All human motivation generally reduces to two emotions desire for a better future and fear of a worse one. When it comes to influence, both emotions are powerful catalysts for action, but influence is most impactful when our messages carry elements of both.
Self Authoring
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson has become a household name in many circles in recent months. The once obscure professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto has gained substantial notoriety by challenging a number of prevailing beliefs many people hold. But before then, Dr. Peterson had made amazingly positive impacts with a number of individuals through counseling. For years, he has facilitated a personal development program he calls self-authoring, where people develop plans to structure their lives and develop a list of goals.
A central feature of his program occurs when he provides opportunities for participants to speculate about one’s life in the future by playing out two scenarios—a personal heaven, when one makes the most of one’s gifts and virtues and harnesses the greatness that exists in everyone, and a personal hell, where one has surrendered to personal demons and vices. Peterson has the participants describe what life looks like for each scenario. On the positive side, people wake up refreshed, happy, and ready to make positive progress that leads to long term fulfillment. When examining the negative, participants look around to see personal dysfunction, ruined personal relationships, and plagued by pathologies of one’s own making.
Peterson’s self-authoring program makes use of both elements of desire for the positive and fear of the negative. Participants often report the self-authoring program as a life changing event, where people get things figured out and take the long deferred steps to take control of their lives.
Mastering Motivation Using Fear and Desire
As an Influencer, we strive to motivate others. We often find it’s a hard hill to climb. Much of life conditions us to not believe in personal power. Because we don’t believe that change is possible, we keep from trying. If we can just get people to decide to move, momentum can start to build. The first step is the hardest one to get people to take. The use of desire and fear in our messages, gives people an attractive force to draw them and a repulsive force to run from. When aligned, it is possible to reach even the most cynical people.
I believe that every cynical exterior hides an idealist who wants a reason to believe. Let’s give him one.
