Failure avoidance motivation, like success-oriented motivation, promotes the achievement of results, but the quality of those results, the methods of achieving them, and the human experience in the two cases are significantly different. In this article, we will discuss five steps that will help you not only stop avoiding failure, but also teach you how to look forward by targeting success!
What is failure avoidance motivation?
Failure avoidance motivation is characterized by a fear of responsibility for decisions, which manifests itself in a person's choice of tasks. Such a person is usually inclined to choose routes with either a minimal risk of failure or a particularly high chance of a negative outcome in order to protect his or her dignity and prestige.
On the one hand, this motivation is somewhat conducive to achieving results, but it is extremely difficult to achieve real, notable successes with it. With this in mind, let's move on to step one.
- Determine what type of motivation prevails in you. T. Ehlers test will help you with it, it is specially developed by a psychologist to study motivational propensities. This test will help you not only understand your motivation, but also identify the presence of "false alarms". We recommend looking for ways to pinpoint a problem before jumping to a solution in any situation.
- Ask yourself the question, "Why should I try to change myself?". Aside from the obvious downsides, the desire to avoid failure has its own significant upsides. For example, an inventive approach to problem solving can stimulate your creativity. Consider, for example, students who avoid academic failure by saving time to prepare for exams in favor of something more important. This is the kind of failure avoidance that characterizes many students.
- If you do decide to change the basis of your actions, try visualizing your desired future. Write down your personal goals, describing them as vividly and colorfully as they appear to you. Goals that are written with such vividness will motivate you to achieve them with more desire.
- Another technique that can be used in conjunction with the others is to separate yourself from the effects of "failure" by reducing its importance. Find an activity that you enjoy purely for the sake of the process and make it your hobby. Engage in it without demanding results from yourself, just enjoying the process. You may eventually want to earn money from your hobby, start teaching, or otherwise turn it from a hobby into a job. But until then, allow yourself to fully enjoy the activity without fear of failure.
- The final step is to develop discipline. Although motivation pushes you to action, self-control is most effective. Set goals, develop plans to achieve them, and monitor them closely. Self-discipline has a much greater impact than simple motivation.
