The High Achievement Motivation:
A Tale of Two Motivations

There are essentially two types of changes that can take our lives in a more positive direction: the one that can move us from bad to good (b2g), and the one that can take us from good to great (g2G) or the self-actualization motivation:

From bad to good (b2g):

For many, when thinking of making a 'positive change', this is what’s usually implied. Whether in the domain of our health, our relationships, or our careers, most are looking at making a change only when things get so bad that they are forced to seek something better. Until then, the negatives are justified away and are seen as but a ‘necessary evil’. Where possible, the pain is masked.

It is a natural universal law that negative causes bring about negative effects. Their purpose is to help correct behavior towards the good. Pain or suffering that comes from negative choices, is a mechanism that is there to ensure survival. It's like a temperature gage.

In certain cases for example, there are conditions where people are born without the neurological condition of being able to feel physical pain. While this may sound like a desirable scenario, it's actually a life-threatening handicap. Insensitivity to heat and cold, to irritations and sharp things, can mean engaging in very harmful activities, without even knowing.

This same principle works equally in the mental domain - i.e. certain ways of using our mind also brings about pain or the state of being known as 'suffering'. The fact that we suffer emotionally is not a 'genetic mistake'. It is an inbuilt mental mechanism to let us know that certain ways of thinking is like playing with fire. Hold on to these habitual thoughts and they will burn you.

While this may sound like common sense, we don't need to look very far to realize that it's not that common. Many would prefer to hold on to 'fiery thoughts', and somehow get science to heal the wounds they cause, faster. Instead of listening to our inner signals, instead of positively working with the subtle cause-effect of our whole mind-body dynamic - we would rather develop better bandages and pain-relievers.

Recently I happened to catch a comedian jeering a famous actor for his comments on modern psychiatry and its dependence on drugs to treat depression without addressing the underlying causes. As he saw it, ‘what’s wrong with that?' - for the symptoms of depression is depression: i.e. a chemical imbalance which just needs correction. This is almost to say that the cause of depression is but a deficiency in Prozac.

For many, just removing the symptoms seems to be good enough. This is to be understood, for largely speaking, that is exactly how the human health sciences like psychology or medicine have developed – to take people away from the ‘bad’ patterns and help them be ‘normal’ - that is, in having no obvious ‘symptoms’ of illness.

Not that this is inherently 'wrong', but since the goal is to lift one high enough to a level of ‘no symptoms’, this change can easily take the form of superficial answers or things that can be ‘cosmetically fixed’. For as long as creating the appearance of normalcy is the main criteria, why not just seek the shortest route?

Unfortunately, most solutions formed from this reactive motivation are all too prevalent. It can be observed across all our physical, social, mental dimensions.

The b2g-motivation of bad to 'no symptoms' means that movement toward the good, is but a reaction caused by pain; and when there is no pain, we slide back into negative patterns again... only to yo-yo again and again, between these two states.

From good to Great (g2G):

The movement from good to Great, requires a different mindset, a fundamentally different kind of motivation. Unlike the b2g-motivation, this is not a motivation driven to fix a deficiency, but an inspirational intention to create a competency - a certain positive quality of being.

g2G-motivation is not a reaction to the pain that is present, but in proactively embracing higher pleasures. It’s not even about filling a lack, but in expanding our real potential - in actualizing our full identity.

It’s not that the b2g-motivation is 'wrong', but it is insufficient to motivate us to a higher level of existence. Yes, b2g can sometimes be essential in establishing a certain level of order to begin with, in putting out a burning fire - but it will certainly not bring anyone remotely close to their full potential. While b2g is based on reaction to external forces, g2G is based on the free choice for values.

The highest good is not to seek to do good,
but to allow yourself to become it.
The ordinary person seeks to do good things,
and finds that they can not do them continually.
Lao Tzu

When working with b2g-motivation in the area of our health for example, the solution can be just to create the appearance of health - like in having no visible symptoms of illness and reaching a state of ‘the average’...

But to move from good to Great,
means creation by design.

If we apply g2G-motivation in the area of health, the g2G-focus is not on removing symptoms - but what is the highest level of health possible for me? how can I reach the peaks of my physical vitality? how can I reverence life more?

Just the same, in our relationships the focus is not merely on learning how to stop fighting or solving disagreements and co-existing - but how can we create greater love together? deeper connection? greater intimacy?

In our careers, the question is not just on how to make money and survive – but one of ‘survival for what?’ What is the very end that we are working for? What is our legacy here? Who am I being in the process?

g2G-motivation is all about the positive expression of our Genius – our authentic self: as spiritual beings having a human experience.

This is the aspiration for self-actualization. And what is most remarkable about this self-actualization aspiration is that it can bring about both greatness and simultaneously lift us above suffering – if we choose it.

This is an integral solution. It is the secret that Jesus expressed in the maxim:
‘Seek first the way of heaven, and all else, shall be added.

Next Article:
An Integrated Motivation Theory:
Researching the motivation psychology of the Greats