Conationplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigThe conative is one of three parts of the mind, along with the affective and cognitive. In essence... the cognitive part of the brain has to do with intelligence, the affective deals with emotions and the conative drives HOW WE ACT on those thoughts and feelings. is a concept that stems from the Latin term conatus, meaning any natural tendency, impulse, striving or directed effort. Conative is the synchronicity and culmination of three parts of the mind and the propelling energy of our consciousness… the affective, cognitive and normative. Whereas.. the cognitive part deals with facts, logic and reasoning; the affective part deals with feelings and emotions; and the normative with our priorities, values, ethics and integrity.

Anyone - when willing, motivated and dedicated enough - can succeed in life without money, funding, a business model, a mentor and even without a great idea. But no one can, is able to or will succeed without one essential characteristic… the one attribute that every successful individual has…

The conative - propelled mainly by our Kundalini energies - directs and steers how we act on our thoughts, emotions and behave according to our personal ethics, norms and principles. Conative - as based in and sourcing from our self-worth, self-determination and resilience - is often regarded by many people as an unrealistic and irrational optimism.

Why so …?

To be successful we must embrace a conative-dominated GPS, which implies an unconditional belief in ourselves and pushing aside all those many fears and self-doubts. We must mitigate our feelings that we aren't smart enough, dedicated enough, adaptable enough or simply that - despite our best intentions and efforts - we do not really expect to succeed.

Often other people also make it more difficult for us to sustain such a GPSplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigG • P • S

A much diluted and illustrative representation of the actual Human GPS System of Life.

In general terms the abbreviation GPS stands for the Global Positioning Satellite system that we use to “pin point” our geographical position on this planet of ours. However, melancholycountless forceshappinesshappiness. Family, friends and other well-meaning individuals regularly shoot multiple holes in our dreams and ideas. Not because they want to bring us down, but because they care about us, and don't want to see us fail as a result of unrealistic expectations that we entertain.

That's why people rarely say… “Hey, that's a great idea. You should really go for it!” The majority of people just ain't wired that way. In general, people are a lot better at pointing out and listing potential problems and pending doom. They like to play devil's advocate because they think that it makes them smart and is the mature, responsible and realistic way to approach the many challenges of life.

And that's why we must be irrationally optimistic… not because the odds are normally stacked against success, but because irrational optimism helps us to succeed in ways that money, people's advice, business plans and marketing savvy can't.

Of course it is possible that we can take irrational optimism too far (e.g. introspection delusions) … but then again, maybe - specially in terms of our dreams - we can't.

For example… think about sports. Only one individual or one team can eventually win the game, but all great athletes still go into every game believing unconditionally that they will win, because if they don't believe they can win… they've already lost the game. Can an optimistic self-belief be irrational?… for sure. But it also is a absolute requirement for higher-levels of performance. Great athletes push aside all their self-doubts and disbeliefs. So do successful individuals in every other area of life. When we listen to all the naysayers, we'll never start a business, never get promoted, never work and struggle to overcome the adversities or challenges of life… and never succeed!

However, no amount of self-believe is nearly good enough to ensure success in life, unless we can truly back it up with suitable preparation, actions, knowledge, experiences, practice and rehearsals of what we truly believe inplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigIn other words... actually walk our talk! . But - unfortunately - on the other hand, the tiniest bit of self-doubtplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigDoubt

inner criticplenty of noisethinkingawarenesscontextmindfulnesscognitive dissonancesbenefitsnowmoment

There are two-sides to the doubt coin... self-doubt & idea-doubt, the one side - by default - often is toxic, the other side - when handled correctly - is nourishing.

...

* self-doubt is BAD * idea-doubt is GOOD

it is imperative to obtain, can effectively ruin our chances to achieve success in life, regardless of what we do or say.

To perform at our maximumplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigI.e. the highest level or optimal potential , we have to teach ourselves to believe with an intensity that often goes way beyond any logical and rational justification. No top performer has lacked this conative capacity for irrational optimism… no sportsman has played to his full potential without the ability to remove self-doubt from his/her mind and the same is true for everyone… be prepared, be smart, be logical, be rational, calculating and never stop to improve your current skill-set. But most importantly, is to be irrationally optimistic.

Why…?

Conative driven actions, a success attitude and self-determination are key to and vitally important to follow a path in life of development and growth. When these key aspects are absent or missing from our beingness, we actually doom ourselves to follow a path in life characterized by bitter disappointments, stagnation and derailments.

The following TED-talks - by Larry Smith & Barry Schwartz - on “Why you will fail to have a great career?” & “The way we think about work is broken” provides an idea of how important these key aspects - especially the conative - are for optimal self-actualization.