I like to look at everything in life as primarily having two sides that exist to improve the other.
The concept of balance suggests even distribution and when one thinks about the idea, there's possibly a dominant picture of two sides of something, holding equal weight to maintain balance.
When people want to make big changes in their life, they often look to the rewards of making those changes, to draw motivation from.
I have wanted to make a lot of big changes in my life and I'll tell you for free, the changes I did make weren't reward-driven.
This wasn't because of some morality, proper behavior doesn't have enough fuel to drive most people to making the biggest of changes in their lives.
I was 16 when I first took a long trip away from a home, and the motivation wasn't some reward.
It was quite the opposite.
It was fear of cost: how much loss would I take on if I didn't make that trip.
It was also fear of hurt: what pain would come if I did not take that trip.
Both of these motivations make up a risk factor that pushed me to make that trip.
You might not understand this as my communication of this past event is vague and that's okay.
A detailed recount of the event isn't very important for me to get my message across.
So I'll say this:
If you want to make big, lasting changes, you are going to need more than a motivation of a reward.
I have seen myself think that if I had more resources, I'd do a number of things, then a time comes that I do have the resources but don't do those things.
The reason is simple: I have always looked at what the rewards of doing those things would be and it just wasn't enough.
In some cases, the rewards might be monetary, and the resources needed is also money, you'll find that when the resources come along, the rewards of committing to what needed to be done will no longer be a source of motivation.
Fear of cost and hurt is a lot more effective.
I said earlier that I like to look at everything in life as primarily having two sides that exist to improve the other.
Fear of cost and hurt, being the risk factors, is the second side that improves the motivation of rewards.
If one can approach change by acknowledging the risks of not making it, then the rewards become more appealing.
If we can see what we stand to lose or the pain that awaits if we continue in a path, avoiding a change, that fresh perspective will be a stronger source of motivation.
We are humans, we don't like to lose and definitely hate to feel hurt. If it is frightening enough, we will make that lasting change.
We just have to seek out the risk factor that breaks us out of the comfort place of inaction.
Image credit: Darya Luganskaya | Unsplash