Being Motivated by Your Fears

It is undeniable that people are motivated by many different things, yet fear is one of the most powerful motivators there is. Fear is the natural instinct that helped humans through their evolution. Today, people don’t have to live with ancient threats such as large animals but fear keeps humans moving forward in life. In life nothing makes people more uncomfortable than fear, we have so many fears; fear of pain, fear of disease, fear of failure, fear of change. Fear can be a strong motivator both positively and negatively, it makes people choose between fight or flight.

Not only has fear saved people from predators and disasters, but we have also learned to use fear against others for our own gain. Dictators use threats to make followers obey them. Fear is even more powerful if it used against followers in religions. Many religions profess the goodness of one God or multiple Gods, but fear is used as a motivator, the fear of hell makes many worship faithfully. We may even doubt that hell exists but fear makes us not take any chances and follow the church’s.

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Fear is a powerful motivator that is not only used by religious leaders but also by politicians, especially during campaigns. Without a doubt, fear is used in negative advertising. Negative advertising is used to make people fear what the other politician plans to do. The outcome if you vote for the wrong party or chose the opposite person makes you fear voting for someone else. The same is used by markets especially on weight control pills and diets. Fear motivates people far more than negative advertising. While the promises are rarely kept, people who use fear against others believe such advertisements work better.

Fear can be used to motivate employees to sell more or make more or get fired, fear can be used to motivate students to work better or face consequences. Fear can be utilized to promote healthy eating habits. Fear motivates someone to eat better and exercise. If the doctor says you will have a heart attack if you don’t exercise and eat better. Overall fear of premature death makes one lose the battle to temporary comfort and convenience such a junk food.

Fear is an important emotion that pushes people into the option of fight or flight. Nevertheless if misused then fear can be dangerous. We have the ability to use our rationality to avoid negative fear responses by recognizing when we are pushed into speculations that push us to conform to dictating leaders, religious and political ideas. Fear as an emotion has been the greatest surviving factor but it should not to be misused.

Works Cited

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