From Procrastination to Motivation

Procrastination is often labelled rather derogatorily as”laziness”. It implies that one should be doing something, but one just chooses not to. And although that may be the case for some, who find certain tasks “boring”, for others it is sheer impossible to undertake the necessary task. A powerful sense of avoidance holds them back from action.
However, there does seem a common thread woven into any form of procrastination – the absence of motivation. And yet, for our optimal survival we are all born super motivated. So what could have happened?
There are many theories why we procrastinate, for example to “…avoid negative emotions by delaying stressful tasks…”, (Wikipedia), or “…cognitive impairments may play a role in procrastination…” (Rinaldi et al., 2019).
One of my observations as a therapist is that overly strict and critical parenting can significantly diminish motivation. This authoritarian parenting style demands absolute obedience. Ways of behaving are enforced without compromise, and taking initiative is punishable. Children complete assigned tasks and actions out of fear, not motivation. Such upbringing methods leave little room for children to develop their own sense of agency. Every decision is made for them, including appearance, academic pathways, career choices, social circles, and partners.
With every step in life pre-scripted, little wonder that over time motivation should all but disappear. Without motivation, we find it difficult to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities.
So how to get motivation back?
Some suggestions are to set achievable goals that you can divide into small steps and to seek support from family and friends. But how does one get the motivation to do even that?
Therapy can help clients take ownership of their lives and start choosing for themselves. As we fill our lives with people and activities that are meaningful to us, we gradually feel more motivated to do things to uphold and enable that life.

For a confidential consultation just send an email to mind.matters.gh@gmail.com. This email account is only accessed by a qualified therapist.

Why can Work have a negative impact on Mental Health?

by Daniela Nicol

You may ask, why do almost 70% of workforces develop mental health issues?

Two words – Chronic Stress.

Chronic stress is a state achieved by being stressed a lot of the time. It can be composed of mental, physical and emotional stresses.

Everybody experiences stress at work and ‘good’ stress can help us be more focussed and productive. However, consistently high levels of stress mean that a powerful cocktail of stress hormones is circulating in our blood all the time.

This is not a natural state for us to be in as these hormones are meant to help us get out of life-threatening situations. Having to attend 5 critical business meetings a day certainly would not count as life-threatening -or does it?

Let’s think through the various stresses associated with such a working day:

Mental stress

• absorbing large amounts of data to prepare for each meeting
• staying focussed during meetings
• ensuring that the employee’s other responsibilities are not affected by their attendance at these meetings

Additional stresses here could be unrealistic targets set by managers, lack of clearly defined objectives, ineffective communication, and more.

Emotional stress

• concerned to be meeting bosses and customers’ expectations
• fear of losing job if performance is not top par
• remaining professional even though doubts and fears may be arising

Additional stresses could be humiliation and anger resulting from bullying bosses or colleagues through inadequate anti-harassment policies, feelings of not being appreciated, having little or no control over their area of work, and more.

Physical stress

• feelings of tiredness due to working with insufficient breaks
• working long hours
• getting to meeting venues which could be in different places, even different countries.

Additional stresses here could include inflexible working hours, meaning always rushing to fit in family commitments, and more.

So, potentially just one working day can be filled with a range of stressors. No matter how resilient a person is, if stresses levels are continuously high, they will start to lead to disorders if efforts are not made to reduce them.