Where does "drive" come from?

Written by on Mar 7 2016

People who are driven to achieve have drive, either fueled externally by a coach/parent/mentor or internally.

Maybe your drive comes from a coach who pushes you beyond what you thought you were capable of, or a teacher who demands you play/practice at a higher level. You might be out to prove something, you might be laser focused on a goal. Either way, there is a fire lit under your ass.

To play a sport at a high level, to build a company, to play an instrument you must put in the work. You put in the work when you’re tired, not feeling 100%, when have more fun things to do, when your friends are trying to distract you, and when your body or mind cries out to stop. But you keep your head down and keep just putting in the work.

If this drive is fueled internally…it wakes you up, it pushes you to practice/work harder and longer than others. Internal drive is mean to you, it’s critical and unrelenting, it’s always pushing you to do better because what you’ve delivered isn’t good enough.

I played football at a high level. I had demanding and sometimes mean coaches. I had parents who gave me opportunities/tough love/encouragement to deliver more of myself than I thought possible. I also had/have an internal voice that won’t allow me to stop.

This Saturday morning I woke up at 5:45am, my sailboat project is getting close to painting. I’ve been sanding the boat for almost 60 days. My right shoulder has been hurting for weeks. But the hull needs another layer of primer on top of the one I laid down yesterday. I needed to get to the boatyard, but I didn’t want to get up out of bed.

  • “Get up.” it said to me.
  • “It’s early and it’s cold, the boat is probably too wet to prime, close your eyes.” I thought.
  • “Get it right now.” It said.
  • 15 minutes later I was driving to the boat yard.
  • “This sucks, it’s cold, I’m tired of this project.” I thought.
  • “Drink the coffee in your cup, stop complaining”
  • 15 minutes later, I’m sanding the fiberglass patches.
  • “You could hire someone to finish this, you have the money.”
  • “Put in another hour work.” It replied.
Meet
Allan

Hi I'm Allan,

I wrote the article you're reading... I'm one of the co-founders of LessEverything. I love my family more than breathing and I love creating videos about our family adventures.

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