Helping our patients make changes through push and pull motivation

This week I’ve seen many folks, young and old with poor motivation. I am sure you have seen those folks too.

Outcome is often dictated by knowledge, skills, and resources X motivation.

In Family Medicine, motivation is often the problem.

If motivation is zero, then outcome is zero despite excellent knowledge, skills and resources.

So how can we improve motivation? There are two main ways.

1. Fear focused. We can refer to this as a “push motivation” i.e. pushing us towards a goal.

2. Passion focused. We can refer to this as a “pull motivation” i.e. pulling us and drawing us towards something we value or love.

Motivational counseling is a lot about knowing when to “push”, when to “pull”, and when to “push and pull”, all at the same time.