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How do you get motivated?
Forum rules
We ask that users looking for general, ongoing emotional support post in this area of the boards, and that you use this space to both ask for, give and receive that support primarily from each other, rather than from our staff and volunteers. As a staff, we simply are often too overextended with all we need to do in running the organization and its services to do that for extended periods of time, and one of our main aims of our community at the boards has always been to facilitate peers to better be there for each other.
Users often report that they have no in-person peers they can talk to or seek support from: we want this to be a space for online peer support and somewhere everyone can get some practice asking for, getting and giving support so that doing it with people in your lives feels more doable.
Please remember that neither staff, volunteers nor your fellow users can provide or replace mental healthcare when that is something you need. Users struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, abuse or physical health issues are strongly encouraged to seek out qualified, in-person help with those issues in addition to peer or staff support.
We ask that users looking for general, ongoing emotional support post in this area of the boards, and that you use this space to both ask for, give and receive that support primarily from each other, rather than from our staff and volunteers. As a staff, we simply are often too overextended with all we need to do in running the organization and its services to do that for extended periods of time, and one of our main aims of our community at the boards has always been to facilitate peers to better be there for each other.
Users often report that they have no in-person peers they can talk to or seek support from: we want this to be a space for online peer support and somewhere everyone can get some practice asking for, getting and giving support so that doing it with people in your lives feels more doable.
Please remember that neither staff, volunteers nor your fellow users can provide or replace mental healthcare when that is something you need. Users struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, abuse or physical health issues are strongly encouraged to seek out qualified, in-person help with those issues in addition to peer or staff support.
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Hex #990000
- not a newbie
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:14 am
- Age: 24
- Awesomeness Quotient: I like to express my creativity.
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: he/him
- Sexual identity: Unsure pan?bi? idk
- Location: Australia?
How do you get motivated?
I wanna keep this short and simple I'm a very unmotivated person. How can I motivate myself to get things done?
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Jacob
- scarleteen staff/volunteer
- Posts: 1154
- Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:33 am
- Age: 35
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: They
- Location: Leeds UK
Re: How do you get motivated?
I'm a big procrastinator, but usually for me that comes from anxiety.
Unfortunately, I have a brain that can sometimes be so full of negative voices that I slow down significantly, everything feels scary and 'doing' something will just expose me to more self-criticism etc.
SO, what has been really helpful for me is firstly being accepting of the stress and anxiety... If I'm annoyed about the anxiety itself that only hurts things, so saying comforting things to myself helps me. "It's ok to be stressed, it's ok to be anxious".
Secondly - Take risks. It sometimes feels scary to do even the smallest tasks, because maybe it'll go wrong and I'll have to deal with even louder angry brain voices telling me this proves I suck even more, because it was such a small and easy task, "I have too many voices as it is! I can't have any more!"...
Taking the risk however, and stepping out of my comfort zone, knowing and accepting that I don't know how it'll turn out, is a really powerful way to care for myself, and put faith in myself, and when I can do it, it really helps with motivation.
It also means that getting out of bed in the spirit of a super badass risk-taking stunt artist, which isn't a bad way to start the day.
Sam's piece Self-Care When It's Scary really helps me with this stuff.
Unfortunately, I have a brain that can sometimes be so full of negative voices that I slow down significantly, everything feels scary and 'doing' something will just expose me to more self-criticism etc.
SO, what has been really helpful for me is firstly being accepting of the stress and anxiety... If I'm annoyed about the anxiety itself that only hurts things, so saying comforting things to myself helps me. "It's ok to be stressed, it's ok to be anxious".
Secondly - Take risks. It sometimes feels scary to do even the smallest tasks, because maybe it'll go wrong and I'll have to deal with even louder angry brain voices telling me this proves I suck even more, because it was such a small and easy task, "I have too many voices as it is! I can't have any more!"...
Taking the risk however, and stepping out of my comfort zone, knowing and accepting that I don't know how it'll turn out, is a really powerful way to care for myself, and put faith in myself, and when I can do it, it really helps with motivation.
It also means that getting out of bed in the spirit of a super badass risk-taking stunt artist, which isn't a bad way to start the day.
Sam's piece Self-Care When It's Scary really helps me with this stuff.
"In between two tall mountains there's a place they call lonesome.
Don't see why they call it lonesome.
I'm never lonesome when I go there." Connie Converse - Talkin' Like You
Don't see why they call it lonesome.
I'm never lonesome when I go there." Connie Converse - Talkin' Like You
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Hex #990000
- not a newbie
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:14 am
- Age: 24
- Awesomeness Quotient: I like to express my creativity.
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: he/him
- Sexual identity: Unsure pan?bi? idk
- Location: Australia?
Re: How do you get motivated?
Thankyou that was quite inspiring. I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety I sincerely hope it gets better. 
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Jacob
- scarleteen staff/volunteer
- Posts: 1154
- Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:33 am
- Age: 35
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: They
- Location: Leeds UK
Re: How do you get motivated?
I think it's just part of me! It gets better and worse at different times. I'm actually in a pretty good place at the moment... I'm glad it helped to share though!
"In between two tall mountains there's a place they call lonesome.
Don't see why they call it lonesome.
I'm never lonesome when I go there." Connie Converse - Talkin' Like You
Don't see why they call it lonesome.
I'm never lonesome when I go there." Connie Converse - Talkin' Like You
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wesley97
- not a newbie
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:27 pm
- Age: 25
- Awesomeness Quotient: I am planning on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: she/her
- Sexual identity: Queer
- Location: Vancouver Island
Re: How do you get motivated?
Hex #990000,
I have a few things that I use to get motivated that might help you out:
1. in the morning I listen to music that gets me feeling happy and excited and ready to face the day, I find that being in a good mood increases my motivation so much. Everyone has different music tastes but one of my favorites right now is Everyday by Logic!
2. looking after my body is super important for me, running on an empty tank is hard so I make sure I've gotten enough sleep and have eaten a good breakfast.
3. I try to split things up into manageable chunks, I like to block a set amount of time for whatever activity I am going to do. Lets say I am trying to get motivated to do math homework and I have three hours of homework to do, I like to start by saying that I am just going to work on math for an hour then I look at the clock, start my work and once an hour has passed I stop working immediately and move on to something for a little bit. I'll give myself a mental break and then come back and do another hour chunk since I have found that an hour is my maximum attention span but it is different for everyone.
Hopefully that helps you a little! Good luck with the motivation, you've got this
xx
I have a few things that I use to get motivated that might help you out:
1. in the morning I listen to music that gets me feeling happy and excited and ready to face the day, I find that being in a good mood increases my motivation so much. Everyone has different music tastes but one of my favorites right now is Everyday by Logic!
2. looking after my body is super important for me, running on an empty tank is hard so I make sure I've gotten enough sleep and have eaten a good breakfast.
3. I try to split things up into manageable chunks, I like to block a set amount of time for whatever activity I am going to do. Lets say I am trying to get motivated to do math homework and I have three hours of homework to do, I like to start by saying that I am just going to work on math for an hour then I look at the clock, start my work and once an hour has passed I stop working immediately and move on to something for a little bit. I'll give myself a mental break and then come back and do another hour chunk since I have found that an hour is my maximum attention span but it is different for everyone.
Hopefully that helps you a little! Good luck with the motivation, you've got this
xx