Motivation in the age of a housing crisis?
by The MotherMind Doctor
Today I thought about writing a reflection of my week and realised that I’d already done the washing hung it out, gone for a walk, had a spa, and hadn’t written a word.
Motivation is what drives us to take action, and people are motivated by different things. It could be the money, a sense of identity or self-worth or even finding purpose and meaning.
Currently there’s a lot of negativity and uncertainty surrounding the future which can impact our ability to feel motivated, among other things.
You may be motivated to earn money ordinarily, but when faced with ridiculously high property prices, for example, this can impact your ability to be motivated to, let’s say, save up a deposit. It can feel completely out of reach and undoable.
So what do you do when faced with such a scenario?
Understanding your own motivation can help you recognise what drives you and your choices.
In the housing example, we can talk about the extrinsic reward of status or the intrinsic reward of security in owning your own place.
On top of that, the long-term goal of owning a house can feel like a mountain to climb when not knowing where the path is to start.
Recognising low motivation in the face of complex problems is the first step.
Because no one goes out and buys a house on the first day before having done research, looked at where they want to live, whether they can afford it and a host other things that are involved.
Strategies to boost motivation include noticing the early signs like avoidance, feeling overwhelmed, or tired and resistant because it’s just too hard.
Then we need to look at external factors that impact our motivation. If we can’t get a bank loan for the house that we want, then what can we tweak to make something possible? Does it mean managing our expectations? Or looking somewhere cheaper? Or joining up with a sibling to buy together?
There is no right answer or right way or perfect plan.
Realistic goals are part of the process to boost motivation because if we want that beach front mansion on our 9-5 wage, maybe that needs review. Or maybe it’s not worth relocating to an affordable area because you love the social life of your local hangout?
I’m the queen of unrealistic expectations. Yes we just experienced the wave of adversity that made it virtually impossible to keep up with the crazy house prices. I know first hand what it feels like to have that dream slip further away each time when we tried to buy over approximately 25 years!
So I found work arounds:
-rent-vesting when that was a thing (It involves buying in an area you can afford, leasing it out, and hoping that the capital gain on that will mean you can be in the market somewhere while you rent in the area you prefer to live)
-changed my career by retraining which took me 10 years of study, work, overtime and juggling family responsibilities, commuting and suffering a toxic work culture.
-looked at side hustles to boost income
- picked up Barefoot Investor and put all my finances in ‘buckets’ (separate accounts to keep expenses, savings, emergency money or ‘mojo’, and more)
Now at the ripe old stage of middle age, I have finally bought with my family of five. We are two years in and had to adjust living standards from our comfortable rental to a mini version of a house in the form of a semi in the inner city. We are squeezed in but we are in.
And then the tax changes came. But my motivation was about security (intrinsic) not status (extrinsic). And there is a strange level of acceptance at this point that I can’t predict the changes in circumstances and have to ride the wave of uncertainty.
Am I motivated to make the place bigger by renovating?
Let’s say I adjusted my expectations in the face of rising costs. My SMART goal at the moment is to acknowledge the mountain I have just climbed.
NB. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable (or Attainable/Actionable), Relevant, and Time-bound)
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