Getting motivated

A quick guide by Nic Streatfield of the University's Open Door Team. 

 
Feeling unmotivated and depressed is a vicious spiral. Negative thoughts cause you to feel miserable and discouraged, making you feel slower and less inspired. Simple things then become a struggle as you begin to avoid situations and come into contact with less positive experiences. This leaves you with negative thoughts and a lack of enthusiasm. The less you do, the less you want to do…

When your body feels tired you usually need rest, but when you’re depressed or lacking in motivation, doing nothing makes you feel lethargic. To break this cycle you need to be active. This will help improve confidence, give you something positive to think about and focus attention into a more realistic perspective.

Finding Motivation

There are two kinds of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do something because you want to. By contrast, extrinsic motivation is working to obtain rewards and avoid punishments from external sources.

When people pursue an activity because of intrinsic motivation they are more likely to become interested and absorbed by it. Higher intrinsic motivation on an activity is linked to better performance and the ability to adjust. When people concentrate on the external rewards of particular tasks (ie. extrinsic motivation) they experience less involvement and more negative emotion.

So how can you motivate yourself to do the things you don’t want to do? There is no easy answer except you have found ways before. Could these help again? Below are some ideas about how to increase your motivation by increasing the meaning you give to the task and re-evaluating it’s achievability.

Plan what you would like to do

Write down a list of things you’d like to do with your day and also those you feel you need to do. Try and balance them. If you find an activity daunting, break it up into smaller steps. It’s much easier to engage in tasks if you know they are achievable.

 

Visualize yourself doing each activity

Rehearse activities in your head so you can see they are achievable. Visualize how you will appear when you have achieved some of your longer-term goals, such as when you graduate or are in your chosen career.

Mind map thinking

What do you want from life? How is your degree going to help? For many the degree subject can prove uninspiring but this does not mean it is not useful to you. Use a mind map to think about what skills, direction, possibilities and learning opportunities doing your degree can bring.

Radial Diagram

Introduce physical activity

Physical pursuits, such as going for a jog or swim, raise the level of blood flowing to your muscles and help to focus your mind on an activity. This has a positive effect on your mood (the body produces natural anti-depressant chemicals) and helps release feelings of frustration and tension. Regular exercise will also improve sleep, physical health and build up your immune system.

Examine your emotional state

People find it hard to motivate themselves when they’re upset, anxious, depressed, stressed or worried. Think about how you manage these difficulties and how much you link the negative emotion to the work. Whatever the cause of this, such emotions impede your ability to work at full capacity. Talking to others, exercise, relaxation, sleeping well and other forms of self care can help you to manage the negativity. Try to manage your time effectively and recognize it is vital for you to have time for fun and relaxation.

Recognise and Challenge your Negative thoughts

Most of us are so good at concentrating on the negative we don’t even notice that we are doing it. It is very hard to want to do something you tell yourself you cant do. Notice when this happens and challenge it.

Examine your self-belief

All activities involve a degree of personal competence. Some people can only succeed at an activity if they receive encouragement from others (extrinsic motivation). It’s therefore important to establish what skills and knowledge you have and recognise areas that need work. This will help you establish a sense of competence and self-esteem based on self-worth, rather than on approval from others. Research reveals that people who believe they can perform well at a given activity are more likely to fare better at it and persevere, than those who expect to fail.

 

Keeping going

 
We are people of habit and we get into patterns of behaviour. If you’ve ever been swimming or running and then you stop for a moment it can be very hard to start again. Think of that time when it felt impossible to get out of bed and do any work. Then think about the time you were working really hard just before a deadline. When you are on a roll keep going just a little longer. Remember that you have found your motivation before. What helped then and could this help again now?

Page Created: 17th Apr, 2008
Last Updated: 5:27pm on 17th Apr, 2008 by Tom Scott