Some people are motivated more by
doing things, whilst others are motivated more by avoiding things.
Attraction
People who are driven towards doing
things tend to have positive goals and seek to achieve specific things. They
are forward-looking and see the world as being full of opportunity. They
generally have a passion and desire to succeed in order to gain either specific
rewards or general recognition. To achieve this, they are more open and ready
to explore new experiences.
They focus is largely on the future
and when they have achieved something they may even forget about it in the
headlong charge into further challenges.
Some people have problems with this
in that they are attracted to too many things. They dart from one opportunity
to another, seeking gratification all over the place. They may be looking for
something and they may not yet know what they want.
Avoidance
Those who are driven to avoid things
something look like they are attracted to the things they are actually doing,
but they are actually looking more over their shoulder than in front of them.
For example people who are very energetic at work may be driven more by a worry
about failure or criticism than by an attraction towards achievement.
Those who are avoidance-driven focus
more by their fears than their desires (which may well be fears in disguise).
They may also be more prone to disgust. They may well also be more closed to
the world, avoiding problems simply by keeping the doors to their world closed.
Avoidance can be a high-stress
preference. We may be generally driven by attraction when things are going
well, but when we are threatened or otherwise experience high levels of stress,
we may use an avoidance strategy to get away from that discomfort.
A problem with avoidance when
compared to attraction is that there are many directions in which to run away
from something, yet only one way you can run towards something. Motivating a
person by triggering avoidance is not necessarily a helpful approach.
Attraction and avoidance are related
to the fight-or-flight response, where attraction and fighting lead to moving
towards a target, while avoidance and flight are about moving away from it. The
major difference is that fight and flight are immediate and unthinking
reactions to threat. Attraction and avoidance often have cognitive elements and
may well be both slower and more persistent over time.
In a similar way, attraction and
avoidance are related to pleasure and pain. In particular, we are attracted to
pleasurable activities and avoid painful experiences.
Therefore:
For those who are driven by
attraction, seek their passions and lay opportunity in their path. They will
swoop towards what you are offering.
For those driven by avoidance, point
out the problems of the past and the dangers of the present. Show them a future
where they can at least avoid the worst of the problems they face.
When you have a choice, be a
shepherd. A sheep runs in any direction to get away from a sheepdog, making it
work extra hard, whilst it runs towards the shepherd who stands in one place
and calls them.
TJ
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