Achievement Motivation - The need to achieve vs the need to avoid failure

There are 2 stand out personality traits we have as people when it comes to achievement motivation, these are having a need to achieve (NACH) or having a need to avoid failure (NAF). So are you more of a NACH or a NAF? We will have both at different times in our lives and it can be quite situation orientated, but deep down we will be more one or the other. Having a positive mindset and a Need to Achieve attitude can be a major tool in your armoury when it comes to reaching your goals. There are however, situations where the Need to Avoid Failure is more suitable. Below is a table that shows some of the main characteristics of these 2 traits.

The Need to Achieve (NACH)	The Need to Avoid Failure (NAF)
Love a challenge	Avoid challenge
Will take risks	Plays it safe
Internally driven	Externally driven
Optimistic	Avoids 50-50 situations
Welcomes feedback/critique	Dislikes feedback
Takes responsibility for their actions	Blames external factors for results
Perseverance	Gives up easily
Does not see failure as a negative	Sees failure as a negative

Do you have a desire to succeed or are you afraid you might fail? Do you give something a go even if the odds are stacked against you and give it your all or do you calculate the chance of success before giving it a go, and only do it if the odds are in your favour? This again comes down to how well you know yourself and how honest you can be with yourself. When it comes to sports, exercise, diet, healthy living, even our jobs and life choices I would say having a NACH mindset can be a powerful tool for you and your success. Have a think about the people you know who are successful in their work, seem to be able to have a go and be good at almost anything they try or those who live that healthy lifestyle, and ask yourself what do they all have in common when it comes to their mindset?

If you have read this far and feel you are more inclined to avoid failure, then just know that is not always a bad thing. First and foremost, you have recognised your need to avoid failure and it does have its uses in certain situations, especially some life or death ones like crossing a road or driving a car. But when it comes to exercise and diet, it can be a hinderance. It is a state of mind and therefore it can be changed. I am a prime example of this, for when I was younger, I was very much a NAF state of mind. I would avoid situations stacked against me, see failure as a cardinal sin and hate being criticised and it was holding me back. I missed out on many an opportunity because of this fear of failure.

As I have grown in age and confidence and worked hard on my mindset I have become more NACH dominant. I see failure as a learning tool, I love being critiqued as I can use this feedback to develop and improve, and the harder the challenge, the greater the reward. But as I have said there are still situations where a NAF mindset is a positive, but when it comes to achievement motivation generally the more successful individuals are those with a NACH mindset. So, what can you do to give yourself more chance of success (as well as changing your outlook on failure).

1.      Do it for yourself, not someone else. This is called intrinsic motivation. Hold yourself accountable and do something because YOU want to do it, not because someone else thinks you should.

2.      Reduce negativity and punishment. Why punish yourself for giving something a go? Learn from it, reflect on what you did and its outcomes and if you were not successful give it another go. If you give up and let negativity, take over after one attempt you will never progress. If it didn’t work, why not? What could you do differently next time to achieve a different outcome?

3.      Avoid learned helplessness. Tell yourself “you CAN” and that “you are good enough”. Anytime you hear that voice telling you that “you can’t” or “you are not good enough” ignore it, challenge it, or even give it a ridiculous voice like Donald Duck, you won’t take it as seriously if it’s quacking at you, in fact, you may even laugh at it. Imagine that, the voice you have listened to all this time that tells you that you can’t or you are not good enough, that voice that has been holding you and your potential back you are now laughing at it, not listening to it and focusing on that other voice, the voice that says “you CAN”.

4.      Correct goal setting. Don’t set unrealistic goals, set SMART goals and that way you will achieve and reduce the chance of failure (check out my previous blog on goal setting for more information).

5.      Challenge yourself every day. Small challenges each day can help to change your mindset, it can be silly things like getting ready for work in a quicker time than yesterday or getting up before your partner. Your life, your rules. Build your confidence and build your resilience to failure this way, just do YOUR best.

6.      Encourage feelings of pride. If you are good at something, achieve success or simply have done your best then you should take great satisfaction in that and be proud of yourself. Ask yourself who has achieved more, the person who wins the gold medal in the 100m at the Olympics or the person who finished last but beat their personal best? Both great achievements, but you can’t ask any more from an individual who has just set a personal best, they have just had the performance of a lifetime on the greatest stage.

7.      Surround yourself with positivity and positive people. If you are naturally more NAF than NACH then you will need people to be supportive. Don’t listen to people who tell you that “you can’t”, or “you are wasting your time” or “why are you bothering you will never be like that”. Quite simply that says a lot more about them as people and their own insecurities. They are afraid that you might actually achieve something and they will be left behind, so they try to hold you back or sabotage you so they can feel better about themselves. Cut these people out and focus on the people who build you up rather than put you down because quite simply you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.

This last point about surrounding yourself with the right people is one of the hardest ones but most important in my opinion. Arnold Schwarzenegger often refers to this as “Ignore the naysayers”. He is a prime example of what can be achieved with the right attitude and not listening to those who are trying to hold you back or are afraid you may be successful. Have a think about the people in your life and their attitude towards you are your goals. Do they want you to succeed or are they just waiting for you to slip up?

A great example of this was an old client I had who was on a weight loss journey back in 2015. She had been very afraid of failure, low in self-confidence and had always been one to give up quite easily. She had reached a point where enough was enough and she knew something had to change as she really did not like who she was or how she looked. She was motivated for a change, ready to take that leap but was also very nervous and in need of the right support. She had signed up on her own to do my MY Weigh course and was quite shy at the beginning, but quite quickly integrated into the group and each week was hitting her goals of 1-2lbs weight loss. She was learning about nutrition and her body and was looking and feeling great, and the group were all supporting each other brilliantly and were building a great rapport with each other. But every few weeks she would turn up negative, full of guilt and disappointment.

It turns out she had a friend who was, dare I say, overweight, but not willing to make a change and hated the fact my client was doing so well. Due to this her friend would organise drinking sessions or take aways and guilt trip my client into being a part of it, leading to her having a blow out and feeling rotten about the whole situation. This is the opposite to a supportive friend. After a long conversation and a lot of reflecting my client decided enough was enough and she was going to cut this NAYSAYER out of her circle of friends and move on with her life. There was no stopping her, the weight flew off, a promotion at work and a new man in her life soon followed and she achieved her goals! The rest is history, and this is a prime example of the power a mindset change from a NAF to a NACH can have.

Remember, the decisions we make in life and the choices we make our ours and ours alone. If you want to change, you must make a change, doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is never going to happen. Also remember that failure is a tool for us all to use for our learning and development, it does not have to be a negative, you can turn it into a positive and use it to improve the next time.