firm against the wind, or are you frail and easily bent? What kind of tree do you want to be?
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Hope and fear are two highly motivating factors. Which one rules your life?
Does fear motivate most of your decisions? It is an instinctual response to certain situations. If you are in a physically dangerous situation, then fear is a great natural response. For example, if a mugger tries to attack you, your fear instinct might help you to fight back or run faster than you ever have before. That primal intuition is valuable in fight or flight situations.
What about internal fears? Do you allow your mental fears to motivate your actions? Fear is useful if you’re being chased by a bear, but it might cause you to lapse into inaction when less-obvious factors are involved. What are your fears? List them in your journal today. Do you fear being promoted to a job where you have more responsibility? Do you fear talking in front of other people? Name your fears today.
Now let’s turn to hope. How does hope work in your life? Does it motivate you? What are you hopeful about today? Some people think of hope as a sort of vague idea, but it can be a very concrete reason to take action. What are your hopes? Do you hope you can find a new job? Do you hope that your kids will grow up safe and happy?
Look at your lists of hopes and fears, and work on crossing fears off your list and adding to your list of hopes. Hope has amazing power to motivate people. It is a positive force in this world that should not be underestimated. Fear is useful at times, too, but it should not be overestimated.
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Yesterday you considered fear and hope as motivating factors in your life. What are your other motives? A motive is anything that causes you to take action. Motives can be noble; they can be pure; they can also be sneaky, underhanded, or selfish. Someone may have questionable motives, and that means that they probably aren’t taking action for the right reasons.
What are your motives for obtaining success? Are your motives selfish, or are they noble? When you complimented your boss on his tie this morning, what were your motives? When you got up to grab a midnight snack after everyone else in the house went to sleep, what were your motives then? Sometimes very noble actions come out of very underhanded motives. It might not matter what the original motives were if the result is a positive contribution to the world.
What are your thoughts on motives? Do you strive to have pure motives, or do you want to get things done any way you can? Do you care if greed, selfishness, or fame is a motivating factor in achieving success? Or do you think impure motives somehow taint the final prize?
Motives are very interesting, because they are not always clear even to the person taking action. Think about your motives behind achieving success. Try to be as truthful as possible when you write in your journal about motives today.
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Anita didn’t care if she lied, cheated, or stole to get to the top. She was completely focused on achieving success at any cost. Her single-mindedness left many broken relationships in its wake, but she didn’t care. Anita knew that once she was a success, no one would remember her motives. She would have everything, and she would be loved for her achievements.
She was wrong. Anita did achieve success, but when she reached the top of the mountain, she was all alone. People didn’t want to come anywhere near her, because she had turned into a pretty hateful person as she clawed her way to the top. Anita’s motives had not been the least bit honorable. She forgot that she could not use the people around her as opportunities for advancement. She needed to cultivate relationships and find ways to contribute positively to the lives of others rather than only taking what she could get from them.
