Helping Creative People Create

Fear Drives Us To Work

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fear drives us to work

There is a post on Found | Read that chronicles an entrepreneur who is so busy he doesn’t even make time for lunch.  His idea of a vacation is to do a round-the-world conference circuit so he can actually get out of the office.  This guy sounds like a go-getter on steroids.  It’s this “work is life” mentality that has allowed him to succeed as an entrepreneur (so the article says).

When asked as to what makes him push himself to past the limit every day, he responds with an honest truth.

“I can’t slow down. I can’t, because the truth is, I’m terrified of failing.”

Whenever your work is driven by fear, you’re not really happy.  No matter what you try to mask it with. It doesn’t sound like he’s enjoying his successes, because he doesn’t have enough time.  If he doesn’t have enough time for dinner, I doubt he has a wife, family, let alone much human interaction outside of work.

Here’s the worst part of all: If he slowed down to a manageable pace and worked smarter and not harder, he’d probably have the same, if not more, success. And he could have a personal life.

While the article goes on to say that fear is actually a good thing for success, which is pretty tragic in itself.

It’s like a gift. The ultimate motivator.

Fear is never used for good, at least in the long run.

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  • http://taoofjoe.com Joe Tao

    Hi Glen,

    First time here. I agree. Fear as strength is a dismal mantra. At its most primal, fear is solely a reactionary defensive mechanism and cannot possibly bring about happiness in life. To live with awareness and experience joy in each and every thing, that is where it is at for this man. I can be very energetic and filled with enthusiasm as I work in an arena that I am passionate about, say blogging, and fear is the furthest thing from my mind. Not to say I never experience fear, just I would hate to live with it as my primary motivater.

    cela – Joe Tao

  • http://360.yahoo.com/nxqd_3051990 Nxqd3051990

    Amazing trick, i’ll keep it in my head ;)
    nXqd

  • http://www.howtowakeupearly.com/why.aspx Rise Early

    As Tony Robbins wrote, every person on the planet is driven by 2 forces – the need to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. First thing is FEAR that you wrote about. Second is rewards we put ahead of ourselves.
    Thanks for the post!

  • http://www.aknobforbrightness.com Greg

    Not sure I agree with this in all cases. Tony Robbins never did Ironman. Recognizing pain, and working through it, distinguishing it from injury and even embracing it is what IM training does. Fear of failure, fear of not finishing the race, and fear of your competition can also motivate a triathlete.

    The effort put into training (which produces pain) allows one to collect the reward of racing (which produces more pain) but is transferred into a pleasurable experience by the attainment of a goal.

    Why do we always equate work with financial rewards? Why do we assume that the go-getter-on-steroids is out for financial gain and not a simply running for a different goal?

  • http://reflectionscoaching.typepad.com/ David B. Bohl

    Fred Kofman once said: “At some point in your life you might change. You might realize “Wait a minute! I’m not empty. I’m full. I am more than full. I am overflowing with fullness and freedom.” Then, you leave fear and you enter love. Now your life becomes a quest to express that fullness and that freedom. Now you are not looking to fill yourself up by achieving something. You are actually looking for ways in which you can express the fullness and freedom that you already are. You don’t work to make money, although money is part of the deal; you work to express your creative potential in the service of others. That’s when you do your best work.”

  • glen

    Interesting.

  • http://taoofjoe.com Joe Tao

    On the subject of pain – Sitting a week long formal zen sesshin is about the most painful situation I have put myself in repeatedly. It is there that I have learned the most about my life. And yes, I have sometimes made it thru a tough one because I feared the alternative, to run from myself and by proxy, reality.

    The truth will set you free to do whatever your heart desires. A little different than Tony Robbins but I like it and it works well for me.