Hey there! Welcome to "What in the ADHD?"
My name's Sydni, and today we're going to be talking about something that we all struggle with from time to time.
And, of course, by that I mean every single day.
Motivation.
Before I get started on that, though, I would would really appreciate it
if you hit the "SUBSCRIBE" button below.
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I have a LOT going on in my life right now and I really love making these videos.
But - more subscriptions, more views, more likes -
That's going to be what keeps me motivated to keep making these videos and blogs.
Alright, so now that we've gotten that out of the way - motivation.
People with ADHD really, really, really, really, really struggle with getting motivated.
But why is that, exactly?
So, you may have heard of this cute little molecule called "dopamine"
As you probably guessed it, dopamine is responsible for motivation.
So while dopamine is responsible for things like motivation and emotional regulation,
it's also the pleasure and reward center in our brain.
When a normal brain (BORING!) experiences something positive or exciting or pleasurable,
their brain releases a bunch of dopamine molecules, and then it remembers that occurrence.
And as these "normal" brains go through life, when they're confronted with a task,
their brain remembers, "hey dude - remember last time we had to do The Thing
and we felt really great about ourselves afterwards? Let's do The Thing again!"
So then their brain releases dopamine before they need to do the task
and that's what gives them the motivation to do the task.
Now, when I say "The Task", I'm not referring to something that's fun or exciting.
I'm referring to something that's maybe tedious or boring.
People with ADHD have a really hard time completing things that are tedious or boring
because our brains don't make enough dopamine.
So while this "normal" brain (BORING!) releases enough dopamine that will allow
this neurotypical person to pay their bills or clean their house,
people with ADHD don't have that dopamine, and therefore, they don't have that motivation.
So, neurodiverse people that don't make enough dopamine
are more likely to be drawn to tasks that they find fun or interesting.
If you want to know more about this, I've made a whole video on hyperfocus and how people with ADHD
hyperfocus on things like video games, and shopping, and TV shows
because we get such large hits of dopamine from doing those things that we hyperfocus on.
So, as you probably know - it can be really frustrating when a neurotypical says something like,
"Why don't you just do the thing? It's not that hard."
Listen - we are aware that sweeping the floor is not difficult.
We are aware that opening an envelope and paying a bill is not difficult.
It's not that we're unable to do those things. Our brains just won't let us.
We do not have the tools in our brain to be able to connect the dots from needing to do something
to actually finishing that task like neurotypicals do.
So, now that we know why people with ADHD struggle with getting motivated,
is there any way around it?
Are there any ways that we can hack our brain and do the thing, even when we don't feel like doing the thing?
The answer is "yes!" And I'm assuming that's why you came to this video.
The first thing that I like to suggest to people when they say they're having a hard time getting motivated
is making a to-do list.
Before you groan and roll your eyes, hear me out.
You may be used to making a to-do list that looks something like this:
Clean the house, pay the bills, make dinner.
That doesn't seem that hard at first glance, right? You just look at it and there are only 3 things on the list.
Easy-peasy. But. It's not easy-peasy, is it?
Think about how long it takes you to clean a whole house.
Or how long it takes to pay all of your bills.
Or to make dinner.
What you should do is you should break those things down.
So, breaking up your to-do list is the first steep to getting motivated to do something.
And that couples with another hack: celebrate your little wins.
So, when you make the list, instead of saying "clean the house",
Break it up into smaller things.
You know that feeling when you cross something off the to-do list and you're like,
"I did it! I crossed it off! It's done! I did the thing!"
You need more of that! People with ADHD need more of that feeling,
more of that dopamine hit - to actually continue to feel motivated.
So instead of cleaning your entire house and then just crossing one thing off your list,
you wanna make it so that you can cross a shit-ton of things off your list.