Tip: Fear is Fuel

Motivation is for newbies. To be successful over the long haul, you need to be haunted. Here's why.

You Need a Ghost

And you need to be afraid of it. Oh, I know. You ain't scared of nothing, and you still have that "No Fear" shirt from the 1990's to prove it. But I also know that every successful person, in any field, has a ghost or two that haunts them.

A "ghost" is something that follows you around your whole life, nudging you. While you may not exactly be afraid of it, it does worry and weigh on you:

  • The fear of being broke ghost.
  • The fear of disappointing those you love ghost.
  • The fear of becoming your father (or mother, or that bad coach you had once) ghost.
  • The fear of not accomplishing what you KNOW you're capable of accomplishing ghost.
  • The fear that your haters are right ghost.

On our field of play, maybe these ghosts look different:

  • The fear of getting fat (again) ghost.
  • The fear of being weak ghost.
  • The fear of not being able to take care of yourself when you get old ghost.
  • The fear of getting naked in front of someone new ghost.
  • The fear of swimsuit season ghost.
  • The fear of getting an easily preventable disease ghost.
  • The fear of getting gassed when walking up a flight of stairs ghost.
  • The fear of having toddler arms ghost.
  • The fear of coming in last place ghost.
  • The fear of getting an old-man ass ghost.

These ghosts get us out of bed for a morning workout when we'd rather sleep in. They make us work a little harder, be a little more disciplined with our diets, and take a LOT more responsibility in our lives. They "scare" us in the right direction.

If you don't have a ghost, summon one. It'll keep you more motivated than some sugary-sweet meme about shooting for the moon.

Now, it's true, some people probably don't have ghosts. And they're probably f*cking losers.

Chris Shugart is T Nation's Chief Content Officer and the creator of the Velocity Diet. As part of his investigative journalism for T Nation, Chris was featured on HBO’s "Real Sports with Bryant Gumble." Follow on Instagram