Need to Achieve - Total War

I have a belief that probably isn’t going to be popular with some people.

It has to do with what motivates some people to to strive for achievement.

I think they’re probably unbalanced. They have a need to prove themselves because of some insecurity. They have some kind of fear which they’re fighting to allay or they have a chip on their shoulder which they’re trying to dislodge.

Here’s the background on why I think this.

I was reading Robert A Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson. Johnson’s father was an important man in his town and then he lost the farm both figuratively and literally.

Caro painted a vivid picture of how this deeply wounded Johnson and led to his absolute need to attain power and acquire riches.

The sort of behavior I’m characterizing is can be seen in the ‘Total War’ metaphor that underpins their actions.

Total War really came into it’s own in the early twentieth century. The concept was that war was not just fought with armies but with propaganda, misinformation, agent provocateurs, anything and everything was OK.

Our OSS, the precursor of the CIA, came out of this. It led to some seriously behavior (MK Ultra)

I bring this up as a means to look beneath the hood of some people. Just a way to ask yourself “What motivates them”?

And could I be talking about you……?