How do I get motivation?

Hello,

I'm hoping to give a general direction or idea for you that I often utilize when trying to figure out how to increase my own "elusive motivation." I do like to start out and mention that motivation isn't having necessarily an epiphany, it's more of moving from point A to B in a situation. A helpful tool may be, "How did I get the motivation to write this post on BetterHelp asking for assistance?" Maybe it was the idea of hope or feeling frustrated that nothing seems to be working. The important piece is to describe small things that got you to write about this, for example. 

How to address this one way would be through contingency management. Contingency management is the idea that if this happens, I usually will follow through on things. An example of my own contingency managements for working out would be this... I need to listen to rock music and drive a little bit prior to the day of working / have my playlist ready to go and have athletic clothing I enjoy wearing. 

What I hear from your post is your contingency management that's hindering you is your thoughts of, "they don't need me and if they don't need me, I don't care." That thought you're having is becoming true as we act on it vs. just noticing it's a thought from how we feel.

I may try to help you answer this by coming up with your own contingency of "how do you think when you feel important at work?" and starting to do a behavioral rehearsal of those thoughts. An example might be... people need me at work, even if they don't acknowledge it, and I know what I do is important. I'm valuable and important in my role at work, regardless of the role. This could be a thought process to rehearse daily or rehearse being skillful and doing opposite to what you feel / think is true (being apathetic towards work) and being engaged with your body, thoughts and heart. Your body would be showing energy and enthusiasm, your thoughts will be follow up with telling your important no matter what others think, do or say to you and your heart is believing / doing opposite action to your current emotion to fully navigate following through and increasing motivation.

I hope this helps,

Mitchell Daas, MA, LPCC