MCC Blog - Using Half-Assed Actions to Gain Momentum in Depression Recovery
Doing anything boring when depressed can feel like trekking through the mud without the right tools. You’ll take a step and feel like you may be moving forward–then something knocks you off your plan. Or maybe you don’t even have the motivation to take that first step and you’re stuck in bed. Whatever the case may be, you can start to make shifts in your day-to-day life with small practices–some of which don’t even require you to get up. I call them half-assed actions (AHAs).
It starts with “coding” your brain
Since I decided to take my mental health into my own hands, I discovered that the tactics that worked for me mimicked a video game that I can code myself. It was wild–and it worked after years of little progress in recovery.
Through neuroscience and psychology research, I found that every repetitive, incidental thought is a thought habit (technically called a neural pathway). According to neuroscience, changing those thought habits using repetition and associated emotion is the way to “program” something new into your mind, and the old thought habit would eventually fade (AKA the old neural pathway would atrophy). Thought habits generate emotions, which turn into behavioral habits. Therefore, you are “programming” your avatar to do specific things with these new thought habits.
For example, when I was struggling to get out of bed, I’d practice the thought, “It’s possible I will learn something from today that will help me feel just a bit better.” Once I practiced that thought enough to build a thought habit, the old one, “It’s not worth it to get out of bed,” decreased its effects on my behavior.
The key is to add things like, “It’s possible,” or, “I’m open to the possibility,” or, “I am learning to believe,” so it’s not jumping straight from not wanting to get out of bed to, “I will feel 100% better if I get up.” It’s key to start with something that’s actually believable. And you’ll know if it is believable if you feel a shift in your emotions in your body (even the tiniest movement). Because the repetition of thoughts and associated emotions are what create a new thought habit, you’ll want to test a few new thoughts until you notice a change in your body when you “try it on.”
Identify low-effort activities that get something done–no matter how small
When my motivation is at zero, I get a little jumpstart when I do the half-assed actions that will make the biggest impact on my life. Here are some of my own examples. Note that this may look different for you, so feel free to adjust as needed.
Make the bed while you are still in it. Really! I sometimes just pull up my sheets and duvet up to my face and carefully slip out. It’s kind of funny.
Put things in order you need to do them. I put my day and night routine toiletries from left to right so I just go down the line so I limit any thinking.
Buy meal ingredients that require zero cooking. I buy bags of cole slaw mix, add garbanzo beans, olive oil, salt, and a pre-made protein on the side, like canned tuna or hard-boiled eggs.
Do yoga in bed. There are YouTube videos specifically for this!
Use a screen reader to read emails and web pages to you. For a Mac, use Command + F5. For Windows, select the Windows logo key + Ctrl + N to open Narrator settings, and then turn on the toggle under “Use Narrator.”
Some thought habits to practice so it’s easier to do these half-assed actions:
“It’s possible this will help me more than I think.”
“I’m open to believing this will help, even a tiny bit, in my recovery.”
“I’m relieved that I can get some things done with little effort.”
When in doubt, set a timer
Another way I use half-assed actions is through timed “mini-games.”. I ask myself, “How much can I declutter within one minute?” or, “How fast can I put my dishes away?” The extremely short timeframes I give myself make it much easier for me to pull myself off the couch.
I do a little shaking to get my blood flowing, then I get to playing. I’ll usually put on music or a podcast as I do self-care tasks to keep it a bit more interesting. I’d recommend choosing as small of a timeframe as you need–no matter how tiny. It could be seconds, as long as it works for you.
Some thought habits to practice to help you get moving:
“It’s just ___ minutes/seconds.”
“It’s possible this won’t take as much effort as I think.”
“Once I get this done, I can lay back down for ___X minutes.”
“This feels really difficult, and it’s possible it will make things less difficult for me after.”
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Half-assed actions give you permission to not put your whole self into tasks. Many of us internalize a perfectionist culture that tells you to “try your best” with everything. That’s just a construct of an individualist society and just not sustainable. One of the best things I did for my depression recovery was being okay with doing things that aren’t giant leaps. New thought habits + tiny tasks = increased motivation.
