Published on 12, July, 2020
Recently I’ve become increasingly aware of what could be described as a lack of motivation. Only I don’t think it is that simple. I like to plan things to the nth degree (no surprise there) and usually start this process days or weeks in advance. If then on the day everything goes to plan, i.e deliveries turn up on time, people turn up on time and do what they are supposed to, etc, etc. All good! However, if something doesn’t go right, that’s it, I’m stumped. It’s like someone has turned me off.
I can sit on the sofa all day, or knowing what to do, until I can get into a reorganisation phase and try again. A prime example is the garden building/home office project I’ve got at home at the moment. There are obviously 1000’s of things to do, if if I’ve planned steps 8,9,10, and the materials I need for 9 don’t turn up. That’s it, none starter. Although I could do bits of 11, 15 and 197.
I can’t decide if this is “normal”, I have low motivation or what’s going on.
I can relate to some of this. I struggle to get started if there are too many options. I also think that I don't want things to go wrong so that puts me off even starting. If I have to do a DIY or garden or sewing project and can't get what I need or come up against a problem I just give up. This happens too easily. I've really struggled this past fortnight off work, with motivation for anything anyway.
The bit about "someone has turned me off" I can relate to...I think in my mind if something was going to happen and it doesn't, or happrns differently it can really throw me and put me in a strange mood. In my mind I don't have a plan B. I think that might be to do with inflexible thinking,
That's sounds a little like myself, in that I could do other things whilst waiting, but then I would be out of sequence. And I would've planned every step in great detail.
Maybe you're trying to control things too much or maybe you are too much of a perfectionist when those attributes are not quite required in certain things or projects such as you describe ? For example, would the sky fall-in if your home office took 6 months as opposed to 4 ?
I could understand if you were say, working at NASA and planning the temperature, breathing capabilities, oxygen levels, fuel consumption or the mathematical time equations for an astronaut to go and come back from space to earth safely, that would be real pressure beyond most people's understanding, but building a garden shed/home office, that's not something to get upset about unnecessarily is it ?
This is not to gloss-over in any way, what maybe a habit or lifetime pattern you've recently become aware of. Awareness, of the problem is progress, believe me but it's not the end, Only the beginning of working through our conditioning. We have to unlearn many things, compared to the average Joe. This does not happen overnight but :
" The unexamined life is not worth living. ".
" Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans ".
We think his wife will eventually kill him and put him under the patio - and then call in "DIY-SOS".
He's so lost and disorganised now that we were supposed to be going to visit them tomorrow - but haven't had a confirmation - even with a gentle reminder to him earlier in the week.
That’s not a bad idea.
Plastic said:my friend is stuck in this mode with his house renovation - for the last 15 years!
I think if it takes more than a year my wife will kill me! At least then I won’t have to worry about it. We’ll call that Plan B.
You are overwhelmed with the size of the project in front of you - too many things to do, too many places to start, too many options - my friend is stuck in this mode with his house renovation - for the last 15 years!
It would really help you to bounce the options off a second person to help you prioritise and pick at the low-hanging fruit first - some quick & easy successes would help get things moving and get you back into the mood.
I'm more laissez-faire with my schedule. But I have certain time constraints.
I procrastinate a bit, until I realise that no one else can do these things for me; not even my brother.