Success and Motivation

Motivation. Some people have it. Some people feel they need more of it. Some wonder about what motivates other people--to buy things, fall in love, overeat, under-eat, work hard, exercise, succeed, fail--any number of things. There is lots to say about motivation (whole books on it) but today I just want to share a few thoughts. If you think about what motivates people or yourself, you might come up with a long list of possibles. Like this one:

Money,
Sex,
Pain,
Duty,
Love,
Success,
Fame,
Recognition,
Higher Purpose,
Acceptance,
Boredom,
Revenge,
and so on.

However, these motives don't necessarily tell us the whole story. The big question that you have to ask yourself is, "Is the motivation towards or away from something?"
A person may be motivated by love--but when we examine that motivation, it may be a motivation away from loneliness rather than toward a deeper connection with others.

The problem with away from motivation is that it often leads to inconsistent results. For example, pain is usually an away from motivation. "Get me the heck out of this pain!" you say? You will pay anything? People in pain make a lot of promises. Pain comes in many forms (loneliness, poverty, boredom, etc). One could call these people highly motivated. However, as soon as they are a far enough distance from the pain, they become much less motivated. They begin a gradual or speedy slide backward until they are in the same or a similar situation--whether it is financial pain, relationship pain, physical pain or other kinds of pain.

What happens then? If they saw an acupuncturist, they might complain that acupuncture doesn't work. If they saw a hypnotherapist, they may say hypnotherapy doesn't work. You get the picture.

The difference between away from and towards motivation is that when a person is moving towards something, there is always more to work toward, so they are moving forward and getting consistent results and growth. Away from motivation is more often characterized by bursts of activity and change and then gradual backsliding.

In life, however, not everything is clear cut. Sometimes under the umbrella of "success" or a goal or a virtue, a person can have mixed motivations. An artist may want to move toward creating great art, but away from doing the financial end of the business. Another person may want to move toward intimate love but away from intimate communication. You see the struggle.

How is this remedied? The simple answer is hypnotherapy. The long answer will have to be another blog. I appreciate and welcome comments or questions.