Once you understand that all choices we as humans make are driven by 2 factors, using that information to motivate yourself and others to action will become infinitely easier.
I would also like to take this opportunity to let all my readers know that I do not know what you are going through right now. Only you know the challenges that you face and whether or not you believe that you can overcome them.
Maybe in some regard you may have felt that I made light of what you may be going through right now, or things that may have happened in your past – if this is the case, I will attempt to show greater empathy with what you are feeling right now.
Do you ride a bicycle? If you do you will probably know how easy it is, indeed it something you could never really forget how to do. Well not everyone can, as was pointed out to me recently.
And there are some people who are trying to learn how to ride, and like my little one right now, they find it very difficult. I know how difficult it can be to convince someone that something they have never done before is easy – so if I have made that assumption about you – I truly am sorry.
Let me ask you to take a leap of faith. Just as riding a bike is easy, once you know how, so is getting rich in Ireland – Once you know how!
Can you imagine what being rich would mean to you? It would be great to reach your goals and fulfil your dreams and aspirations – wouldn't it?
What are the twin peaks of motivation?
With all of us, two things seem to drive most of our actions. The first is engaging in activities that please us. The second is avoiding activities that cause us pain.
While you are sitting here reading this, I would like you to ask yourself what caused you to read this article, beyond curiosity?
Why would you want to be rich, is it to have lots of what you desire or is it to avoid living in a situation that you hate? Why did you come to Ireland , what were you looking for? Did you get it yet? Do you think you will?
The answers to all of the questions give us insights into what motivates us. If you were one of my clients I could also pick up on the tone of your voice and your body language to help me understand what you really mean.
Don't worry if you don't fully know what it is you want or why you want it. I have some friends who are multi-millionaires and are still looking for fulfilment in their lives.
On the other hand I know people who have no money are in debt to their eyeballs yet they seem to relish everything that life throws at them with a smile and a shrug.
When you got up this morning, what were you feeling? Can you remember? If you have a moment, please get a piece of paper and write it down. Now look at it and ask your self what you believe caused that feeling.
Let me give you an example – some of you may have been thinking about work? Do you enjoy your current job? Let me assume for a moment that you don't like it – then which of these two reasons is the closest to why you don't like what you are doing. - You don't like what you are doing, because you have much better qualifications than the job demands and you believe you are not even scratching the surface of your true potential.
- You don't like it because it is a real drag, the hours are lousy and the pay is worse and you just wish there was anything, just anything that you could do that was different.
On the other hand, let's assume that you are in the enviable position of really liking your job, which of the following two reasons would be the nearest to how you feel. However before you answer there may be a small percentage of you who may not like your job, but will still find ways to enjoy what you do – so you may also pick one of these two as well. - I really enjoy my job because it is fulfilling and I feel that I am learning new and interesting things everyday that brings me closer to my dreams.
- I enjoy my job, because it gives me enough money so that I don't have to live with the hardship that I had to suffer before, since I never want my family or I to go through that again.
So are you a person who is motivated more by your desires and in achieving pleasure or are motivated by leaving hardship behind and avoiding pain?
In each of the two examples, you will probably have noticed that the first in each is more about moving towards to what you want while the second is about moving away from what you don't want.
How to use the twin peaks to motivate your self.
In reality we are all motivated both my moving towards pleasure and from moving away from pain. However most people and you probably are one of them, favour one of the two in most situations.
So which are you? Do you move towards what you want or do you move away from things that you don't want.
If I were looking to find out which mode of motivation you favour, I would probably ask you a questions such as; “what do you look for in a car?” Interestingly enough that question can work in a most situations, along with “what do you look for in a house” and “what do you look for in a relationship.
The answers that you come up with will give you a very good idea as to whether you are a, “moving towards pleasure” or “moving away from and avoiding pain”, type person.
If you are a moving towards pleasure type person you may wish to emphasize the looks, time from 0-60, the power of the engine, the make etc.
But what if you were looking for reliability, a car that is safe, and has low fuel consumption? Maybe then that would mean you would be a person who wants to avoid the pain of breakdowns, the danger in a collision and the high cost of fuel!
I had been speaking about this with a colleague, who already knew how this question worked and what the answers meant and this person wanted to convince me that they were a moving towards pleasure type person.
She told me that one of the features that she looked for in her new car was electric windows. “Oh really I replied and why did you want them?” – she replied “Because I hated having to lean over and manually wind down the passenger window when asking for directions”.
As I said nothing and just looked at her, her next response was a string of curses as she realised that her true answer, moving away from the pain of winding down windows, actually identified her as a moving away from pain person, primarily.
I would like to strongly emphasise at this point however, that there is no right or wrong. You are as you are!
People's motivations can tend to change over time as our bank of experiences builds up and in some cases, serious disappointment or trauma can change your way of thinking. Luckily in many instances achieving your originally stated goals can leave you with a very different perspective.
A good example of this might be someone who really wanted to get promoted to a manager position to avoid having to take orders from others. Then as they grew into the role, they may have discovered that they actually enjoyed being a leader and helping other people and then started to look for a career or opportunity that enabled them to fulfil that hidden talent and motivation.
Not knowing what you truly want or why you want it can be a huge factor in many people dissatisfaction with what they have.
How to use the twin peaks to motivate others.
It is important to realise as I mentioned earlier that we are not all the same. In fact while there are indeed many other factors that a person will use to make a decision to do something, the twin peaks are probably the most powerful as they come from our basic human instincts of survival.
Take for example how you might feel if I was to offer you a round the world trip all expenses paid – would you jump at it? Some of you will and some of you might well be hesitant and ask questions like, how would we travel, would it be safe, how long will I be away from etc.
Let's assume for a minute that you really want it – however what if I were then to tell you that before you go on this trip you must pick up a small beautiful robin and as it sweetly sings it's delightful song, you must slowly rip its wings off!
Now your motivations could really be tested – and oh yes, for all you guys who didn't want to go on the trip, well if you want to avoid the trip then you must rip off the robin's wings to stay on terra firma!
Want to try this on a few friends, you will be amazed at the diversity of reactions and before anyone calls the “Society for prevention of Cruelty to Robins” I am NOT suggesting that you do this for real!
What this will tell you is that their peak of motivations may well be different that yours.
Just because you like to eat strawberries and cream, I would not recommend that you put a strawberry on the end of a hook when you go fishing – fish like worms a bit better, normally!
So before you motivate anyone, including yourself, it is important to know how they can be motivated.
Whatever your definition of wealth, I would like to wish you the very best in your journey to achieving it. Just please ensure that you enjoy the journey!
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