Motivation comes to people in many ways, sometimes based on circumstances or events, but there are two primary motivators that impact our decision making every day throughout our lives. These two motivators inspire us to change, or at the least, alter our perceptions of people, events and circumstances.

There are two things that will motivate people to change:

1.       Pain

2.       Pleasure

I am not sure whether one motivator is more powerful than the other because it is based on each person’s experience and the circumstance that creates either the pain or the pleasure. For me, it was the pain of losing a friend (Bill Hyndman) that motivated me to an awakening about how precious life is and that I shall be grateful for each day. His passing touched hundreds of people who knew him, but was anyone else motivated to change their thoughts, feelings or actions as well? I shall never know, but I sure hope so.

Change is hard for humans, so we will resist change. Change requires action, so it is far easier to not change. One of the reasons we resist change is simply the fear of the unknown. Not knowing the path we may have to take in our change, or worse yet, not knowing the outcome and how it might impact us is scary. Humans will find almost any reason to avoid risk; often times by creating stories in their head that aren’t even true. I don’t think there is a better salesperson than a person challenged by the question as to whether they should change or not. They will work very hard at selling themselves out of the idea, and most will succeed. The interesting thing is, if we lack answers to our questions or if we are void of information, most people tend to fill the void with negative information (a negative story).  This is one of the reasons why so many people will never achieve their desires: it’s not for the lack of talent or resources, but the stories they create in their head that keep them from taking action.

When it comes to achieving your desires, taking action becomes more probable as the rate of perceived pain or pleasure increases. The more you feel the pain, the greater level of importance you will attach to your desire. The same is true for pleasure, because the more pleasure you anticipate, the greater level of importance you will attach to your desire. As the perceived pain and pleasure increase (whether it is real or not is unimportant), so does the level of desire. What are your desires and how important are they to you? All of this and more is in my newest book titled: Simple Steps to an Extraordinary Career & life, which is available at my store.

Brad Worthley is an internationally acclaimed expert in customer service, leadership and motivation. He has written three books on those subjects and trained hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. You can learn more about Brad or purchase his books and DVDs at www.BradWorthley.com

Brad Worthley is an accomplished consultant and behavior change specialist with over 37 years of service culture, personal development and leadership development experience. Share: