The deer and the lion

Thumbnail source from Pixabay

There’s nothing miraculous about a deer escaping a lion. There’s a hunger driving the lion, which is a good enough explanation for its chase. But it can afford to miss the opportunity. It goes home empty handed but it can always try again after a short rest. There's no instant life threatening repercussions.

A deer doesn't have the luxury to stop. It can die the instant it decides to stop running. It can’t attempt to escape a second time, for the deer it's now or never.

I am well aware that it may be true motivation can drive someone to do something, it can’t compare to necessity. And time and time again, necessity defeats motivation.

This is the stark opposition facing the deer and the lion. Simply put and also I might add, against popular belief, the lion is more motivated because it is led by hunger. For the deer, escaping is a matter of life and death with no second chances, no other attempts.

It is the same with our life. A lot of us exhibit more lion like than deer like behavior. We bring out bursts of energy and enthusiasm, chasing after self based goals. Once things get a little be complicated, we push give up button or reduce the goal. There's nothing wrong with admitting you can't do something though, the point is you relied on motivation and the gas tank is now empty.

The people who achieve the most have a different mental framework. They have a sense of determination that makes achieving it look like it's non negotiable. Failure is not a possible consequence.

It's a straight forward trick, you set an objective that you can't afford to lose. What makes you have to run for, and when you establish that, you’ll run for it like it’s a matter of life and death, in a way, it is.

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