I am always interested to know what motivates top sportsmen and women because being successful at that level takes thousands of hours of practice. His caddy, Dave Mosgrove, talking on BBC Radio 4, said that Seve hated losing at anything.  As a young player, if he lost a game, he would go to bed and read a book and not eat.  The pain and anguish he inflicted on himself for not succeeding drove him to win.

Now, some people are motivated by moving towards pleasure (the carrot) while others are motivated by moving away from pain (the stick).  It would seem that Seve was an ‘away from pain’ person who did not take so much pleasure from his amazing successes. 

Whether you are a ‘carrot’ or ‘stick’ person, the important thing is to keep learning from your experiences.  There is always more to learn from the times that don’t go so well but even in success you can still think “What have I learned?”  What will I do better next time?”  That is a real motivator.