This discussion explores Ayn Rand’s quote ” A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others”. Here, we touch upon factors of motivation, inspiration, desperation with achievement at its centre. While we explore this Ayn Rand’s quote, we would love to hear your thoughts. Join our discussion with your comments below.
Ayn Rand, the Russian, American philosopher is most known for her books – Atlas Shrugged and Fountain Head. Both of these books were ahead of their time with a strong focus on strength of character and the desire to achieve, make a difference. Each of her characters represents a depth and strength at their core which makes you aspire for a higher goal to reach.
A creative man is motivated by a desire to achieve
Motivation is a beautiful emotion. It can lie in multitude of factors. It is fascinating that sometimes motivation lies in failures, disappointments and some negative emotions you would like to stay clear from. But it exists nevertheless.
The question however is whether you are playing to win or playing not to lose. Both of them push you in the right direction to achieve your goals. But, your happiness takes a toll if loss is your primary motivator.
In the same essence, this quote by Ayn Rand touches upon the desire to achieve vs desire to beat others.
The Desire to Beat Others – Ayn Rand
In a strange sense, there is a lot of motivation to beat others. We are a part of a society where your actions are compared against your peers.
- No wonder, you want to achieve better and beat them in different games. This provides a glory, a sense of accomplishment.
- Is this however the right goal to pursue? Even if you win, you are probably just better in some aspects compared to the competition you know. What about the others you have not met? Are you not setting your bar low?
- It is however motivation, if it suits your purpose, it makes sense to use it. But don’t let it pull you down. For, there always will be someone better, stronger and more trained than you.
You can go on creating goals to defeat others, but it depends on who you really want to be? – A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others!
The desire to Achieve – Ayn Rand
On the other hand, you have a goal set! Nothing stands between you and your goal. You dream about it everyday as if it is a living, breathing part of you. The focus is always on finding ways to achieve this goal.
- You don’t want to be limited by the rules set up by the society or your peers. Even if you win a rat race, you will still be a rat!
- Ultimately, you are not in the world for a petty goal. You have a dream, a set of goals to pursue. Look at them every single day with the greedy eyes of a little boy set on his candy. There are no distractions, nothing to hold you back.
- Don’t let the limitations of society, peers and competition hold you back. You are here with nothing between you and the goal. Find ways to achieve it, be creative. After all: A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others
With due respect to Ayn Rand, we bring this monologue to an end and would love to hear your opinions and experiences. Please join this discussion with your comments below
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others
Ayn Rand
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At times one need to win to make a point or two. But playing to win or not to lose are both old school of thoughts… passé, if you like.
Creative man focuses on the game itself and not on the result. The result is an eventuality that will be reached sooner or later. He celebrates the journey and not the destination.
Not to forget that a creative man is the person who tries to do things differently, explore new ways, innovates along the way. He doesn’t necessarily follow a proven path and focus on optimizing the processes.
That’s what distinguishes a person from a computer/AI. They do not follow an algorithm and on the contrary they are creative, they try new things and fail. But when they succeed, the followers have a new path to follow.
Hi Suman, very nice to hear from you.Thank you for these comments, very thought provoking. I like the differentiation between the robotic approach and a creative approach. There are so many ways to come to the same result. No wonder human creativity is rated as one of the most elusive talents. At one point, just the idea of flying would have been absurd. If not for creativity, there would be no way we could have gotten this close. I wonder what all we get to see in the name of creation and how beautiful these innovations willbe.
A strong factor you mention is about the new path for others to follow. You might have heard of the 4 minute mile. Apparently before Roger Bannister, it was thought to be impossible to achieve running of a mile under 4 minutes. This used to be a known fact until 1954 when this record was broken. Apparently after that this 4 minute mile has been achieved by a considerable number of people. It is amazing how a new path laid sometimes becomes a standard of belief and achievement. It is stunning how our internal representations shape our motivation and desire to achieve new things in life. And creativity is a fascinating life blood.