Motivation is one of the many executive functioning skills we as humans require to get stuff done.
Do you ever find that some days you are breaming with motivation, and you are kicking those goals left, right, and centre? Then there are other days it feels so hard to even get out of bed?
Yep, and can I tell you this is very typical of the human experience, and even more so if you have a neurodivergent brain. Add to this chronic pain, autoimmune disorders, hypermobility, learning differences, trauma history, co-occurring disabilities etc.
There is a term that is often used when discussing a person with an ‘invisible disability’s’ capacity to engage with their roles (student, player, friend, employee, parent), activities (self-care, grooming, eating, work, learning), and their environment (school, home, shop, uni) called a ‘Spiky profile’
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The Spiky profile can be seen as a person ‘appearing’ to have various levels of function in these areas of their life, dependent on the day and time. For example, a person will have the capacity to do what they need in the school environment, but when they get home, they have reduced capacity to clean their room or eat a meal. However, last week they seemed to complete both with little to no difficulties at all.
This can often be mistaken as a person ‘lacking motivation’, when in fact it is that they have used their ‘energy’ in other areas of their life, and therefore reduced capacity to engage and participate in others.
When a person is ‘driven’ or motivated to engage or participate in something, they can:
Feel connected to a person or people in the relationship/interaction.
Have a vested interest in participating.
They are emotionally regulated to engage.
They are supporting their emotional regulation and self-management by engaging.
They understand the ‘why’ doing something and see the value in engaging in or with it.
When a person is ‘paralysed’ or unmotivated to engage or participate in something, they can:
Feel overwhelmed by the number of activities or interactions required at that time.
Attempting to self-regulate their capacity by not engaging in certain activities or interactions.
Avoiding certain activities or interactions due to it feeling ‘too hard’ or the uncertainties, and lack of clarity they have around how to do something, and the expectations of themselves and others.
The person does not equate any value or worth attached to engaging with the activity or interaction.
At Diversum we can support people of all ages to explore what their challenges and strengths are when it comes to their capacity and motivation and develop tools and strategies to support a person to advocate for the accommodations they require.
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