Why is it so hard for aspies to get motivated?

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Its so hard for me to get motivated to do anything. People say I am really lazy.... but then when I manage to get motivated, I get overly obsessed with it..... Why is it sooo hard for me to get motivated? and how can i be more motivated?

We love our comfort zones and it's hard to get out of what feels comfortable for us.. that is why I know I have a hard time with motivation. If a change is needed, I don't rush into it.. I take baby steps towards the change. Rushing into it will just backfire. Changing a diet is an example, I have to ease myself into a better lifestyle.. and it's been working.

It is called executive dysfunction... Unless you really need to, life or death, you won't... the exception being obsessions... Or at least that is my case.

Intense, narrow interests. It's hard for anybody to get motivated to do something they're not interested in, and easy for things they like. Our interests just tend to be more specialized.

Impairments in executive function are associated with autism, as well as ADHD, Tourette's, OCD, depression, and other psychiatric or developmental disorders. Motivation falls into that, so it just comes with the bag of tricks. The obsession is the flip side of the same dysfunction. [note: I'm using the terms from the literature, please don't read too much into the terms]

As far as coping strategies to do things that you are completely unmotivated to do? Personally, I try to focus on the reason that I need to do it. Is it required for school? Work? Exercising for a sports team? Staying focused on the goals can help make things seem more important in the moment. I also find that breaking things down into small chunks helps. You can pretty much do anything for 5 minutes. So, promise yourself you will start with a 5 minute chunk. Maybe if you get into a groove, you'll keep going. If not, you've at least done something.

Of course, I say this like I've mastered it. Looking back on what I accomplished at work today, I could do with a dose of my own medicine. Good luck!

--Odd_Duck

for me it's not the AS, it's the depression that kills my motivation. but I often think it's my personality or AS because I don't realize I'm depressed. But even when I'm less depressed I have developed bad habits from depression.

I have to force myself to do things but I'm too lazy to leave my apartment. I don't push myself hard enough so I spend my time with the laptop and Benny & Joon.


So the executive dysfunction is lack of motivation? Wow no wonder I'm lazy. At least I was able to get myself a job. I have to push myself to do the dishes or clean the bathroom which is what I did today. At least I'm able to get myself to do things that need to be done like if I need to get some things from the store.

I agree with Odd Duck, I start things I really want to do slow, and build and build until I have made it a routine (ah, a routine! lovely lovely routine!) and then I have it in my life. My problem comes when I do something else one day and then I can lose it for months or years.

Merle

that sounds like inertia, now that I think of it.

My big problem is when the only reason I have to do things in life is "something bad will happen if I don't do this" then I feel like there's nothing to look forward to in life. Also it's hard to break the stuff up into chunks when it's daily grind stuff that doesn't have a definite endpoint but only piles up if I decide not to do it. When I'm really depressed thinking about all the unappealing stuff I have to do just to keep living makes me wish I didn't have to exist. The rewards don't ever seem worth the effort.

So I proclaim myself as a professional slacker because I WILL only do what I love always. And not others, duh.

A sign of demotivation perhaps.

My problem isn't motivation; it's getting moving. No matter how motivated I am, overcoming inertia is often very difficult--sometimes impossible. Most of what I need to do doesn't lend itself to routines, and I haven't found any reliable way to break through the inertia

I get huge problems with motivation. I didn't know it was supposed to be an Aspie thing.

In Aspie terms, I suppose it's often a lack of clarity in the instructions (e.g. school work) that does the damage.

Also the very fact that it's "not about me" seems to render most things impossible. The difference can be very subtle - yesterday I was given a task at work which I was supposed to do today. I anticipated that it would be extremely long and tedious, so I spent yesterday afternoon doing in advance everything I could think of that would help ease the pressure today. It worked very well, though all I'd really done was to change the time at which some of the work was done - the total amount of labour time and the way it was done were still much the same, but the fact that I'd put some thought into it on my own terms and shaped the work to fit my funny little ways made a big difference. To be able to work well, I need to make the job my own, dancing to somebody else's tune just doesn't cut it with me.

I can't cope with stuff that bores me, though my idea of what's boring and what's fascinating seems to be very different from the general consensus. The other thing is that I began to realise that I'm downright obsessional once I get my teeth into a task, so I actually fear starting some projects because I know how the rest of my life can go down the tubes once I've slipped into an obsession. And I can't buy a can of beans without planning it as if it were a bank robbery. I'm very perfectionist, very intense, though I come over as quite laid-back on the outside.

Money has never been a great motivator for me. If I'm not interested, you could wave a stack of $100 bills and I won't do it, regardless of how much I need the money.