Tackling lack of motivation (or, in my case, failing to!)

    In work (I'm an office worker, with a high degree of autonomy with regard to prioritization, generally speaking), I'm a terrible procrastinator.  I need the pressure of a deadline in order to knuckle down.  (I used to do the same thing in school and university when assignments were due.)
    The problem is, when multiple deadlines compete and/or something else crops up which needs to take priority.  Because, then, I've invariably allowed insufficient time for all of it.  Or, if I unexpectedly need to take time off, or something; because then I won't be able to make that deadline.

    At home I'm pretty much the same.  I prefer the escapism of watching TV or playing video games to cracking on with household tasks.  So I'll leave things until we've no clean dishes left -or someone's coming over- to knuckle down and roll my sleeves up.

    Even with things like self-care and spiritual practice, I'm always thinking to myself:  I'll do it later/ tomorrow.
    Socialising with friends is the same; I tend to leave it until they contact me.  I very rarely initiate contact (because I've time-blindness, so I tend not to realise how long it's been since contact last took place).
    And you can forget exercising -- I'll do a session of exercise about once every 6 weeks, I reckon.  A far cry from the 3 or so times a week we're all meant to do.

    The desire to accomplish things is there, often.  I want to do well in my professional role, and I want to have a clean & tidy apartment.  I want to be able to prepare food without first having to stand and do dishes.
    But I can't motivate myself to make a start (I've both chronic ill-health and what I believe to be undiagnosed ADHD from childhood, so I'm definitely at a disadvantage here).

    I've tried To Do lists -- daily ones, weekly ones.  They usually work for only a very short time and then get abandoned.
    Sometimes it's a boom-and-bust thing (I assign myself too much at the front end and then get burnt out with it).  Sometimes it's that I feel okay about tackling the first few items immediately after making the list...  But by the following morning, all I want to do is drink tea and watch YouTube (i.e. take refuge in escapism).

    I've tried having a routine of set things on set days.  This sort of works in my professional life up to a point.  But tasks which fall outside of those set things are sometimes difficult to fit in.  It's never really worked in terms of household upkeep, either.  Not for more than -maybe- two-three days.

    I've tried having what the decluttering community calls 'non-negotiables'.  These are things like having a clear kitchen sink last thing at night before heading off to bed.  That actually worked longer than some of the other things.  But as soon as I start feeling overwhelmed it goes out the window along with other strategies.  And anyway, you can only have so many non-negotiables, so there's only so much which can be accomplished this way.

    I'm aware that in CBT it's widely accepted that action comes first and motivation follows.  And this is why techniques like the 2 minute / 5 minute technique are meant to work well.
    And these do sometimes work for me.  But it depends on what the task is.  (I've a certain amount of obsessive-compulsiveness, so once I begin a cleaning task, I'm unable to leave it alone until it's completely spotless, and that can be very energy draining.)
    Plus, I still have to get over the hurdle of getting started even for the 2-5 minutes.

    I know that it's recommended to schedule time into one's planned activities to devote to specific things you want to achieve.  This includes self-care, and even date-night with an intimate partner.  But my routine doesn't really work that way.  And anyway, I've a habit of dismissing my billions of phone reminders whenever they sound, as it is.  So I can't see it working.

    I previously tried having a jar with all the household chores on bits of paper and pulling one at random.  That didn't work, either, because I simply procrastinated with regard to pulling one.

    So my next approach is going to be as follows:
    I'm going to try the jar approach again, but instead of exclusively household tasks in the jar, I'm going to have a selection of different categories of tasks.

• Something spiritual ☯
• Something personal growth related 📖
• Something self-care related (this could be using an app, or doing some skin-care, or whatever) 💅
• Something domestic 🧹
• Declutter an item 🗑
• Make contact with a friend or family member (or an online contact) 📲
  (This list may, of course, change over time.)

(I'm not actually going to use a jar, this time, I'm going to use one of those little organza bags which you often get new jewellery in, because I can hang it where I can see it as a visual reminder.)

    This will mean that catching up with the backlog of domestic chores will take a long time, especially if I only draw one task per day.
    But hopefully that 2/5 minute technique effect will kick in and I'll draw more than one task each day.  Or maybe I'll just gain that motivation & momentum after making a start, and get more done than I expected.  I've got to keep trying to find a new & effective approach, so we'll see if this is the one...

🎊Happy 22 year anniversary to me!🎊

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