Fear vs Joy

The subject of motivation interests me. According to Tony Robbins, there's only 2 base motivators, which are:
1) Toward pleasure
2) Away from pain

I realized that the words can easily be replaced with two more familiar ones; Fear and Joy. My question is, which of the two is more powerful? Is there even an answer to that? Here's what I think.

It's a common statement that 'everyone is insecure' inside. This is of course, a gross generalization. However, from the many people I've met, and being in the business of 'persuading' people that they're incomplete without my product, I believe the statement reflects the majority. I also believe that people are creatures of habit, and that change happens at a glacial pace, rather than sweeping personal revolutions. (this I reserve for another post)

Perhaps overly simplistic, my argument rests on these two points alone. If you're predisposed to being insecure, and being human, unlikely to change that very quickly (and not with some severe discomfort involved), fear would be the more powerful of the two. How many times have we decided to do something because the alternative could represent pain (for us and/or others).

Have a think about the decisions you've made. I for one have made quite a few based on fear. It's not necessarily bad, depending on the situation, but sit and ponder how releasing the feeling of joy feels, and how 'true' it is to make a move towards that.

I will strive to make more of those calls in life. =)