Psychology, sociology, and business experts study motivation, a complex topic. Fundamentally, motivation shares striking similarities with sales, with the key elements of a successful sale lying in understanding the customer’s pain points and catering to their social status.
Motivation is what drives us to take action and achieve our goals. It is why we get out of bed in the morning and keep going when things get tough. But what is motivation exactly?
Pain
The biggest motivator in any person’s life is pain. Pain can be a powerful motivator because it is an unpleasant experience we want to avoid. Motivation driven by pain includes fear of loss, rejection, the unknown, failure, and change.
For instance, if someone has lost their job in the past, they might use the pain of that experience as motivation to change their life so that they never have to experience that pain again1. This fear can motivate them to work harder and be more productive to keep their job.
A cancer diagnosis can have a substantial impact on mental health and well-being. Depression and anxiety may hinder cancer treatment, recovery, quality of life, and survival. However, some people use the pain of their diagnosis as motivation to fight the disease. They might use their diagnosis to make lifestyle changes to improve their health or seek new treatments or clinical trials.
This is what Ray Edwards, author of the book “Read This or Die!” writes about his reaction to getting the Parkinson’s diagnosis at only 46 years old:
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