Motivating force: appeal of success or fear of failure?

As this summer starts to disappear into the past, I find myself, as usual, drafting a series of goals or rehashing old ones in order to keep them new. Many nights, I have closed my eyes and allowed my mind to roam free with all the wonderful goals it would like to see become reality within the next five, ten, and twenty years. I know it might seem a bit weird that I am thinking and planning that far ahead, but it keeps me excited about the future. Sometimes I wish I could fast-forward my life, just to see if I accomplished all my goals.

Anyway, with all these goals swimming in my head, each one getting generous amount of smiles from me, regardless of how ambitious any one of them is, I had to ask myself what motivates me to achieve these goals. Better yet, what motivates people to achieve their goals? Are we motivated by the prospect of success (in achieving our goals) or by the fear of not accomplishing these goals? And which of these two motivating notions do we prefer or tend to lean towards?

Here is a picture for you to imagine. When you try to achieve a goal, what do you see? Do you see Ms. Success jumping up and down (with pompoms in hand), praising your steps towards your goal--and so you move forward? Or do you see Ms. Failure insulting you and telling you not to even bother--and so in defiance or as a challenge, you move solidly toward your goal? It is a subtle difference in motivational approach: the fear of failure or the love for success, but I think it is helpful to see where we tend to lean towards.

We must recognize that one of the two, the "fear of failure" or the "love for success," has a greater influence on us than the other does, even though loving one necessarily implies loving the other, or more simply, the two phrases are essentially synonymous. One of these two phrases is at the root of our motivation to achieve our dreams, however ambitious they might be. Therefore, if we know which phrase drives us, it can allow us to keep the journey towards our goals in the right perspective and maybe even make the journey easier.

I am also tempted to ask which motivational leaning is better. When I refer to my own record of accomplishment, it seems that goals hide behind particular obstacles, and once one conquers these obstacles, one’s goals are more readily seized. With a tendency towards "fear of failure," the obstacles seem outward, so one may feel that one has a target, a wall to punch out of one's way--and this might make aiming towards a goal easier. And if one does fail, it makes it easier to bear the disappointment, because one thinks about all the Ms. Failures shouting in one’s ear. With a tendency towards "love of success," the obstacles seem to be within, one cannot readily see it--and this might make aiming towards a goal harder. But the success approach has that benefit of having a cheerer, someone to say, "Yes, you can do it." However, if one fails, it is a bit more difficult to bear the disappointment. One’s personality probably determines the particular phrase that rules one. If you are an optimistic and energetic kind of person, with an "of course, I can do it" attitude, the "love of success" might rule you. If you love a challenge or you are the "I'll show you" kind of person, or you are a pessimistic kind of person, the "fear of failure" might rule you. It seems then that if a personality style is appropriately matched with the right motivational phrase, one should witness relatively no difference in the effectiveness of either of the two phrases.

Like I said before, both phrases are essentially the same and might be equally effective. So, ultimately, it is probably the balancing act (in our minds) between the appeal of success and fear of failure that gets us moving--we need to have both (though in seemingly differential amounts) in the motivating cooking pot.






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