My
struggle with motivation is nothing new. In fact, if you go back far
enough, it was the reason behind so many of my school-related
arguments with my parents growing up. It always seemed as though I
would rather be doing something, anything,
else rather than what it was that I was supposed to do. This is,
after all, the curse of being born with the specific combination of
Aspergers and ADHD-Inattentive that I have, and it has made life
interesting to say the least. Indeed, be it elementary school, or my
graduate studies program, one thing has always been certain; it has
been a constant war between Adam and his motivation.
It
should come as no surprise that I’m sitting here writing this while
coming off the tail end of a month-long lack-of-motivation streak. In
fact, that’s exactly why I chose this particular topic to write
about. In fairness, it has been a busy month; my grandmother has been
in the hospital, I’ve had to focus my efforts on work, and so on.
Even still, such excuses only go so far. They don’t justify my not
taking even a moment to write a quick blog post. This is where being
Neurodivergent definitely comes into play since all of this relates
back to our good old friend Executive Functioning. EF is the brain
function that controls regulation of actions and motivation, among
others. In the minds of people with Aspergers and ADHD, this function
is slightly impaired. I’m not using this as an excuse for my lack
of work on this blog in the past month; I am firmly of the belief
that one still needs to take responsibility for one’s own actions.
Despite that, however, it helps to know how Executive Functioning
impairments do make seemingly simple tasks more difficult to carry
out in real life.
The
Aspie brain has an interesting relationship with motivation. When
there’s something we’re interested in, we can hyperfocus in on it
to an incredible degree, and all other concerns (including time
itself) seem to melt away while we work on our passions. On the other
hand, doing hard work on something we aren’t so interested in can
feel like pulling teeth. The problem is, life isn’t always filled
with things we want to do and are super interested in doing. Often
times, there are many daily tasks that we may not want to do and may
try to avoid like the bubonic plague. This
gets doubly as hard when you aren’t neurotypical, as despite all of
the amazing gifts that come with being neurodivergent, I’ve long
said that it’s a give and take...and this is definitely of the
latter variety. The trick to coping with motivational difficulties is
simply perseverence, in addition to finding other little tricks that
encourage you to keep on keeping on with whatever project it is
you’re working on. For me, that involves assigning myself daily
goals and limits. I do what I set out to do that day and that’s it,
no more, and certainly no less. It’s a trick I picked up in
university, and I’ve sworn by it ever since.
Motivation
is one of those things we all struggle with, whether we’re
neurotypical or neurodivergent. No
matter where you come from and from what angle you come at it,
learning to cope with motivational challenges is never easy. When
you’re on the spectrum, however, it can be even harder. The only
advice I can give is, keep on striving. Endure, find tricks to cope,
and most of all, believe in yourself. You are exactly who you need to
be, and you can do it!
As
always, yours in diversity,
Adam
Michael
