Motivation and De-Motivation

Motivation helps you turn an idea into an action and is typically a positive feeling; the feeling of accomplishment and commitment. De-motivation is the opposite of this.

It’s the perception that you can’t accomplish anything, are unable or unfit to, and is a gloomy feeling to carry around. Like a brick pulling down your stomach, it makes you feel bad and in common cases, lethargic.

De-motivation isn’t always in your control. A bad day or experience can keep you from doing something about it, making you feel bad about yourself. You may have had a horrible experience with driving on your first try, and no matter how many times you try to tell yourself it’ll be different the next time, you succumb to the failure of the previous time.

While one person may feel motivated about a promotion, another may be de-motivated by it. The first person here sees it as an ideal opportunity to achieve a higher position in work among colleagues. The second person may feel de-motivated because they know their chances at getting the promotion are less than the first person.

This is an example of positive motivation, but at the same time, it is an unintentional method of de-motivating someone else.

So while you may feel motivated to bring a crusty apple pie to your picnic, someone may feel de-motivated by your excellent desert and not bring their own pie. Sometimes, it’s out of your control if you de-motivate others, but sometimes it is and just takes a little consideration to see.

Simply enough, there are times you will be de-motivated, and it never feels good. But de-motivated emotions should never keep you down and instead remind you that there’s something to get done, and if you don’t do it, who else will do it for you?

So the basic idea here is that de-motivation is the countering effect of motivation. It’s a block that prevents you from becoming motivated and its cure is, if anything, motivation.