Motivation in its simplest form is the force that compels someone to do something – it’s what factors drive a person’s actions.
Usually, these decisions are informed by the need to avoid an unwanted outcome or the desire to attain a favourable result. This in a nutshell is the distinction between push and pull motivation factors.
Push motivation is mainly driven by external factors and represents the need to avoid a certain outcome. Push factors often come from negative emotions like fear, desperation, confusion and conflict, and result in an individual wanting to evade something at all costs.
For example, Oprah Winfrey has talked about how she used a childhood marred by poverty and abuse as motivation to help her become one of the most celebrated media personalities and philanthropists on the planet.
Pull motivation, on the other hand, comes from within. It’s driven by internal forces and is informed by a person’s interests, desires, passions and goals. Pull factors often emerge from a place of perceived clarity and positivity and are usually associated with the want to create a favourable or improved environment or situation.
Albert Einstein, for instance, was driven by an immense curiosity about understanding theoretical physics and the laws of the universe. His deep attraction to and passion for the subjects he explored informed his motivation throughout his career.
Push Motivation: Running From the Pain
Being motivated by push factors is generally about the avoidance of, or pushing away from, pain or discomfort. Because of this, it can be regarded in a negative light and is sometimes aligned with pessimistically perceived theories like the fear of failure.
Conversely, pull factors, with their links to desire, vision and achievement, are often viewed more favourably and are regarded as being long-term and sustainable because of their association with intrinsic happiness and goal setting.
There’s a common narrative that you should focus on cultivating a pull motivation mindset, but this should not come at the expense of push motivation factors. The dismissal of push factors has contributed to the development of their negative perception but in reality, external push drivers can be highly effective in certain contexts.
It’s important not to allow your primary motivation to be completely guided by external expectations, and being driven by passion over pressure can be healthy. However, it’s not as simple as disregarding one approach for the other.
Pull Motivation: Running Toward the Vision
Like with many things, the optimal motivation approach depends on the individual. As stated, the attraction-based pull factor approach is often perceived as the superior motivation type, however, the reality is that for most people a mixture of push and pull factors is most effective when pursuing success.
The desire to act to avoid pain or an unpleasant external factor, i.e., push motivation, often creates a formidable force towards action. Humans will go to great lengths to disassociate from suffering and misery. Push factors are therefore powerful initial drivers, often providing the impetus required to make a first move.
Motivation can be most powerfully harnessed when those initial push factors feed into and inform pull factors. What starts as an external pressure can develop into an internal driver for continued and sustained action.
In the case of Oprah, push motivation factors born out of wanting to avoid a previously negative environment may have evolved into pull factors that are driven by her desire and love of helping others and empathetically showcasing her story.
Harnessing the Best of Both
Push motivation factors can be extremely effective in certain contexts and are especially powerful when immediate action is needed. For example, external pressures like deadlines and targets act to create urgency that is formidable when harnessed correctly – i.e. when combined with intrinsic pull factors.
An individual whose motivational factors combine the want to achieve internal goals (pull) with the consciousness of avoiding certain negative outcomes (push) is more likely to possess the ability to embrace challenges, learn from failures and continuously improve.
So when it comes to understanding and maximising your motivational factors, the key is to convert the energy gained from the initial push factors into a vision that is more influenced by pull factors. This approach contributes to the formation and development of a growth mindset whereby meaningful and long-term goals can be achieved.