Low Motivation – Anxiety / Depression

Low motivation can be caused by anxiety, depression and negative thinking. Sometimes you can be too depressed to tackle your issues. It can seem to others as if motivation is low, as if you are not really interested or not really bothered as to whether you succeed or not. Obviously this is not the case, in fact you want to succeed so desperately, and the task seems so daunting, that you really feel low about it. That is when motivation disappears.

What can you do to raise your spirits and get motivated? Well, it might be worth investigating if some kind of secondary gain is holding you back. Often depression can keep you from doing the same things the anxiety stopped you from doing. If this were the case then you would have much more enthusiasm for the areas of your life that don’t involve tackling old fears and phobias.

Otherwise it’s time to get on the motivation trail. There are a couple of good books:

In the USA I recommend:
The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Cranfield

In the UK/Europe I recommend:

. Motivation quotes, although often cliched, can be really helpful.

The important thing is to do something, now! Just take really small steps. Read something about motivation, take a small piece of action, write down your reasons for not acting and argue them out. Do Something!

Morning Pages can be a great hep to motivation. There are more instructions on that page but the idea is pretty straight forward. First thing in the morning you grab a notebook and pen and write whatever you want non-stop. This is amazingly therapeutic and I found it somehow increased my motivation in bounds – and that was great for tackling the issues in my life like anxiety and phobias.

You could also try a bit of paradoxical intention: try to demotivate yourself, try and really do nothing! You might find this makes you want to do something!

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