Need Motivation To Work?

Hello,

I'm currently working at a supermarket. I mainly price bulk amounts of items and put them onto shelves, some serving at the till here and there.

I'm supposed to do weekdays 7pm-9pm (was originally 6pm-9pm), although I have been phoning in a lot to ask if I needed to come in and she's said "If you don't want to, you don't need to". She's now said to just do weekends (I booked yesterday off as I had plans which she was fine with), and today is 4pm-7.30pm, but I lack the motivation to leave my house and go out working for hours.

I am in the same boat as many other people, suffering from ADHD. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is not all about hyperactivity, or being easily provoked. It plays a HUGE part of life for us that suffer from it, in a way it takes us over.

"I have quit many jobs because I just "can't be bothered". I even struggle to get out of bed in the mornings I've been told many times that I'm lazy and bone idle, etc, and that has really put me down as I started to believe it myself."

I'm in the same position as quoted above.

I guess I'm better off asking on a forum based entirely on the disorder, but I want your opinions. How would you get motivated in my position? Even better if there's anyone here ADD/ADHD themselves.

To be fair, I'm going to expect some comments like "Quit being lazy, just do the job and think of the outcome" etc, but it's not that easy, I assure you. I am on medication, but it's to keep me calm, whereas without them I'd be jumping off the walls and getting extremely angry at the slightest little things.

Not sure how qualified you are or what your job prospects are like, but you could possibly try looking for another job, one that allows you to do something you love, as opposed to just a job. Make it a career, not a job.

It doesn't sound like you've ever worked a shift over 4 hours in your life, and to that i say "reality will be cruel to you". When you start working fulltime, depending on the field you're looking at 8-12 hour shifts 5-6 days a week. ADHD literally is no excuse, my fiance has been crippled by it all her life and has been on Dexamphetamines & Ritalin for more than a decade and she has no problems working part-time 4-6 hours a day as a cashier at Target even when she is off her medication.

Your lack of motivation is something completely different, most likely your parents spoil you and you simply do not appreciate the value of money. Regardless of weather you go to work or not you'll still have the money to do what you want so there's no motivation for you in going to work. I can sit on my ass all day smoke bongs and play DOTA, or i can go to work today and earn $200. That's my motivation. My mum forces my brother to pay for 1/2 of his college fees simply because she knows if she pays it all then he will have no motivation to work, now he's forced to get a job (just 1 day per week) and it has taught him the value of money & earning it rather than simply having everything handed to you.

I guess it must be nice not to have the necessity of work, if I simply said "I can't be bothered" I would be homeless within 3 months.

If you want to find motivation, take away what enables you to lose that motivation. No one is going to force you to work, actually it is quite the opposite; without you working there is a job on the market for some other guy who is motivated.

Thank you everyone. You've all made me see a little something.

@Tyler This was just a temporary job to save up some money for life essentials and a small amount of disposable income etc. Your idea's great, although that won't be just yet.

@Rishwin Thank you for this post. I'd never have been able to take it well a year ago, but I guess now being told reality straight has made me realise. This is pretty much my first job and is only temporary, although I have worked 8 hour shifts some days. Safe to say though, you are still right in many ways.

@Wucas The thing is, I'm still looking what takes the motivation away (which I do sometimes have, though I never stop to think about what triggers it, it's just there some days, most of the time it's not). But I'm thinking whilst looking at these post and I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Thank you guys once again. :-)

@Razer - I don't understand, you are lacking motivation to work because of your ADHD? - You shouldn't be put down if you have something like ADHD, yes it is a struggle to get on with it, but you need to 'befriend' it - also, the money should be the motivation to work, I had a crap job for part of last year, but I needed it to pay for my rent etc.

I didn't care that it was crap; as long as it paid the bills at the end of the month.

so in reality, you need to grow up and if you can't get past the idea of 'I can't be bothered to work to pay for stuff' then what is the point of even doing anything? You will find it extremely hard in future life if you keep that attitude towards work. If I were you I would get up and have a nice shower; best way for me to wake up and keep me awake for the day. No caffeine for me!

@Lune I don't find that it's a matter of needing to grow up (I wouldn't have a job if that were the case, I don't NEED the job to survive, but I know I'm better off with it. I know I could do really well in a job involving something I enjoy as Tyler said), it's that I have nothing to motivate me to go to work as it isn't something I enjoy doing, the pay isn't particularly great and it really gets me down. Not only that, but I work my ass off when I'm there and no appreciation is shown, I went in yesterday genuinely with a little bit of motivation and that WAS the money, even though it isn't that great like I said.

I get where you're coming from, I think it might be a phase, and when I get used to it a little more (I've been working here for 3 months) I should get better at it. I appreciate the input. :-)

EDIT:

Shower sounds great. I've always found it wakes me up a bit but I was told I'm lucky I didn't get badly hurt after using the shower as there's something up with the electricity so the whole house needs it's floorboards lifted up and has to be rewired over a time length of 2 weeks.. This means I haven't been able to use the shower, only the bath which takes around an hour for me to run and have if I'm lucky. I guess I'll have to find ways/methods just like you have. :-) Shower will definitely be on the list.

sounds like you're lazy and use your diagnosis as an excuse to not like working in a grocery store. millions of people deal with ADHD and live their lives, so can you. use your own misconceptions about your diagnosis as a form of motivation. lack the motivation to go work a 2 hour shift? slap yourself and say, i am my own motivation. you want to be able to deal with it? then screw motivation and force yourself to earn a paycheck. or force yourself to find something that'll act as further motivation; something you're interested in. an internet forum won't be able to help you more than you can help your own self.

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Originally Posted by Savage

sounds like you're lazy and use your diagnosis as an excuse to not like working in a grocery store. millions of people deal with ADHD and live their lives, so can you. use your own misconceptions about your diagnosis as a form of motivation. lack the motivation to go work a 2 hour shift? slap yourself and say, i am my own motivation. you want to be able to deal with it? then screw motivation and force yourself to earn a paycheck. or force yourself to find something that'll act as further motivation; something you're interested in. an internet forum won't be able to help you more than you can help your own self.

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Not going to deny the fact that I've always been lazy, since I was little in fact. I could never do sports even though I'm not overweight, out of breath easily, and have always been a lazy person. I refrain from using ADHD as an excuse, but it got into my head when I was looking up a lot about the disorder and people saying stuff such as what I quoted in the original post.

Another example is this.

I don't know if this is anything to do with my laziness and lack of energy, but since I've been taking my 54mg dosage of Concerta XL I haven't been eating, I eat say one meal at night when I get home from work (when I go), so if I'm not eating I'm obviously not getting enough energy.. I have tried forcing myself to eat but it doesn't go well at all. To you also, thank you for your input.

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Originally Posted by Razer

Thank you everyone. You've all made me see a little something.

@Tyler This was just a temporary job to save up some money for life essentials and a small amount of disposable income etc. Your idea's great, although that won't be just yet.

@Rishwin Thank you for this post. I'd never have been able to take it well a year ago, but I guess now being told reality straight has made me realise. This is pretty much my first job and is only temporary, although I have worked 8 hour shifts some days. Safe to say though, you are still right in many ways.

@Wucas The thing is, I'm still looking what takes the motivation away (which I do sometimes have, though I never stop to think about what triggers it, it's just there some days, most of the time it's not). But I'm thinking whilst looking at these post and I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Thank you guys once again. :-)

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Ah well as a first job then yea you will very easily lose motivation especially when you haven't really "worked" prior to this. School work is one thing, but it's not the same as work.

As someone suggested, think about what WOULD motivate you. If it was your ONLY source of income, would that motivate you? Is it motivation enough knowing that if you decide not to go to work, that's less money in your pocket at the end of the week? I guess it really depends on your situation & exactly how far you want to go to motivate yourself, but i may suggest going as far as telling your parents "I'm trying to motivate myself, please do not give me any money for anything for the next 1 month. I will earn all of the money i need myself". 1 month, 1 week, whatever, but give yourself this time to properly prioritize and you may even surprise yourself.

I work fulltime for a major ISP, I've been here just over 18 months now. For the first 12 months (that's MONTHS, not weeks) every single morning was a drag, i would turn off my alarm stare at my clock and think "Fuck. Why? Why am i getting up? I just want to go back to bed" and more often than not just lie there for an hour or until the very last minute when i summon up the courage (there still was no motivation at that point, simply mustering the courage to carry on every morning) to get out of bed and walk to the bus. I would take days off, i would call in sick just because i could, i would give away my shifts - anything to reduce the time i spent at work. But after 1 year of this game i realized "i could actually be making a shit-tonne more cash", i looked at what i was making per week (~$5-600) and what i could be earning ($8-900) and it actually hit me that by pissing around i was losing anywhere from $800-1000 every single month just from lost motivation.

I am a very materialistic person, so it was quite easy for me to calculate what i could better utilize that $800-1000 for. At the end i simply calculated what i could be earning every single day, what i was actually earning, and i asked myself "would i give up _h of free time per week for $_?" and the answer was a very repeated "Yes!".

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Originally Posted by Rishwin

Ah well as a first job then yea you will very easily lose motivation especially when you haven't really "worked" prior to this. School work is one thing, but it's not the same as work.

As someone suggested, think about what WOULD motivate you. If it was your ONLY source of income, would that motivate you? Is it motivation enough knowing that if you decide not to go to work, that's less money in your pocket at the end of the week? I guess it really depends on your situation & exactly how far you want to go to motivate yourself, but i may suggest going as far as telling your parents "I'm trying to motivate myself, please do not give me any money for anything for the next 1 month. I will earn all of the money i need myself". 1 month, 1 week, whatever, but give yourself this time to properly prioritize and you may even surprise yourself.

I work fulltime for a major ISP, I've been here just over 18 months now. For the first 12 months (that's MONTHS, not weeks) every single morning was a drag, i would turn off my alarm stare at my clock and think "Fuck. Why? Why am i getting up? I just want to go back to bed" and more often than not just lie there for an hour or until the very last minute when i summon up the courage (there still was no motivation at that point, simply mustering the courage to carry on every morning) to get out of bed and walk to the bus. I would take days off, i would call in sick just because i could, i would give away my shifts - anything to reduce the time i spent at work. But after 1 year of this game i realized "i could actually be making a shit-tonne more cash", i looked at what i was making per week (~$5-600) and what i could be earning ($8-900) and it actually hit me that by pissing around i was losing anywhere from $800-1000 every single month just from lost motivation.

I am a very materialistic person, so it was quite easy for me to calculate what i could better utilize that $800-1000 for. At the end i simply calculated what i could be earning every single day, what i was actually earning, and i asked myself "would i give up _h of free time per week for $_?" and the answer was a very repeated "Yes!".

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Thank you again Rishwin. I've been thinking about it, obviously going along the lines of money (why else would I be working) and like you said you did, I'm calculating how much I could be making by going to work and not taking that time off. I'm glad to see that it's not just me, but one annoying thing for me is that my shifts can change, like on numerous occasions I've had a bath, gotten ready, got to the bus stop to let them know I'm on my way in however the bus is a little delayed, then to be told I'm not needed (different reasons, usually because it's not that busy) when they have my phone number etc to contact me.

I'm gonna see how I get on and start making some changes to how I see work, I find that just being able to talk about things can really have a big impact on me, not entirely because of the advice I'm given, but because when I say it myself I start understanding it better (if that makes sense).

Money isn't a huge issue for me, but I do find myself without it even with some income, not having anything physical to show for it. So I think I'll put a small bit of my money aside each time I'm paid and knowing I have a little bit of money saved should hopefully give me a little boost.

Well that's just a piss-off, like for me if i was supposed to work and then i rock up at work & they nolonger require me & also failed to contact me, i still get paid (for something like 4 hours minimum) regardless if i sit there and work or just go home. It is their responsibility to notify their workers if they are not needed. Unless they have instructed you to contact them prior to every shift to confirm if you are needed, but even that is ridiculous.

Another thing i found helped me find motivation is looking at how i value money differently. Before i was working, $100 was $100. That's it. Now, i look at $100 and the first thing i think is "that's 4 hours work". I look at prices differently now, and use my spent time as a basis on weather things are worth their price. Is it worth $100? Maybe not. Is it something i would give 4 hours of free time for? Yes. Alright, then it's worth it.

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Originally Posted by Rishwin

Well that's just a piss-off, like for me if i was supposed to work and then i rock up at work & they nolonger require me & also failed to contact me, i still get paid (for something like 4 hours minimum) regardless if i sit there and work or just go home. It is their responsibility to notify their workers if they are not needed. Unless they have instructed you to contact them prior to every shift to confirm if you are needed, but even that is ridiculous.

Another thing i found helped me find motivation is looking at how i value money differently. Before i was working, $100 was $100. That's it. Now, i look at $100 and the first thing i think is "that's 4 hours work". I look at prices differently now, and use my spent time as a basis on weather things are worth their price. Is it worth $100? Maybe not. Is it something i would give 4 hours of free time for? Yes. Alright, then it's worth it.

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Yeah that's what I'm getting at. They have both my mobile number and home number but never bother to contact me, 2 times I've actually arrived at work and been told to come back an hour later because of the rain and it not being that busy.. lucky for me my girlfriend lives not too far away from my work, but that's besides the point. If she didn't I'd have been hanging about for an hour in the pouring rain (she didn't want me in work otherwise I'd have to be paid), or go home (2.5 miles distance between home and work), then have to wait for a bus as soon as I got off so I could get back to work again on time.

Yep, my grandfather taught me that little lesson you mentioned. I was Christmas shopping with him and went to buy something out of impulse, but he said to me "That's X hours of work, are you sure?" And I actually put it back and gave that a good thing. I remember being a lot younger and absolutely cherishing the smallest amounts money but when I started getting paid a lot I was blowing it on anything, stuff I didn't need. Cause them hours are hours you're not going to get back, that's how I see it now. You've actually reminded me about that time thing I did kinda let slip my mind. :-)

I'm still a kid in many ways, i work fulltime but still live at home so my income is almost disposable and i often find myself with the mentality "eh i'll just get paid again next week, no biggie" but over time it really adds up. In the first 12 months of working i would often find myself 2 days after payday with $200 left wondering "what did i do with $700 in 2 days? What do i have to show for it?" which was simply attributed to me buying whatever i wanted because i had this sudden increase in income. If i had your mentality when i first had this job, i would easily have a cool $20,000 saved up by now probably looking at a deposit for a house. Not to say that i wasted all of it, it's been spent on a car & lots of collectables & a holiday for the fiance, but most of it was impulsive simply because i had the income.

However being a very materialistic/possessive person, the more things i bought the more motivation i had to work because i want more. I have something tangible to show for it, and it now serves as further inspiration for me to work because i know what i can achieve if i do. If you find yourself the same way, i would suggest saving up for a few weeks and buying something expensive that you really want. Once you have it, and you realize you could only have afforded it with this job, you realize all the other things you previously couldn't afford which you now can if you just save up a few weeks. That motivation is strong for people like me :P

What you really need to do is simply get a better job. I would also lose motivation and really not bother coming in if i had often been told to come in later or that i wasn't needed at all. That's no way to run a business. Just find a job even if it's in a similar position but at a properly established place that won't screw you around. Even if it's the same job, you'll probably feel alot better coming into work.

Also, my #1 advise for finding motivation for work is to make work fun. Doesn't matter what your job is, make it more fun, make it more personalized to you. I do business support for an ISP, for months i would almost feel sick to my stomach every morning just thinking of going to work, because i was not very social i did not know too many people and i was really getting hounded by my manager to raise my stats which was making me feel stressed. I started just being social with my work mates, we hung out a few times after work, i got my stats in order and now I'm mates with everyone on my team. I feel great every morning, never dread coming into work i have the mentality that I'm going to fix a whole lot of issues today and slam the stats, my desk is COVERED with lego and collectable figures which makes me feel at home and the two blokes sitting on either side of me have become my best mates. Hang out with your work mates and really get to know them, make them your friends and going to work will always feel like you're hanging out with some friends.

What motivates me? Simple, I love my job. Being a social worker working in both assisted living facilities and a clinic (both psychiatric facilities), I simply do not get paid much, in fact if you look at how hard I had to work to be able to do this and how much responsibility and quality is expected of me, it's by far the worst job in the world, because when I fuck up, there can be massive consequences.
But that's what I thrive on, it's what motivates me, doing something that I enjoy, something that I feel is important, something that makes me feel that I make a difference.

I've been doing this work for about 6 years now, and sure while I don't always enjoy getting up early in the morning, or doing night shifts, I've never had a bad feeling about my work, and trust me, it wasn't always lots of fun and I had some horrible colleagues, but in the end the job is what makes it something I'm happy to do.

Now as for you, you're doing 1 of the worst jobs you could be doing for someone with ADHD. While I agree with Rish that you shouldn't use this as an excuse, I would advice you to find a job where you can release your energy etc, where you're ADHD actually serves a purpose.

As for the Concerta, perhaps a lower dosage would work well, 1 of my clients had 2 of 36mg each day, but would only use 1 because the second would make him quite dull. Also I'm not sure how severe yours is, but he was actually jumping against the walls if he didn't use any.
With ADHD medication I always believe it's about getting the right amount for you to function, some might still find you to energetic, but fuck them tbh, I don't believe in over-medicating people so that they have an easy time.

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Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

What motivates me? Simple, I love my job. Being a social worker working in both assisted living facilities and a clinic (both psychiatric facilities), I simply do not get paid much, in fact if you look at how hard I had to work to be able to do this and how much responsibility and quality is expected of me, it's by far the worst job in the world, because when I fuck up, there can be massive consequences.
But that's what I thrive on, it's what motivates me, doing something that I enjoy, something that I feel is important, something that makes me feel that I make a difference.

I've been doing this work for about 6 years now, and sure while I don't always enjoy getting up early in the morning, or doing night shifts, I've never had a bad feeling about my work, and trust me, it wasn't always lots of fun and I had some horrible colleagues, but in the end the job is what makes it something I'm happy to do.

Now as for you, you're doing 1 of the worst jobs you could be doing for someone with ADHD. While I agree with Rish that you shouldn't use this as an excuse, I would advice you to find a job where you can release your energy etc, where you're ADHD actually serves a purpose.

As for the Concerta, perhaps a lower dosage would work well, 1 of my clients had 2 of 36mg each day, but would only use 1 because the second would make him quite dull. Also I'm not sure how severe yours is, but he was actually jumping against the walls if he didn't use any.
With ADHD medication I always believe it's about getting the right amount for you to function, some might still find you to energetic, but fuck them tbh, I don't believe in over-medicating people so that they have an easy time.

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I've never tried taking one tablet in the morning and one at night. I'll give that a think through. I have been thinking a lot since this thread, and it's pretty much all you guys that made me think "You know what, I'm just going to do this" - So I happily accepted the offer of doing 5 hours on Friday, 8 on Saturday and 8 again on Sunday, a lot more than I usually do but I'm ready for it. Thank you Gohan and Rishwin especially, I definitely would've made excuses not to do them 8 hour shifts before, so in a way I guess the start of my motivation was you guys, then I kicked it up by thinking of the money I'll earn. :-)

Also, Gohan, what kind of jobs do you think would best suit me and my disorder? I'm not a sporty person, and although I love rugby (I've only played a few times but absolutely dominated the game every time) I couldn't make a career of it, so I can't really think of other jobs that'd be a release for my energy.

I don't think you need to take 1 in the morning and night, they work for 12 hours and after that it cuts down little by little while the effects wear off, and considering it takes 1-2 hours to work, taking this in the morning should last you until late in the evening.
Regardless though, a lower dosage would help you feel less slow and drowsy while it does make you a little more hyper. At the end of the day though, you would need to discuss with your doctor and talk about whether this would help or not, but discussing it is definitely my advice.

It's good that you go and work, regardless of needing the money and liking it, imo it's better than staying at home.

What kind of jobs? Well I can't tell which specific jobs, but I definitely advice physical demanding jobs, I'm not talking specifically about heavy lifting jobs or whatever, but a job where you can put all your energy in. So think about jobs that help you release your energy, while enjoying it, I know this isn't the easiest question, but only you can answer it. I have no idea if those tests work to find out what kind of jobs fit you, but maybe those can help out.

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Originally Posted by GohanSSJ

I don't think you need to take 1 in the morning and night, they work for 12 hours and after that it cuts down little by little while the effects wear off, and considering it takes 1-2 hours to work, taking this in the morning should last you until late in the evening.
Regardless though, a lower dosage would help you feel less slow and drowsy while it does make you a little more hyper. At the end of the day though, you would need to discuss with your doctor and talk about whether this would help or not, but discussing it is definitely my advice.

It's good that you go and work, regardless of needing the money and liking it, imo it's better than staying at home.

What kind of jobs? Well I can't tell which specific jobs, but I definitely advice physical demanding jobs, I'm not talking specifically about heavy lifting jobs or whatever, but a job where you can put all your energy in. So think about jobs that help you release your energy, while enjoying it, I know this isn't the easiest question, but only you can answer it. I have no idea if those tests work to find out what kind of jobs fit you, but maybe those can help out.

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Yeah they do last around 12 hours but I tend to notice I start feeling strange around 10 hours after taking them, and I was told they take 45 minutes to settle in but it has always taken me longer. I did start off on a very low dosage, it was between 10 and 20 (I think it was 18mg for my first time taking the medication), and after a month or whatever no effect had taken place so I was given a higher dosage, and this continued to be the case until I was on apparently the highest, 54mg. I have tried going without the tablets some days, and obviously something's going to happen by just cutting the tablets out after they've been in my system every day, but I cannot stay awake, I eat so much where I've not been eating on the tablets, and this lasts for days until I take the tablets again. I would randomly sit down and fall asleep instantly. I'm concerned that taking one of the tablets versus the 2 at once would have the same sort of effect but not so extreme.

I'll have to give time on that one, but for the meantime I will be sticking to this job. :-) Thanks again.

ADHD medication is always a trial & error before you find the perfect dose specifically for you.

My fiance was on Dexamphetamines then Ritalin then back again, the Dex gave her problems sleeping while the ritalin would almost drain her of energy & suppress appetite. Her equilibrium was found by taking a Dex in the morning, Dex around noon/afternoon, then a Ritalin at night. That gave her the energy during the day while helping her sleep at night.

Depending on the prescribing doctor, maybe ask for them to be flexible with your dose & allow you to find the right dose yourself. Or perhaps you need to swap medication, you may find ritalin or something helping you more than what you're on now.

The information I looked up says it's 1-2 hours, this doesn't mean you don't notice anything at 45 minutes though, but it might not be at full effect.

So you use 54mg now, if you were to compare your hyperactivity compared to others, how effective is it now?
You say you use 2 of them, is that 2x 27mg or a 36 and 18?

Right now the medication doesn't seem like it's giving you the right effect, like I said, the medication will slow you down, take too much and you get the effects you have now, which gives you an unnecessary struggle.
I know quite a few people with ADHD, including a colleague of mine who uses Concerta as well, and he's still somewhat hyper, but that allows him to function in a way that's good for him, while others can easily deal with it. In the end that's what I think the medication should do for you.

That's 2 x 27mg. I've been taking the medication for over a year and at first it was working great (once I was on the highest dosage) but now, in the past few months or so it's started to lose effect. I wasn't too keen of going onto ritalin so the hospital prescribed me to Concerta (I went my entire childhood without medication as my mum had concern of me taking it).

I honestly think that messing with my medication would be something to test at first, like Rishwin said. I'm just not sure where to start.

From what I'm able to read, all of the symptoms you mention can be part of using this drug, they mention things such as eating less, harder to fall asleep/stay asleep but also depressive feelings, The more you take, the intenser these symptoms can get. I would write everything down and go to your doctor with it, they are qualified to make any sort of judgement. I'm trained to recognize the effects of medication, but that's as far as I go, all I can do than is advice people to take it up to their doctor, or at my work I sometimes have the doctor (psychiatrist in the case where I work), to visit them. ;)

So yeah, write it down and get an appointment.

Worked 11am - 8pm. Shattered.

Nice. I used to think 8h shifts were bad enough, then i did 5x10 hour shifts last week... 8h seems so short now >_> Bulk cash money though :D

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Originally Posted by Rishwin

Nice. I used to think 8h shifts were bad enough, then i did 5x10 hour shifts last week... 8h seems so short now >_> Bulk cash money though :D

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I guess, but I could never do that.. Depends on the job really. :-)

Last month I did about 12 9 hour night shifts, not only does it take long, but it's also extremely boring. I end up gaming most of the night. :P