The Problem with Using Fear as Fuel
Catholic psychologist Conrad Baars calls emotions “motors of action.” The common phrase, “I didn’t feel like doing X,” is a testament to how powerfully emotions influence our behavior. If we don’t feel like doing something, often we don’t follow through. And vice versa. When we feel like doing something, it is much easier to finish a task.
To be clear, I am not saying that emotions determine our actions completely. I want to advocate for practicing ever-greater ownership of our emotions. A first step toward this is to notice and acknowledge what we are feeling. If we can’t name what we are feeling, we might be blind to how this emotion is impacting our behavior.
Along with being aware of what we are feeling, we can also practice creating emotions that serve our purposes. For example, we might stand in a superman pose to increase confidence before an interview (research supports that this works). Another way to steward our emotions is to practice focusing on our breathing to increase clarity and focus before diving into a project.
I learned this latter practice and many other ways to steward my emotions in an excellent program called Optimal Work. One recent lesson described the problem with using fear as fuel to motivate ourselves.
Fear-based performance comes with “a constant sense of mental threat,” which “eventually burns people out.” Fear is an emotion that signals danger. It gets us to flee when we are under attack. When our primary motivation for getting things done is the fear of what might happen if we don’t finish, it is no wonder that we burn out. We experience our lives as if we were being attacked from a thousand different directions.
Fortunately, fear is not our only option. We can also use love as a motivator, viewing our work and commitments as opportunities to do good for others and for ourselves. This week, I invite you to examine what you use to fuel your actions:
What is the primary fuel I use to motivate myself? Where do I use fear? How well is that working? What would change if I used love as my fuel instead?
God bless,
Dan