There’s what I call “rah-rah” motivation — where you or someone else delivers an impassioned pep talk, but research shows this boost doesn’t stick around very long. A similarly undependable source is novelty: How many times have you learned a new thing about procrastination or organization or time management and thought, “Holy cannoli, that is killer! I’m gonna do that!”?

Hopefully that happens a lot because you’re feeding yourself a steady diet of new ideas for improving the quality of your ADHD life. But how many of them are you doing now — as a habit? How many of them will you be doing — as habits — a month from now? A year from now? Don’t beat yourself up about it — fact is, we’re not all Tony Robbins types. And we’re certainly not brainiac machines that just automatically start — and then keep — doing the right things.

As previously mentioned, getting and staying motivated for the long haul doesn’t come naturally or easily for us. A fact explained in part with…

Some Science on ADHD and Motivation

Our will to put new learning into practice and to stay on a given course is far from dependable — in fact, research shows that willpower is very finite over any given period. It’s a fuel that, well, runs out.

Dr. Russell Barkley, an expert on Executive Function in the ADHD brain, talks about the mental skills housed in the frontal lobe that are responsible for things like organization, time management, planning and motivation:

“The frontolimbic circuit is the source of self-motivation. This is where you think about your goals, and it motivates you. It creates a positive motivation mood state. You will use that motivation to sustain action toward it over time — in the absence of external consequences. This is the source of drive, persistence, willpower and stick-to-it-ivenesss. The ability to chart a course, and dog it to death.”

Sounds almost inspiring, doesn’t it?

Alas, he goes on to say that we seem to lack the ability to engage in a self-disciplined, persistent course toward our goals in the absence of external consequences, meaning without some looming threat or other incentive. He says we’re “like a great cruise missile, with a brilliant computer system and a map of the enemy’s terrain — and the fuel tank is empty. The missile sits on the launching pad.”

But! There is a bottomless, available-on-demand source of motivation — a brain hack that turns on the neurotransmitters that fire up your brain to generate energy, resilience and traction toward your goals.

How to Get and Stay Motivated: Nagging Desires

Barkley says we most often “can’t fuel the fuel tanks,” but he also tells us that we can regulate our emotions to provide that fuel. And in my approach, the emotional fuel is desire. Nagging desire. Of which there are two varieties: A negative nag and a positive nag.

A negative nag pushes us out of old habits of the past, like a best friend gently but firmly reminding you that, “Your ex really was a nightmare — you don’t want to go back to that!” And you say, “Yeah, you’re right. Phew. Thanks, man.” Your negative nag should be rooted in the things you despise most about your past or present. Things that generate real emotion.