Your motivational strategy, which you often use, is
MASTER OF ILLUSION
Like a Master of Illusion, you avoid
doing what is important,
in favour of what you prefer to do.
Unlike neurotypical people, you find motivation, determination, even joy in tasks that you find interesting, unique and arouse strong emotions. The more passionate and exciting the task, the more likely you are to complete it.
Consequences, the prospect of reward, the urgency and importance of the task do not motivate - only fun and excitement do.
Consequences, the prospect of reward, the urgency and importance of the task do not motivate - only fun and excitement do.
"I've always been able to do anything I wanted, as long as I was able to get excited about it."
Is that what you've got?
The difficulty in completing a task is not a question of lack of concentration or attention skills.
It is a lack of interest and intense emotion.
Often you are already asking yourself questions completely unconsciously before undertaking a task:
Will I have fun?
How much does this task work on my emotions?
It is a lack of interest and intense emotion.
Often you are already asking yourself questions completely unconsciously before undertaking a task:
Will I have fun?
How much does this task work on my emotions?
For people with ADHD, starting, continuing and completing tasks is a real challenge. Instability of interest and intense emotions do not make the process any easier.
In order to motivate ourselves, we often turn to various motivational tricks that tap into our emotions, but at the same time consume a lot of energy.
Based on your answers, the most common motivational trick you use is:
Avoidance, or the Master of Illusion
Avoidance, or the Master of Illusion
Like a Master of Illusion, you avoid doing what’s important in favour of what you’d rather be doing.
Instead of completing a task at work, you clean the kitchen.
Instead of paying a bill, you search the web for holiday deals.
Instead of making a follow-up appointment with your doctor over the phone, you call a friend.
Substitute activities give you a sense of productivity and efficiency.
And they bring relief, after feeling the discomfort of taking on an unwanted task.
Where does this discomfort come from?
Depending on the characteristics of the task, the unpleasant feelings can have different sources:
Sometimes you don’t believe that performing a task will give you pleasure
(washing dishes – ble, filling in official forms – awful, a boring task at work 🙁 ).
When you fear that you will not do a task well
(because you feel incompetent, you fear failure or you don’t know what the outcome of your efforts will be).
When you feel lost because the task is too complicated, multi-step, stretched out in time.
You feel extremely tired (it is difficult to concentrate).
When everything is equally important (and especially important is that idea that just popped into my head).
Avoidance may provide immediate relief, but it takes a much bigger toll in the long term.
The backlog grows,
the sense of agency diminishes,
and the task becomes mega-difficult because it’s already fraught with negative thoughts about yourself.
And you avoid again.
The circle closes.
And it spins endlessly.
