Weekly digs 7: What is motivation anyway?
And where do I get some of it? Questions for AI
If motivation, as defined by Google Gemini, is “the desire or willingness to do something” then what do you call my problem?
I want to finish the book I started in 2024.
I want to respond to that text or email I got 7 days ago.
I want to work out.
I want to eat healthier.
I desire all of these things, and I am willing to do them, but then I just can’t.
What is it called when you are mentally motivated but feel physically blocked?
Gemini’s answer:
“When someone is mentally motivated but physically unable to act on that motivation, it's often described as avolition.
Avolition: refers to a lack of motivation or a diminished capacity to initiate and persist in goal-directed activities.
It's a symptom that can be associated with various mental health conditions…
People with avolition may have a desire to complete tasks or engage in activities, but they struggle to find the energy or drive to do so.”
Great, another mental health diagnosis from googling my symptoms.
D- Doing
It’s more like not doing.
Let’s take today for example, today I wanted to do a workout in the morning, I desired to feel the way I do once I have completed a workout, I had the time in my schedule to work out, and I even had the motivation to do so, but I just lacked the physical drive to get up and do it.
The day is not over, and hope is not lost, I still have the motivation to do it.
It is not like working out sounds like a bad idea; it sounds like a great one. Getting up, rolling out a yoga mat, and changing my clothes, those simple tasks that stand between me and my workout, those are the tasks that I can’t find the energy to complete.
I- Interested in
Well, that’s just the problem: I am interested in doing 100 different things.
I have recently begun beading again, a childhood hobby I decided to pick up after hearing one too many men in my life tell me about golfing. It’s not that I hate to hear about golfing its more that I hate to hear about people having hobbies that they are passionate about when I have none. So beading is my new hobby.
However, I am less passionate about the act of beading and more passionate about the result of having beautiful jewelry to wear and the set up of a beading session just sounds so laborious.
I am extremely interested in diving head-first into my mounting TBR list (to-be-read list I am saving some of you the trouble of asking Google Gemini what that is), but I can not find it in me to open a book and start reading the words on the pages.
G- Getting
Overwhelmed and fatigued (changing my Instagram bio to that right now).
Let me make one thing clear, this is not a cry for help (Mom, I know you are reading this).
Sure, my avolition (patting myself on the back for already using the word I learned today in a sentence) may be a symptom of something larger, and I probably will bring this up in therapy. But I also think the general feeling of being overwhelmed and fatigued is not uncommon for my generation. A generation that is constantly overstimulated by too many choices and too much information.
Scientists have actually suggested that the sheer amount of information overload we face in a day is a major cause of fatigue (scientists didn’t say this part) especially in those of us who are empaths.
S- Suggesting
I have a suggestion for anyone suffering from avolition.
Let’s say I want to go on a walk, but the act of actually doing it is so hard.
When I am dressed for a day of remote meetings and copywriting, I am often in jeans and barefoot (before you get stuck on the jeans thing, let me explain: I just think I am more productive at work when I am dressed for work; I am not some freak who thinks jeans are more comfortable than sweats).
In my head, to go for a walk, I need to be in leggings and sneakers. That is just an obstacle in the way of overcoming my avolition, so this is what I started to do: walk in jeans and slip on shoes.
When I am motivated to do something, but it feels hard to do, I just take the path with the least resistance to doing it. I don’t change into athleisure and running shoes; I just take the easiest step that allows me to get started on the task.
It’s not groundbreaking, but none of my suggestions ever really are.
I am also suggesting that we don’t conflate motivation with ambition or laziness because even AI is in tune enough to explain that there is often more happening behind the scenes.
The last thing I suggest is you look at more of Jess Allen’s beautiful works of oil on canvas, which I feel so perfectly capture many of the feelings I described in this week’s digs.