Push-Pull

The topic of motivation is a very interesting.  As a parent my challenge many times has been to find out what motivates my child, and capitalize on it in an effort to help them to achieve.  I am a very  motivated person on my own accord, and I wonder what is the underlying power that keeps me so driven and motivated.  As I read the first chapter on motivation the author made reference to one of my favorite stories that I would read to my children when they were young, The Little Engine That Could.  In this story the push/pull metaphor of motive and incentive is clearly represented.  The idea that motivated behavior is the result of a person being pushed and pulled toward and end result.  The motives inside such as desire, want, and longing push a person while the external reward called the incentive and goal pulls the individual towards the reward.  For human motivation the biological and psychological motives push the individual into action while the environmental pulls one toward the goal or incentive.  This is clearly seen when you observe a young man, and how he will change in order to please the woman he loves.  This is best expressed in the song When a Man Loves a Woman.  When a Man Loves a Woman  

The lyrics clearly states that he will change the world, he will turn his back on his best friends, spend all of his money in order to hold onto what he needs.  The lyrics continue to reveal how a man  is motivated by his biological and psychological motives in order to keep his woman.  A clear example of  the push of desire and the pull of the ultimate goal of love and acceptance.