Self defeating thinking is not the same as being unmotivated.  One is mental and the other comes from the heart.  A bad attitude is when you have a belief that is limiting you from taking some action. There is something in your way; something which has to be removed or rearranged.  On the other hand, lack of motivation is when there is something missing altogether.  Lack of motivation is lack of inspiration.  There is not enough energy to even get you moving. On the outside they create the same effect, "ineffectiveness and unhappiness".  On the inside they are fundamentally different and they require different approaches to solve. 

Having a limiting attitude is like fear of humiliation, fear of incompetence, fear of not being good enough, fear of abandonment etc.  This requires a mental paradigm shift.  You need to change your perspective to remove that which is limiting you.  You need to change how you think about something; reprogram your programming.  It is like being at a stop light. You have to change it to a green light to make it okay for you to go.  It is logical and left brained.

Lack of inspiration, on the other hand, is when you have no vehicle to move you forward at all.  It is like you are not even on the road.  You are off to the side and your car isn't running.  It is a feeling not a thought.  It comes from lack of purpose because you have no vision of where you want to go and therefore, no fire or fuel to get you there.  If we are to travel out to new horizons, we need a map to show us it is possible and we need a reason to give us the fuel. The reason comes from inspiration.  To be inspired is to breathe in "spirit".  This comes from your soul, not your brain.  It is imaginative, creative and deals with the big picture.  Lack of motivation is a bigger problem than a limiting belief system.  But once the reason for the trip is clear and the direction is decided upon; there will be enough fuel to get through many, many stop lights.  You will have an endless supply because spirit is limitless.

Inspiration and motivation come from a sense of purpose.   They are value based  paradigm shifts as opposed to changing your perspective. It is on a different spectrum.  It is from inside of you but it is the part of you which is connected to everything outside of you so to speak. It's your soul connection to the source which in turn is connected to everyone and everything.  Where as, thoughts especially fear based ones come from the ego and from a perspective of separateness. 

So if you are unmotivated, listening to motivational audio is not going to help you very much.  That is where the confusion comes in.  Unless it speaks to your heart, the burst of inspiration will not last past the second or third red light.  That is because it is not true inspiration. It is just a recharge of your battery and the charge will drain out soon enough.  This can create a roll coaster effect in your life. The result is lots of frustration because nothing really ever changes for you and you just get worn out.  Real happiness requires a commitment to self reflection and self understanding at the soul level.