Motivation/planning and activity

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This is a bit difficult to describe - I am in a kind of bad mood, and have been for some time. If I could, my life would consist of sleeping, playing computer games, and maybe the odd comic. I can't even muster up the concentration to read an entire book or watch a film until the end. I don't feel depressed (I had depression so I know what it feels like), but lethargic, unmotivated and unconcentrated.
I usually have problems with doing thing that don't either have a clear-cut goal that is achieveable within a couple of days, ot that are fun for me to do. At the moment, I have problems with tasks like that, too.

Now, I currently don't have a job; I am waiting on some papers to be able to join adult education. I need to find a job to support myself while in school (it's required by the school), and I want to find a room in a shared flat (currently sleeping in my mom's home office)
Basically, there's a lot to be done, and a lot of things I usually enjoy doing, but I feel overwhelmed by having to plan my actions out and make decisions.
To get at least some exercise, I go for walks every day. I usually spend 1h to 2,5hrs walking through the neighbourhood or forest, and then suddenly my mind becomes clear, I can actually think about my plans. The only problem is that it lasts only a couple of minutes after arriving home.

Does any of you have similar experiences? What do you do to get out of a slump?

It kind of sound likes exercise stimulates your brain. Maybe next time you exercise, beforehand put out a pen and paper on your table. When you come back, write down one or two things you want to get done, and do them immediately.

You may want to exercise at random times throughout the day, if you can, because that might jump-start your motivation.

I have a master plan. I know eactly what it is supposed to look like in the end. I know the steps needed to get there. It will be successful. I want to do it. I'm good at it. I have to do it. I'm starting to define my self-worth upon making it happen. But I can't start it. I will do everything but the first step. Everything, that is, except anything remotely helpful. If only I could just start it! I can see the beauty it will be! When the big hand gets to the next quarter hour I'll stop procrastinating and do it. Rats, I missed it. Let me take a break for lunch first and then on the NEXT even quarter hour AFTER in return, THAT will be my starting point. Unless it's too late to start anything new. I know, FIRST thing tomorrow morning I'll be all over it, like white on rice!

My shrink recommends Adderall, but I can't fit anything else in my medicine cabinet.

So, I've found success leads to motivation, incrementally. Start small and capitalize on the gains. Don't ever sit back and reflect, or you'll lose the ability to self-motivte faster than it takes to procrastinate a day away.

Good luck, my friend.

There's this concept called 'self efficacy theory' which I found quite interesting.
Your line "success leads to motivation" reminded me of it.
But in my current situation I don't even get to the step where I'm handicapped by my low self-efficacy - it's the actual planning of a action that doesn't work properly. I mean considerably easy, but not routine actions.
And one of my biggest problems is to cut up any bigger task in manageable small tasks.
Hey, wait, maybe it's because I try to get 'manageable' tasks out of it. I guess if the tasks is too big so that I can't do that without much thinking about it, it probably means that action of purposefully cutting it up also is too much. So, I'll try to just make three tasks out of one, then look at any subtask and also divide it, and so on; until I can look at a particular sub-task and can estimate whether I can do it (or practise until I can), need more information, better instruction or help.

Btw trying to envision a goal or to boost your self-confidence usually doesn't work when the reason why you can't start a task is low self-efficacy. And just telling yourself 'I'm gonna make it!' does little good. Self efficacy grows from experience: direct experience with the same or a similar task, transfer of more general experience with not too different tasks - and 'mirror neuron' experience, second-hand experience that comes from people one can identify with. I think I read somewhere that people with autism spectrum disorders have a hard time transferring their own experience made with different tasks, as well as transferring the experience made by others to use it themselves.
Not that I claim to have an ASD.

PS. Adderall is not approved in my country.


I still don't get why I can think clearly only when walking. (It's not the exercise, and it's not pacing around: It's walking. Outside. While perceiving my surroundings but not being too involved.)

That's where I started when I self-prescribed alcohol. Self-efficacy and self-worth were intimately tied together. Separating the two was a good first step in slogging out of the depths. I accepted self-worth as a given despite strongly disagreeing. The logic I used was that I was singularly incapable of judging my own worth, so I will leave it to others. Others seemed not to have a problem, so unless those "others" explicitly told me otherwise, I can only assume there is no issue. This attitude was made possible by Zoloft. Next, then, is self-efficacy. Although I did not consider it as such or by that term, I can certainly understand it's effect (no pun intended). To address it, I used the approach I outlined before: small, measurable, almost trivial, incremental gains reinforce a less tangible "greater ability" to accomplish things with goals that are complex, ill-defined, or not able to articulate.

Again, Adderrol was suggested for this step, but I prefer to try a self-sustaining approach when possible.

Drugs are lame. They're justified in serious clinical conditions, like depression or anxiety. Eating up psycho-stuff just to make oneself feel a little better, to lift oneself from good-olde feeling blue, to ramp up some energy is lame.

Take an energetic walk, drink a strong tea, and do some small, even trivial tasks, to build up minimal confidence, like the others said.

Don't finance the pharma industry that feeds this sad American nation with incomprehensible amounts of chemistry, unseen in other civilized countries. Especially since 99% of those drugs affect only the symptoms, not the causes. There's no pill for being wrong and no pill for being lazy. Although I'm sure they'll sell you one, if you ask for it.

Oh, my country also has enough greedy pharma industry.
I wouldn't take pills for my current condition if they weren't very, very likely to actually help me. (Well, amphetamines might work as a temporary fix, never tried them, and never will. Still, most pills that were tried on me had no or paradoxical effect, so I've been refusing to experiment for years.)

What baffled me so much was that I was quite energetic - during my walks. But at no other time, and I couldn't even rescue some of the energy into the first minutes at home or at my destination. It probably was/is a mix of emotional stress, the heat wave and physical stress. I cut out gluten, finally got somewhat used to the heat and am trying to work on my important tasks .... difficult.