Defference between poditive motivation and negetive motivation
Answers
HOLA META,
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN +VE AND -VE MOTIVATION:
1 Negative Motivation: I will start with the negative first because it’s what most people are motivated by, and it’s the common sort of motivation.
Let’s see an example of negative motivation: An overweight person told by his doctor that if he doesn’t commit to a healthy diet and lose weight, he’s most likely to have a heart disease, so the person gets scared. (Fear is a strong negative motivating emotion!) Since that person is scared he will commit to a diet and lose a lot of weight, but when he reaches a certain point that is safe for him and there’s no threat on his health anymore, he will lose that motivation and settle there. Which is fine, negative motivation has done a good job saving him from a heart disease. But he’s still not in the optimal shape! Maybe not aesthetically, he ultimately craves that aesthetic shape. But he just cannot find the motivation to attain it. And that’s where he settles for his current shape.
You see, negative motivation has been around since ever, it’s a survival device. It’s the old common motivation. We come across it all the time, when someone losses his job he’ll go frantic searching for another one and working himself out to find another source of income, But the moment that person crosses the danger line, and lands a job, that motivation suddenly vanishes, the person settles back into his comfort zone unmotivated.
Almost everyone is driven by this sort of motivation, which is why almost everyone is mediocre. If you don’t want to be mediocre and average, control your emotions, so you can control the kind of motivation that drives you.
2 Positive motivation: This is the sublime sort of it. The sort that high-achievers and high-performers possess. People who are unstoppable and top-notch in their field are always motivated positively. This is not a primitive desire. It doesn’t stem from negative emotions or fight-or-flight situations. It stems from many evolutionary emotions, that if you learn how to experience them, you will be motivated by it.
Let’s take a look at the same example about the person who’s overweight but considering that he’s motivated positively rather than negatively. So, he realizes that his health is not stable. He doesn’t like being hindered by illness, he definitely doesn’t like what he sees in the mirror, and he wants to become a better person. He sets about losing weight, just like in the former example. Yet, when he crosses the danger line and his health is more stable, he doesn’t stop, he keeps going forward because he is driven by something other than fear. He’s driven by achievement. He doesn’t accept to plateau! And continues until he reaches an excellent physical state. Where he can feel unhindered and satisfied with his abilities and appearance.
So, positive motivation is the new level or the upgrade of the negative one. It’s what makes us flourish as humans, seeking excellence. And never settle for mediocracy.