One of the most frequent struggles that I see as a therapist - aside from stress and anxiety - is motivation, or more accurately, a lack thereof. What causes us to feel unmotivated, even toward things that are important to us? What causes big shifts in our motivation, allowing us to feel “dialed in” one moment but flat and stuck the next?
Motivation is a highly personal and temperamental construct. It is very susceptible to different internal and environment variables such as sleep, nutrition, our mental health, etc. Therefore it can be incredibly frustrating to figure out:
The root of our low motivation.
Which specific variables to strengthen or decrease in order to feel more motivated.
Here, I’ve compiled my 15+ years of experience and exposure to different models, theories, and features of motivation to create a short quiz. While this is not a comprehensive assessment of every possible explanation, it will help you hone in on which specific variables are negatively affecting your motivation, and therefore what to dig into further.
NOTE: You’ll see a space between sets of questions. Each set represents a particular theory and will be briefly explained below.
____________________________
Low Motivation Assessment
Name _____________
Date ______________
Intro questions
What task(s) or goal would you like to have more motivation for?
What has been your history with this task or goal thus far?
Assessment - Answer each of the following questions:
There are three types of motivation: 1) Amotivation (no motivation), 2) External (with 4 subtypes) and 3) Internal. THIS assessment will help you figure out where you are on the motivation continuum.
How physically capable do you feel at completing this task?
How mentally/emotionally capable do you feel at completing this task?
How much autonomy do you have to complete the task in the way you want to, without barriers, limitations or other peoples’ demands?
How much camaraderie do you feel toward others also completing this task?
How complex or tedious is this task?
Do you have any systems in place that help you organize, manage and execute the different parts of this task?
Have you built any habits around this task yet? In other words, have you already been doing any steps of this task enough for them to be automatic?
Have you ever been diagnosed with anxiety, ADHD, a concussion or other mental health issues that may impact your motivation and focus?
Have you ever been prescribed medication for attention or emotional regulation? If so, are you taking it regularly and as prescribed?
Have you recently experienced a medical illness?
Do you believe that you have the skills, tools, information and/or necessary resources to complete this task?
On a scale of 0-10 (0=low, 10=high), how hopeful are you that with the right tools, you’d be successful?
On a scale of 0-10, how important is it to YOU (not others) to do this task?
What is your “why”? In other words, why are you doing this task?
Are there any reasons why you may not want to do this or reach your goal?
On a scale of 0-10, how would rate each of the 5 Health Hygiene Habits:
Sleep
Nutrition
Hydration
Exercise
Stress management
Results
The following sets of questions each align with their own model of explaining or assessing motivation:
Question 1
The Motivation Continuum. This helps us understand how internally versus externally motivated we are toward a given task or goal. While neither is necessarily better or worse than the other, knowing this allows us to self reflect on our motives and values around doing something, and highlight any changes we’d like to make.
Questions 2-5
Self Determination Theory (SDT). This theory states that in order to feel high internal motivation for a task, we need 3 things: Competency, Autonomy, and Relatedness. Knowing this can help highlight which specific area may be lacking, and need additional support or strengthening.
Competency - How capable we feel of doing something.
Autonomy - How much freedom we have to make our own decisions in the process.
Relatedness - How connected we feel to other people.
Questions 6-8
Systems. Without effective systems, or processes, tasks will be harder to conceptualize, organize and execute. This is especially true for tedious tasks or ones with multiple steps.
After creating effective systems, you’ll want to execute the system enough for it to become a habit. Why? Because habits (aka, automatic behavior with minimal thought) take much less energy and willpower to do.
Questions 9-11
Health and Medications. Certain physical or mental health diagnoses may have the unpleasant side effect of lowering energy, drive or focus. Therefore, your low motivation may be due to an organic or biological issue rather than a lack of will power.
Questions 12-13
Hope + Skills. In order to complete a task, we need the right tools and resources to get the job done, as well as hope that if we have these tools, we’ll actually be successful. Assessing these two components can give you a more specific clue around what may be lacking, and what to focus on to help you get started.
Questions 14-16
Importance and your “Why”. Regardless of having the right tools, if a task isn’t important enough, then we may not be willing to put the necessary energy and other resources into doing it.
Also, while a goal or task may be something we “should” want, or a logical next step in our lives, it may come with a lot of drawbacks or unpleasantness. Therefore, we may be subtly resistant to work towards it.
Question 17
Health Hygiene Habits. Over the years, I have repeatedly heard from various providers across multiple health care fields that these basic habits are the cornerstone to our health. They are not supplemental or “nice” to consider. Rather, they are critical components to function, and can make a dramatic difference in our mood, energy, concentration, etc.
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