What drives us?
Based on what we have already learned in the mindset part of this module, we should start to see a clearly defined path from what we think and feel will determine the actions we take (act) and, ultimately, who we become.
We usually have a positive and engaging mindset (thoughts) when motivated. This positive feeling generally encourages us to take positive action. When we consistently take positive action, we start to create a successful, positive momentum; the opposite is also true.
All Human Choices & Behaviour are made to Avoid Pain or Gain Pleasure.
When it comes to motivation and why people do what they do, it comes down to the simple science of pain versus pleasure. In its simplest form, all decisions that human beings make are to either gain pleasure or avoid pain.
Any act can be broken down this way. Why do you brush your teeth? Why would a woman spend precious time applying makeup and teasing her hair before going out? Why would anyone go to the gym daily, exercise and place their body under so much stress?
These actions can be sliced down to an individual trying to attain pleasure and/or avoid the pain that action will bring. It’s all pain and pleasure.
Pain and Pleasure Principle
The pain-pleasure principle, developed by Sigmund Freud, suggests that people make choices to avoid or decrease pain or make choices that create pleasure.
The pain-pleasure principle is the core of all the decisions we make. Beliefs, values, actions, and decisions are built upon this principle.
The principle is the foundation of who we are due to how pain and pleasure are interpreted based on personal past experiences.
We seek pleasure to reward ourselves with immediate gratification. The pain-pleasure principle suggests that while seeking pleasure, people will also seek to avoid pain. For those individuals where conflict is painful, they will do anything to avoid conflict. Allowing a negative situation to continue might be unhealthy and painful, but the thought of dealing with the conflict is far more painful.
The more we understand human behaviour, the more we understand how to motivate or demotivate employees and satisfy customer needs.
People make decisions that gravitate towards pleasure while seeking to avoid pain. The intensity of an individual’s motivation can work against goals and objectives that are trying to be achieved, and it can drive a person to make decisions and choices they usually would not.
All decisions have an impact on short-term pain, short-term pleasure, long-term pain, and long-term pleasure. The intensity and consequence of these choices will determine how an individual will make a decision. The level of discomfort, pain, or pleasure will be the driving force behind each decision.
Pleasure seekers can be motivated if they perceive that they are making a good investment; they have growth opportunities, possible future increases in salary, business growth, or good about themselves. People will take action that drives pleasure now, even if it causes havoc in the future. Not all pleasure-seeking choices can be positive.
Each individual’s perception of the anticipated pain or possible pleasure is a driving factor in the process. Ambiguity and fear of the unknown create the distress that certain actions or choices will lead to pain. There are many theories about motivation, but remember that pain and pleasure are two factors that exist in all of us.
Remember, an individual’s perception is their reality. Are you motivating or demotivating your employees and customers with pain or pleasure?
Pleasure and pain
Whether we like it or not, these are the two drivers in life.
Pain is when… you have challenges in the business; you have setbacks, something is not going to plan, you get angry, upset, depressed, etcetera
Comfort zone – is a phycological state… [read out slide]. Just get a steady level of performance and never attain your potential; you’re always just getting by.
Nothing really excels in the comfort zone.
In the success zone – you have a Growth mindset; you’re willing to put yourself out there and risk failing but constantly learning. Remember, every strength of yours was once a weakness.
Eventually, with a Growth Mindset, you become uncomfortable with being in your comfort zone! You want to push yourself.
The most important thing is to take consistent actions (and if you need to change your strategy, you do so).
Take the focus off the end result and instead focus on the small steps, the small successes that lead you to your goal.
We will go into REAL goals at the end of this module.
The Comfort Zone
This is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person, and they are at ease and (perceive they are) in control of their environment, experiencing low anxiety and stress levels. In this zone, a steady low level of performance is possible.
Within the comfort zone, there isn’t much incentive for people to reach new heights of performance. Here, people go about their business without risk, causing their progress to plateau.
It takes courage to step from the comfort zone into the fear zone.
The BIGGEST benefit of leaving your comfort zone to the modern-day business owner is the creation of a growth mindset or high MQ (we will talk more about MQ in a few minutes)
Without a clear roadmap, there’s no way to build on previous experiences. This can be anxiety-provoking. Yet persevere long enough, and you enter the learning zone, where you gain new skills and deal with challenges resourcefully.
After a learning period, a new comfort zone is created, expanding one’s ability to reach even greater heights. This is what it means to be in the growth zone.
It’s important to state that, like most behavioural change attempts, moving into the growth zone becomes harder without some self-awareness.
Emotion versus Logic
Road rage, workplace violence, random mass shootings, and global terrorism are all events we see on television. We read about them in the news and hope it is not someone we know.
All these events are rooted in the core of someone’s emotions. We try to fight these events with logic in our policies and laws. So who is winning this battle?
Indeed, emotions move people to do completely illogical things.
Haven’t we all done something out of character due to anger or love?
Haven’t we all spent more on a car, justifying the extra spend using logic AFTER the emotional decision to purchase?
In truth, emotions drive more than 80 per cent of our decision-making, while logic makes up the rest. The human brain has a function called the left-brain interpreter. Its job is to make sense of everything that happens so that we can feel like we’re in control. Each of us is an expert at making up reasons for our actions, yet our emotions are the true cause of our actions.
Puzzled? Good. I intend to bring a level of awareness to your intellect to learn to create further understanding within yourself.
So, what exactly are emotions?
Emotions describe the intensity of how the body and mind respond to an event. Events are wrapped in emotions. Emotions are designed to protect us, leading us toward sources of need or away from areas of danger. Emotions are the basic mechanism for making decisions.
Remember when you felt exhausted after the day of work or even before the day was over? Based on logic, there is no reason why you should be tired; you’ve eaten your lunch, and had a good night’s sleep; it just doesn’t make sense.
Yet, this negative energy inside you has drained you of your energy for the day without paying attention to the negative energies in motion within your business or day-to-day activities.
Working to further your emotional intelligence, known as EQ, can literally help you create more success. Since our educational system has a pure focus on intellect, most of us have very little training and education on EQ, which can lead to success in life.