Counting technique to obtain more motivation.

For many people with a mental or eating disorder, it can be difficult to get through the daily drudgery of life. Even taking a bath or shower can be of little interest and one needs to be “forced” to achieve cleanliness. The desire to eat can range from no interest to an overzealous interest in consuming the food. Waking up and getting out of bed does not hold much of a thrill when there is nothing exciting going on that particular day. For people with a lot of energy, they may have trouble convincing themselves to go to bed in the evening and will suffer the consequences the next day because they did not give their body enough rest. For a lot of people, every day is the same and it gets tedious to deal with daily living.

I have a lot of trouble convincing myself to do things on my lists, (see earlier post – November 25, 2011) when I have no motivation to get through the day. A good technique which my psychologist introduced me is this: Count from one to ten when getting ready to do a task and once the number ten is reached – jump up and just DO it. So when I have trouble taking a shower I will count to ten, very slowly, while lying in bed. I don’t allow myself to debate with myself anymore once I reach the magic number of ten (or whatever number I have chosen as the final number). Instead of thinking of how much I wish to not do that particular task, I convince myself I will be able to do the task once the magic number is reached. This technique works from everything to clipping my cat’s toenails to preparing dinner and has been a big help.

This technique of preparing to start a task also helps me with my eating disorder. My list helps me by giving me a place to write down the food I have eaten that day. Counting to a certain number helps me not eat as much. Often times, I will count to twenty when I have finished most of my meal before eating anymore. This break in eating my meal gives me a chance to determine if I’m really hungry or if I’m just eating to taste the food. After I have counted, I often feel as if I don’t want anything else to eat as I am full from what I have already consumed.  Since I usually leave my carbohydrates for last, I often am able to fill up on protein and vegetables which has the advantage of keeping my blood sugar under more control.

I will say that it is important to not count continually throughout the day. This can cause an almost obsessive quality to the counting and will drive one insane. The counting technique should mainly be used for tasks that are particularly hard to do on certain days or when one is not feeling up to facing another day. One particular advantage of the counting strategy is that it can be done in private in one’s head and no one in one’s personal space knows it is being done. The main disadvantage, as I previously mentioned, is it can become obsessive and controlling. I have found it to be most effective when I am really depressed as it keeps my motivation up.