ADHD and motivation (the psychology)🌟
Motivating yourself when you have ADHD is tough. Understanding the psychology behind self-motivation can help.
We've had a huge surge in subscribers since my last ADHD tips post. It ended up going viral on Reddit with 5.7k+ upvotes and over 150 awards.
So, welcome new readers! My name is BeatADHD and I'm a final year software engineering student that was diagnosed with ADHD-PI three years ago. This is my newsletter where I share ADHD info and strategies every week (and sometimes I'm a few days late, like this week 😔)
I could write an entire book on motivation, but let’s just stick to intrinsic motivation today.
Gaining an understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has helped me hack my motivation on several occasions. You can’t cheat a chemical imbalance, but when I'm demotivated I’m at least able to reframe tasks with my understanding of motivation theory.
ADHD and Motivation
We all know that ADHD is more than just inattention or hyperactivity.
Studies have shown that ADHD is correlated with a disruption in dopamine reward pathways, which means both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards can lead to less motivation than neurotypical people.
That reward of "good grades" that works for your neurotypical friend may not work for you.
This post isn't going to solve all your problems. It should be treated as another set of tools to add to your toolbox. You also need to prioritize combating your low dopamine levels through medication, exercise, and diet.
Motivation Theory
The psychology community has pretty much accepted a single theory behind intrinsic motivation: the self-determination theory (SDT).
Self-determination lets us feel that we have control over our choices and our lives.
SDT suggests that we're motivated through three innate and universal needs
Autonomy
Competency
Relatedness
💡 Tip: Memorise the SDT acronym and the three pillars: Autonomy, Competency and Relatedness.
Autonomy
The need to feel in control of your own behaviors and goals.
ADHD people seem to especially thrive under autonomous conditions. A lot of ADHD'ers hate high-school. I suspect it's because we get no real autonomy. Not to get too dramatic, but I always saw high-school as a prison where they treat you like children, but expect you to act like adults.
I'm confident that this intrinsic need is why many ADHD people become self-employed. Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) and Ingvar Kamprad (founder of IKEA) have both cited their ADHD as part of the reason they opted to become self-employed.
📔 Fact: Many ADHD'ers thrive under autonomy. One meta-study (n=9869) suggests that people with ADHD are 60-80% more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions.
How I hack it
When I learned about SDT a few years ago, I realized I've always tried to 'create' autonomy by cheating the system.
I rarely follow the standard path when it comes to tasks because I literally can't. Instead, I'll try and find a way to make the task my own, for example:
I've never selected a topic or project out of a pre-determined list. The existing options have always bored me. I contact the lecturer to self-propose one based on an adjacent topic I'm interested in.
Sometimes I'll go way off-script and go in-depth on a specific area that interests me more than the assignment brief. (I've gotten full-marks every single time - the level of quality produced by autonomy is intense)
At work: I'll try and challenge myself by attempting to find an even better and more interesting solution to whatever problem I'm working on. (This requires a supportive manager who cares about your growth)
💡 Tip: Avoid tasks that reduce your control. But if you’re forced to do a task then try and create autonomy by approaching it in your own way.
Competency
The need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills.
Ever since I set up a Beeminder goal for writing articles, I somewhat lost my autonomy for this newsletter.
But it doesn’t matter. Writing articles weekly is still something I want to continue doing since I'm starting to feel a level of competency and relatedness. I'm becoming a better writer and I get the chance to speak with some amazing people in the ADHD community.
How I hack it
A lot of the time when I'm demotivated, I try to find some aspect of the task that I can learn from.
Last semester this worked quite well for getting through a couple of reports, I ignored the boring assignment and I treated it like practice for my writing skills. I mentally noted the things I wanted to focus on, e.g. reducing the numbers of adverbs I use.
It was still painful to get through it, but it wasn't an assignment anymore; It was an exercise that I wanted to do. I knew it'd make me a better writer.
(I may be partially leveraging this tactic for writing this post 😉)
💡 Tip: Reframe tasks as learning exercises for skills that you’re interested in.
e.g. An assignment turns into a writing exercise.
Relatedness
The need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people
I usually underestimate the importance of this one. When we're part of a community we feel happy, it goes back to our tribal instincts. We start to feel safe and we're able to take risks or connect over a shared goal.
Part of the reason I want to continue writing for you guys is that I know how lost I felt when I was first diagnosed. We’re connected through the disorder and the issues we’re facing every day.
How I hack it
I don't think I've ever done it consciously. It's been a few years since I learned about SDT, but I can only remember myself successfully hacking autonomy and competency.
But I've got a theory which I'll test out:
💡 Theoretical Tip: Drive relatedness by creating a personal mission statement for each category of your life and reading it every day
My Theory
I'll back my theory by telling you that every community is connected through a common mission. Physicians have the Hippocratic oath. The FBI has 'Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity'. Every company has a mission statement - Microsoft even has their mission printed on every employee access card. Great authors like Simon Sinek also suggest that inspiring a team requires ‘Starting with Why'.
I went through Stephen Covey's 7-Habits of Highly Effective People back in 2018, and he suggests that every person should write a personal mission statement. I never actually did it, I think I missed the fact it should include "the impact you want to have on those around you." which is what would drive relatedness.
I've gone and created mission statements for my writing, my side-project, and my interpersonal relationships. Let me know if this one works for you!
NICUP
So that screenshot above is what my desktop background looks like. Yep, plain white background with four acronyms… With my triple monitor setup at home, this probably looks pretty strange.
By now you can guess what SDT is. The third one stands for Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep and it reminds me to take my meds. The fourth one is a bit complicated and I'll leave it for another post.
Let's talk about NICUP (I pronounce it as NICK-UP). I have the acronym memorized and if I'm having a good day then they can be helpful for reframing tasks.
It stands for Novelty, Interest, Challenge, Urgency, Passion (NICUP). It's tough to manipulate Novelty and Passion but here's how I mess with the others:
Interest: Even if I don't like the overall task, I can find a certain part of the task that could be interesting and I'll start with that. Or if it's something like cleaning, I'll put on a TV show or podcast
Challenge: I'll try to elevate the difficulty of the task (which makes it more interesting), or I'll set a time limit for getting it done. I use a 10-minute timer for cleaning my room, and usually, I finish in less than 5 minutes...
Urgency: One of the most effective motivators. Artificial deadlines don't work for me. Instead, I use accountability tools to take care of this...
6 Other Motivation Tips
There are probably more than just these, but here are the most common ones I use.
Main: Tracking my physical factors (MEDS) and taking medication helps increase my baseline dopamine levels which makes motivation significantly easier to achieve.
On tough days the only thing I want to do is watch TV. So I let myself watch TV while doing a 30-min HIIT routine. After the routine, I'll shut off all my distractions with a 60-minute block on Cold Turkey.
Blocking distractions and then guided meditation for 10 minutes.
Cold showers (just 60 seconds is enough)
Use a dopamine “side”: Like music. My go-to is actually Coke Zero (and sometimes green tea). This is terrible for my teeth and I’m trying to stop. But it works. My theory is either (a) placebo, or (b) caffeine combined with phenylalanine leading to dopamine production, or (c) both. It’s probably (c)…
Sunlight + Walking in nature (Countless studies have shown the effects of sunlight and nature on dopamine)
Extra Links
The puzzle of motivation - TED Talk by Dan Pink (Must watch!)
Let me know what you think and please show the Twitter and Instagram posts some love ♥
Cheers,
BeatADHD