I don’t know if it has happened to you or if you have also noticed it, but I have detected for some time now that a certain atmosphere of disappointment or demotivation is invading society in general.
And it is that, for example, people who were delighted with their work situation or work have now begun to consider whether it really fills them up and they feel satisfied or, instead, they only did it out of inertia or as a mere routine. Another clear example is young people who were very clear about what they wanted to study and do with their lives, but who have recently considered whether to continue their studies or abandon them.
I don’t know the main reason or if it may be a little influenced by Covid, the lockdown periods, which we have had a lot of time to think about, or it is due to pandemic stress. But what is true is that every time I notice a greater general demotivation.
Having said this, I would also like to point out that demotivation is a state of mind that all of us have experienced at some point in our lives. For this reason, today in this post, I want to tell you what demotivation is, what its causes and symptoms are, the types of demotivation, what are the factors that produce it and I leave you with some tips to regain motivation and get excited again .
This state can occur when you go through difficult moments that you experience as obstacles that life puts you, or you fail in some of the objectives that you had set for yourself.
Content of this topic
-
- What is demotivation?
- symptoms of demotivation
- Types of demotivation
- Causes of demotivation
- Tips to get motivated again
- When should you consult with a specialist in Psychology?
- Don’t miss my tips!
What is demotivation?
Demotivation is an internal state that makes you feel as if you do not have enough strength and energy to carry out certain tasks, you feel that you are in a moment where you see everything from a totally pessimistic point of view, you are a detection radar of negative experiences and events. This state can appear when you go through difficult moments that you experience as obstacles that life puts you, or you fail in some of the objectives that you had set for yourself. It is a situation that leads you to abandon your objectives and goals.
Normally, when you feel unmotivated, this state of mind is usually accompanied by emotions that leave you with an unpleasant feeling or you experience a feeling of blockage according to which you believe that you are not moving forward, that you are stuck, and may even think of abandoning your goals. As you can see, there are many negative symptoms derived from lack of motivation. Below I am going to name the most common and significant ones.
Frustration appears at all times, there seems to be no chance for success and you observe everything through the glasses of pessimism, believing that everything is difficult to do.
symptoms of demotivation
The main symptoms with which we can identify an unmotivated person would be:
- Negative thoughts are present at all times; You look at your landscape in a dark way as if you don’t know how to find a way out, thinking about failure all the time.
- Loss of interest in many of the activities that you did on a daily basis and that were interesting to you.
- Changes in mood are very evident and sadness and boredom take center stage.
- Frustration appears at all times, there seems to be no chance for success and you observe everything through the glasses of pessimism, believing that everything is difficult to do.
- Changes in habits. Day-to-day routines such as food undergo slight changes, for example, you may lose your appetite and this leads you to eat anything and at any time, your sleeping habits are also altered, insomnia appearing with difficulty falling asleep or with very frequent awakenings and you stop practicing your hobbies because you no longer find any incentive.
This is what is called an existential crisis, related to your life project and the goals you set for it.
Types of demotivation
It should be pointed out that demotivation is not just one, but that we can find different types of demotivation, each due to different causes, and which will depend directly on the area where motivation feels affected.
Demotivation can be classified into:
- labor demotivation
This is one of the types of demotivation that directly affects the work area, leading you to perform less at work and having to go out of the obligation to earn money and not for the pleasure of your work in the company. When you are unmotivated, going to work every day is a gigantic effort and, obviously, your productivity is affected. This is how the phenomenon of presenteeism is generated, you become an employee who is at his job and you even work more hours, but even so you are not more efficient, rather the opposite effect is produced.
Some of the most common factors that lead to decreased motivation at work are:
- Lack of progress at work
- communication problems
- A bad climate in the organization
- The lack of autonomy
- A bad relationship with the boss
- Carrying out a job that does not satisfy or excite you
- The insecurity
- school demotivation
Lack of motivation in the academic field is one of the main causes of school failure, since in these cases, the child may not want to go to school making excuses such as that they are in pain or simply missing class without their parents being aware of it. of it. In the long run, if this problem is not solved, the child may drop out of school.
Some of the causes that will cause some children and adolescents to lose interest and motivation in school may be:
- Wrong educational methods
- boring classes
- Bullying
- Lack of support at home from parents or relatives.
- The inability to meet the special educational needs of students
- demotivation in the couple
The emotional bond that unites a couple can be damaged when one of the members becomes apathetic and indifferent and loses interest in the relationship. If a solution to this situation is not sought, it is likely that the couple will end up ending their union.
The demotivation of life as a couple can appear due to:
- The monotony of the daily routine
- The loss of details and beautiful words
- The change of common interests and tastes.
- Lack of comunication
- Conflicts of coexistence
- social demotivation
Social demotivation is what appears when you don’t feel like interacting with other people, groups or social circles, because it’s something that doesn’t have the slightest interest for you. In the event that you maintain social relationships, these are out of necessity, such as going to a school or work meeting, you do it because it is necessary and you experience it as a very unpleasant experience.
- personal demotivation
Personal demotivation or also called existential, is what appears when you feel like you’re losing your way, when you don’t know where you want to lead your life, you don’t feel like doing almost anything. Here it can be said that demotivation is not found in a specific area, but rather covers all areas of your life, for various reasons. This is what is called an existential crisis, related to your life project and the goals you set for it. You find yourself in a period where sadness and hopelessness reign, you ask yourself very important questions such as: What is the point of what I do? Why am I in this world? What will I do with my life? When the existential crisis is not resolved and the person does not find sufficiently valid reasons, depression usually appears.
It is a phenomenon that depends on the context, that is, it is not housed inside the person, but rather has to do with their relationship with the world.
Causes of demotivation
It must be taken into account that, as we have previously commented, amotivation is a phenomenon that depends on the context, that is, it is not housed within the person, but rather has to do with their relationship with the world and there are many causes that can make you feel demotivated, so I am going to mention the most common:
- fear of change
By now you will surely have verified that life is changeable and it is you who decides if you take risks and adapt to such changes or, on the contrary, let the fear of the different, of the unknown take over you, preventing you from abandoning your comfort zone, the one you know perfectly well and where you have everything under control, in which you feel so comfortable. You may feel safe where you are, but that does not mean that you are happy, fear does not let you move forward and you simply settle for what you have.
- A confusing life project
A life plan is like a road map where you mark where you want to go in life, the goals you want to achieve and what you want to achieve. If you set clear, realistic, and achievable goals to fulfill this plan, you will move slowly but surely toward your goals. It is important that you are very clear about your goals and the way to reach them, otherwise frustration will appear and with it demotivation.
- Lack of self-awareness
Through self-knowledge you discover who you are, what your qualities are, you discover your weaknesses, your essence as a person, what you want and need in life, something essential to draw up your life plan and be able to be motivated to fulfill it. When you lack this knowledge, you don’t know where to start from because you don’t know who you really are or where you want to direct your future.
- Lack of autonomy
When you make your own decisions, you become independent and totally autonomous, which allows you to progress successfully on a personal level since you make your decisions based on your desires and needs. Depending on other people when making important decisions we lose that autonomy, what you do you do based on the needs and desires of others.
- surround yourself with negative people
How are the people around you? If they are positive people, who know how to focus on the good things in life, it will be easier for you to be encouraged, which will help you to work on being better every day and strive to achieve what you want. On the contrary, if the people around you have a negative and pessimistic attitude towards life, perceiving only the bad in each situation, surely you will end up infecting yourself with that negativity and that will lead to demotivation. Just like optimistic people give you energy, pessimists steal it from you.
- Without efort there is no reward
Thinking that luck is going to help you achieve your goals or that these will depend to a large extent on what others do is a wrong thought, because life does not give you anything. Behind the successes that are achieved in it is the effort and dedication, that is, without effort there is no reward. When you want to achieve something you must do something to achieve it, do not expect it to fall from the sky.
- Don’t let difficulties stand in your way
Throughout your existence, life will put challenges and obstacles in your path that will make things not turn out as you wish. Think that these stones are part of the route and to reach the goal it is necessary to pass them. The solution is in your attitude, you can get frustrated, discouraged and demotivated with each difficulty you encounter, or you can think that you are in control and you are the one who directs your life and you are fully capable of meeting your objectives despite the difficulties that you can find yourself
Lack of motivation is a state of mind with many causes, which can cause us great problems in mental health and emotional state.
Once you know what demotivation is and what motivation is, my tips to stop being demotivated and get motivated again
Tips to get motivated again
Now that you know what demotivation is, its symptoms, causes, etc. It is time to share with you different tips to motivate yourself. But first I want to make a brief parenthesis to briefly define what the motivation would be, since I think it is essential to be able to recover the illusion again.
Motivation is a state of the human being that generates the ability to activate, direct or maintain a behavior. In fact, it comes from the Latin motivus or motus, which means “cause of movement”. In other words, motivation is the psychic energy that pushes us to undertake or sustain an action or conduct, such as in the professional sphere, presenting yourself for oppositions, or, in the personal sphere, going on a diet.
In addition, it would be important for you to know that motivation is closely related to will and interest, since it has the ability to make human beings carry out actions that, a priori, they do not want to carry out, due to the future rewards that can be obtained. .
That is to say, any activity that you carry out, whether consciously or unconsciously, you do it because there are a series of dispositions in you that lead you to undertake behaviors aimed at reaching a goal in the short, medium or long term. Motivation is precisely that set of provisions that act as the engine of your actions.
Finally, it must be said that we can classify it according to the place from which the motivation starts:
Extrinsic motivation: when the reasons that lead you to carry out a certain job or activity do not depend on yourself, but on external factors. You depend on someone outside who reinforces or pressures you to achieve objectives, for example the salary you receive for doing your job.
Intrinsic Motivation: It originates within you based on your needs for exploration, experimentation, curiosity, and manipulation, which are considered motivating behaviors in themselves. You are the one who sets the goals. An example can be when you put a hobby into practice, it is something that you decide to do for yourself and the simple fact of carrying it out already gives you satisfaction.
Once you know what demotivation is and what motivation is, the first step, and a very important one, is to become aware of what leads you to become demotivated and thus be able to motivate yourself again. Once this is known, it is enough to reorganize priorities, let go of some goals and aim for new ones, related to your own interests, instead of doing everything possible to reach objectives that, sometimes, have been imposed by the company, family, friends, the media, etc.
So my advice to stop being unmotivated and get motivated again would be:
- Disconnect for a moment
It is highly recommended that when you are going through a state of demotivation you disconnect from the routine, because it will help you combat that state.
An easy way to disconnect can be to put in your mind an image of something that you find relaxing to help you take your mind off what is worrying you and get a moment of relaxation. For this I propose:
- Choose a quiet place where nobody bothers you for a moment, put on a dim light, lie down and close your eyes
- Put your attention on your breathing, which will be slow, calm.
- When you are relaxed, imagine that you are on a path that takes you to a place that you like very much and that gives you peace of mind.
- Be aware of the pleasant sensations it produces in you.
- After a moment he returns to the road again and returns to reality. She opens her eyes to return to your day to day.
- Now is the time to think about what you want for your future and draw your own conclusions about what you want for your life and how you can achieve it. I’m sure this will help you get back on track.
- Get out of your comfort zone
When you are in your comfort zone there is no room for failure because you have everything under control and you do it fairly well, you know how to function without a problem, you feel safe. But always taking refuge in what is known limits you and does not allow you to grow or learn. Make an effort to take risks and do new things. By taking risks you will get the adrenaline generated in your body by that sensation of risk, you will feel more creative, stronger and faster.
So let’s go to the mess and grab a pen and paper. Make a list of 10 things that would help you get out of your comfort zone and be the best version of yourself. Choose the first two and draw up a plan to achieve them. When you have done it, choose another two and continue experimenting, risking and improving.
- Short, medium and long term goals
When you set goals in your life, see that they are realistic, many times we want everything to happen very quickly, but there are situations that require time. So be patient and don’t get frustrated in the development of your life plan.
- Rate and celebrate your progress
When you get small or big achievements from your goals, congratulate yourself and value them, however small they may be. If there is progress, it means that you have less to reach your goal, the key is patience and persistence, do not stop fighting demotivation.
When should you consult with a specialist in Psychology?
As we can see, lack of motivation can damage all areas of our lives. Also, if you identify with several of the symptoms that we have listed, it is important that you seek professional psychological help, this can be a great option to combat demotivation at this time in your life.
Having said this, my recommendation is to go to an expert if you see that you are not able to get out of demotivation on your own, since many times, we ourselves do not know where to start, so it is very difficult to be clear about where you want to go or how to combat demotivation
So if at any time you are not clear about the direction of your life and what are the events that motivate you, do not hesitate to seek the help of a psychologist, going to psychological therapy will help you:
- Establish your objectives and goals more clearly.
- It will allow you to develop adequate self-awareness.
- You will manage to modify your fears of change.
- It will allow you to find your true interests.
Remember that I am at your disposal to support you throughout your therapeutic process, do not hesitate to contact me . I am a psychologist and I attend online or in person .
