
©Appreciation at Work
This blog is for those who are crying out for this kind of help . . .
- No matter how much I try, I find it hard to motivate myself.
- I’ve been working out of sheer discipline, and now the will to achieve is all gone
- I feel like I’m barely putting in any effort
- I catch myself thinking I’m okay with any outcome.
- I’m having extreme apathy towards tasks and my brain feels like it isn’t even functioning optimally
It sounds like your get up and go has just gone.
Let’s first try and understand how you got to this place, then (in PART 2), we’ll provide you some strategies to kick start you back into life.
How did I get here?

©shutterstock
It‘s time to take a deep dive and reflect. Reflecting is a key aspect of the caddying process and a recurrent theme in these blogs. So, create some space to reflect. Try to identify what has led you to this point.
- Have you got too much on in your life?
- Are you dealing with too much?
- Are you expecting too much of yourself?
- Have you found yourself in a job you tolerate but no longer enjoy?
Don’t rush this step . . . try an analyse why you have found yourself in an unmotivated space
Have you found yourself on the wrong side of the J Curve?

©Research Gate
You will notice on this J Curve graph that performance can decrease where stress has increased.
So what’s happened to you? What is your story? Why have you found yourself lacking motivation? Try and capture your findings in a mind map. Put each cause in a thought bubble. Here’s an example of what a mind map looks like:

We explained mind maps in Blog 37. Now take some time to draw your mind map with a focus on why you are lacking motivation. Draw some bubbles around ‘How did I get here?’. You are saying you lack motivation – how and why? What is impacting you?

©iammikes
And now let’s score those bubbles. Let’s try and see which items are making the greatest impact. Put a number next to each bubble from 10 to 1. You would put high scores (let’s say an 8 or 9) next to something having a high impact and low scores (2s and 3s) next to items having a low impact. So a 5 would be a mid impact item.
Get to work on scoring your bubbles.
OK . . . the better you do this step, the better you will be able to understand what is holding you back and how to rise strong. We’ll leave you now to complete this exercise. In the next blog we’ll provide strategies to lift you from your apathetic space.
Your life caddy
Your life caddy . . . when you need coaching, whether that’s life coaching, business coaching, entrepreneurial coaching or mentoring . . . to reset those attitudes, gain strategies with data driven approaches or build new habits and rhythms to give yourself that performance edge . . . Your life caddy is here for you. Subscribe now to keep up to date with weekly blogs, each one based on burning questions from professionals like you, seeking help.