When it comes to motivation in life and at work, I’m all in favor of fear.
Productive fear, that is.
Next post I’ll explain destructive fear. And there’s certainly a lot of it out there.
But this post is about the fear that helps us perform our best, the terrific terror that compels us forward, the constructive consternation that inspires peak performance.
Okay, maybe that’s overstating. But too many decry the power of fear in one fell swoop. They steer clear of all fear, including productive fear. They throw baby out with bathwater.
I’m suggesting we bring fear-baby back inside.
So what is constructive fear? Motivation researchers and neuroscientists agree that “the right kind of fear” that improves our performance is “reality-consequence” fear. Reality-consequence fear acknowledges the real-world consequences that follow our choices. Not consequences from people. Consequences from reality, meaning, if we don’t make the sale, we won’t get paid. If we don’t file our taxes, we’ll get a penalty. If we don’t get the harvest in by next week, the rain will ruin our crops. Real-world consequences that automatically follow choices.
Not just negative consequences. Positive consequences too. If we make the sale, we’ll get the commission. And we don’t want to lose that potential commission. There’s potential around us. If we don’t act, we won’t realize that potential. So we act in a healthy, productive fear. We’re highly motivated by the make-or-break reality of choice and consequence all around us, every moment of our lives.
“These two sets of reality consequences,” writes clinical psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud, “the promise of positive outcomes and the fear of losing something of value – are among the most fundamental drivers of human performance.”1
So I give a hearty “Here, here” to productive fear.
1Dr. Henry Cloud, Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously In Charge (New York: Harper Business, 2013), p. 65-70.
