them, and I wonder why. Could it be that we have still not come to terms with the pa adapt to what will be the new normality for goodness knows how long?

It seems this problem is not confined to the older generation. One of the columnists in the Daily Telegraph wrote an article a few days ago admitting that her wardrobe had now become a floor-robe with clean washing not put away but left languishing on the floor, chairs or any other vacant surface.

Apologies for the typing mistake. Just rushing off to tidy bedroom!

I make lists- One for everyday stuff and another for "projects"- I rewrite the projects list every so often as projects gets crossed off and more get added-

It sounds like box ticking! But I get a lot accomplished-

I'm a dreadful procrastinator. If there is a tomorrow that I can tell myself will do, I'll leave things till then.

What does help, though, is that I hate letting others down, so if I can find a way to commit to things that involve others, I will do them. It doesn't help with housework, unfortunately; but for instance before lockdown I wanted to get more exercise, and never got round to doing it. I enrolled in a pilates class, and asked a friend to go with me, so that when she knocked I would be ready with my mat and would definitely go along, as the fact that she had bothered to call for me meant I wouldn't let her down.

Similarly, if I want to motivate myself to follow an interest, I would join a class, or have a time in the week when I did it with friends - when something is in the diary it has a much greater chance of getting done than if I wait until I am motivated. That might sound like I am always doing things out of duty, but it's not like that at all - I only arrange to do things that I want to do, and when I am doing them I really enjoy them. I sometimes need to give myself a nudge, is all.

It's a bit more difficult in lockdown, of course, but where I can I have committed to things like Zoom discussions and I do find that the commitment still helps even though I'm not there in person.

Personal irritation and frustration is the kick up the backside for me. Quite awful. My reward - and it is huge - is simply the job being done. I'm a nightmare but so glad to read I'm not alone. Didn't think I was!

There are many excellent suggestions here. I am a daily list maker, and even when things don't get done, they get moved to the next day and eventually they do get done! I had not thought of the idea of putting a timer on, but it sounds like something that would work for me, so I'll try it!