Motivation

This self sufficiency blogger is up the proverbial creek without her paddle. I had a whole set of blogs worked up for the month of March. Magically they went poof...they are not even in the ultra-modern and magical cloud. It’s astonishing what losing a whole month of blogs can do to your day. In the way of one who is desperately seeking inspiration I looked back over some of the other posted blogs. Wow, Apparently I really suck at putting together blogs while coping with post-concussion symptoms or perhaps just as a blogger over all. I cannot explain to you how scattered brained I have been since I hit my head. I have felt like I'm not even fully present and aware most of the time. Unfortunately I have no idea where my awareness is either. I have found it difficult to put a thought together and simply hold it, yet alone make it a coherent one, so I beg your indulgence as I try again...

I, finding myself without a topic and unable to focus for long periods of time, shall take that as my inspiration. I suppose in its own random way it reflects on the topic of self-motivation I had already pursued, written up and lost as nothing is ever done without motivation. In The Psychology Dictionary motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. Furthermore the definition states that motivation involves biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In short this tells us there is either a reward or an avoidance of negative consequences caused by physical, emotional, or social situations creating a reason or need for us to do things. The trick is finding and correctly utilizing them to produce the results we desire.

In this case I desire to create a blog that will help you help yourself when your motivation is lacking without it getting eaten by magical gremlins in my computer. I'm going to you my top five reasons for lack of motivation and five ways I overcome them.

Reason One -- too many projects on the to-do list! How daunting is it to look at a list of stuff that needs done that is seemingly longer than your right arm?

Solution--Prioritize! Rewrite that list! Sort out what has to be done, what can be done quickly or easily, and what can wait. What is important to you? What lights your fire? Do those while the flames are leaping skyward! If you have labor intensive things that you find it hard to finish break them into smaller tasks that are easier to manage. Use quick and easy tasks (quickies) from your list as gap fillers. Save items you know you always enjoy for times when you know you'll be less likely to want to do things.

Reason Two -- weather. If its nasty weather I will put off everything I can. I know this about myself and expect it.

Solution -- I have icky weather projects just for days like this. Crocheting, mending, cleaning out the closets, etc., when those don't work I create rewards for myself. Fold the Laundry and watch a movie. Clean out the closet, do a craft project with all the junk you found.

Reason Three -- complete utter I don't want to! Like a spoiled child wanting to get their way...I just plain don't want to! Sometimes it's because it's a task I loathe like doing dishes.

Solution -- for any general house cleaning I turn on the music. Do whatever you need to do to put a smile on your face and get it done when it’s your job. Play the radio, listen to an audio book, sing, hum. If you can enlist help and share their work too. For instance long ago in a yester year far far away I used to have to take my laundry to the laundromat. It was always better if I could buddy up and take a friend. Some things just go without saying...when you live with others there are things that must get done that affect everyone... Dishes, cooking, trash, keeping your stuff out of other peoples spaces..etc..so this is one of those 'social' motivators where it just helps to keep things going on an even keel if you just put on your grown up underwear and do the job. No one particularly likes living in a stressed out environment.

Reason Four -- I just don't understand the how or why of something. I admit there are times my husband is all into doing something and I just really don't get it. We are after all two different people with different life experiences and different ways of looking at and understanding things. So sometimes I just don't see the point. This is the all-important reward or consequence I spoke of previously.

Solution -- this one is tricky because sometimes it is motivation enough that my husband is motivated and sometimes it's not. I have found myself on occasion doing things for reasons unknown to me other than my husband says it needs done. Occasionally though it prompts either vast amounts of research and interest or vast quantities of no sirree bob, that's your job! I.E. I'm not doing it! There is a third instance here and that's when something is just beyond my scope of ability. I am not picking up and lugging bags of quikcrete without a cart or something for instance. Nor do I know enough about electricity and city codes to do my own wiring. That is why contractors exist. So what do I do? I usually see how important my participation actually is and why it was asked for. Sometimes he just wants to share the experience or work. Sometimes he needs my input. Sometimes after discussing it we are still no closer to me understanding and agreeing to participate. You can't get there as individuals on every single thing.

Reason Five -- I have other commitments. Do you ever over schedule because you forget to include adequate time to complete things? I know I do!

Solution -- this goes back to Organization but I keep a calendar and to do lists for this reason. When possible I include things like my drive time, prep time, and estimated work times. To take a generic example ... I will use doing the dishes. For me this includes hand washing the dishes, pots, pans, etc., cleaning the counters and cupboards, and wiping off the stove. I include 5 minutes of prep time to turn on the radio, rinse and stack the dishes, clean and fill the sink, and put away items left in the dish drainer. It also inevitably includes the phone ringing while I have soapy hands, checking caller ID to make sure the call I just missed wasn't important, needing to pee, and trying to fix the radio reception because it cut out in the middle of my favorite song. I will usually block out an hour for this altogether; if its been overly busy around the house or I've been sick I will block an additional half hour to account for the ugh factor that accompanies a backlog of dishes. If stuff needs to soak that is used either for another chore or for my own time since its essentially shuffled from some other part of my day. Remember what I said about those quick and easy tasks and fitting them in the gaps? The big point is I account for all those little things when I figure out how long to block out on my calendar. I have an hour blocked out, I load up the sink and if the dishes soak for 10 minutes until the water is cool enough to put my hands in it...in those ten minutes I can sweep the kitchen, rotate my canned goods, water my house plants, put vinegar in the microwave and wipe it down, etc. and I haven't lost anything but an item from the "quickie" section of my to do list.

There is one note I'd like to include here. It is majorly important to have a backup plan for those items that absolutely need to be done on a daily basis. I don't care how self sufficient you are accidents and illnesses do occur and your animals and/or garden cannot simply wait for you to recover. I have a disability that leaves me incapacitated without warning. I learned that there are definitely activities that need done such as feeding the kids and animals. Activities that can wait like dusting and sweeping and intermediates like weeding that can I go without doing for short periods of time. I am lucky and grateful; I have my husband to help with all of this and more.

Wifeofaprepper

As always you can join the Facebook group, like the Facebook community page, and visit the website. All of these are conveniently called “Kaya Self Sufficiency”. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I hope you are getting better at providing as much as you can for yourself and for your family, group, or community.