How to Achieve Greatness
Bridget Knight
Team Lead | Mentoring & Supporting | Skilled in Communication, Relationship Building, Presenting, Facilitation, & Coaching
Some people are driven by negative motivation, which means they will only make a decision when they have no other choice, and they need to feel the pain in order to make the decision. This is a short-term solution to fix a problem. When you are driven by positive motivation you are creating a long-term vision. Let’s take weight as an example, if you envision yourself to be healthy, and have lots of energy, then you are positively driven to lose weight, whereas if you are negatively motivated, you just want to solve the immediate problem and your weight will continue to fluctuate because willpower alone is not be enough to keep you motivated. Knowing you need to lose weight is not enough of a reason.
When you are coming from negative motivation, you are irrational, and not fully motivated, which means you are unwilling to do the work, and accept the pain, and you would rather stay on the path that gives you the least pain. Greatness never come without pain. With positive motivation you are inspired by your vision, which is connected to your values, which in turn gives you amazing results. Having a vision fuels you in a positive way and gets you through the challenging times, it is the biggest difference between being positively or negatively motivated. It's impossible to achieve greatness if you are reactive and not proactive.
Without a vision you will stagnate and not achieve the things you really want. Your vision will help you build something big; it’s not just about survival. You need drive and energy to reach massive success. Things always start out as an idea. When you are faced with challenges, you won’t be able to overcome them just with a problem-solving mindset. You need to focus on the bigger picture. Focus on what you really want and not on what you don’t want, because this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you focus on your problems you become a victim and remain unmotivated to move forward.
Adversity is part of the process and you need to be opportunistic. A vision will take you through the tough times and give you a strong enough reason to stay committed, it will get you through the pain. Negative motivation makes you negative, and it won’t take you to excellence because you will resent doing the things you have to do, to get you to where you want to go.