73. Reading Skills Comprehension: Motivation in a Man's Life

Motivation in a Man’s Life

Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow them:

In your quest to become as happy and fulfilled in your life as you choose to be, you can be motivated by two types of need. The more common form of motivation is called imperfection or deficiency motivation, while the healthier variety is labelled growth motivation.

If you place a rock under a microscope and observe it carefully, you will note that it never changes. But, if you put a piece of coral under that same microscope, you’ll detect that it is growing and changing. Conclusion: The coral is alive, the rock is dead. The only evidence of life is growth! This is also true in the psychological world if you are growing, you are alive. If you are not growing, then you might as well be dead.

You can be motivated out of a desire to grow rather than a need to repair your deficiencies. If you recognize that you can always grow, improve, become greater, that is enough. When you decide to be immobilized or to experience hurtful emotions, you’ve made a non-growth decision. Growth motivation means using your life energy for greater happiness, rather than having to improve yourself because you have sinned or because you are in some way incomplete. A corollary of choosing growth as motivation is personal mastery in every present moment of your life. Mastery means you are the decider of your fate.