阅读 | Motivation and the fear of

对于一些人来说，对失败的恐惧可以激励自己更加努力；而对于另一些人来说，失败后的过度压力可能会阻止自己继续前进。成功后的兴奋和对失败的恐惧，哪个更能激励我们继续前进？答案似乎没那么简单。本文围绕这个问题展开讨论。

What motivates you to work or study harder? Is it the thought of success and all the amazing things that you can achieve, or is it the fear of failure and worry about all the things that can go wrong for you? Leaders, managers, and teachers have often used one of these ideas to inspire people to work harder and achieve more. But is one better than the other?

A recent study looked at the effect of fear-based strategies on British secondary school students. As is so often the case, it's complicated. They found that if a test is seen as important, and students are optimistic that they can succeed, then the fear of failure can be used successfully by teachers to motivate these learners. However, if students are not confident, then fear-based approaches could trigger feelings of anxiety, which can in turn lead them to do worse on the test then they would have done otherwise. The study also found that if students are disengaged and don't care about the test in the first place, then, unsurprisingly, the fear of failure is not likely to motivate them.

Entrepreneurs often run the risk of failure. It's a fact that most new companies will fail. But does this motivate or inhibit business people? Again, it's not straightforward. The personal consequences of failure can be significant, and so founders may be motivated to work harder to avoid them. A study carried out on British and Canadian entrepreneurs found that fear of failure can improve problem solving, as people are motivated to anticipate and resolve potential issues. They may also be inspired to learn new things that will help their business or find mentors who can support them. However, the study also showed that it can lead to increased procrastination as people focus too much on what they personally fear, rather than what would be best for the business. If someone is less confident about their business idea, then they may find their decision-making negatively affected by their fears.

Taken together, these studies show that fear-based motivation is complicated. It can drive confident people to do better, but it can also amplify our doubts and turn them into barriers.

词汇表

motivate 激励

achieve 做成，达到

inspire 激励

fear-based 基于恐惧的

optimistic 乐观的

confident 有信心的，有把握的

trigger 引发

anxiety 焦虑

disengaged 不感兴趣的，不关心的

run the risk 冒...的危险

inhibit 约束，使...有顾虑

consequence 结果，影响

inspired 受到启发的

mentor （工作中为经验较浅者提供帮助的）导师，指导人

procrastination 拖延

amplify 扩大，加深

doubt 疑虑

barrier 障碍，阻碍