What “drives” you?

If you read any book on “entrepreneurship” or spend about 5 minutes on Youtube or Instagram and see the ads from the “gurus,” you’ll always here this common saying:

Find your why

What drives you?

etc. etc.

This is something I’ve always struggled with. I believe now the reason being is that I always try to find a “logical” reason. Or I try and conjure up some story based on the cliche examples these books and gurus give. Family, Passion, Love.

This never worked for me, especially in the long term. But maybe the reason is that it doesn’t have to be logical?

I heard a clip of the Joe Rogan podcast between Joe and Bill Burr. They spoke about the feeling and emotion you get when you first see your child. (Check out the clip here: https://youtu.be/NtgyeYeeAK0)

The gist of it is, society has conditioned people on how they are “supposed” to feel. “Oh my god, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world (burst out in tears here)”

And there are people who definitely experience it. But movies and social media have definitely driven this as how people “should” feel. This is like seeing a clip of a dog skateboard and assuming all dogs “should” and “can” skateboard.

Ironic right?

I know I’m rambling, but there is a point to this. The point is, maybe you don’t know your why but SOMETHING drives you?

Recently, I had a terrible experience with a person that really put a “chip” on my shoulder. But this ol’ chip on my shoulder gave me SO MUCH drive. So much emotion and energy to PROVE that being authentic and real meant much more than clout. (To give some context, this person was a habitual liar who would chase attention from peers and social media”

Now to be clear, ain’t no person living in my head rent free. But this little piece of drive brought back the competitive side in me. The same competitiveness I had back when I was striving to be the “greatest” car salesman in the world.

Usually, I would just roll on and ignore this. I’ve worked on myself enough to not let anything get to me.

And that is the problem.

Now that I’m a bit more experienced, I can redirect this drive BACK into productivity. Why should I let it go? Most people in this scenario will hold a grudge against an acquaintance. Constantly be obsessed with trying to be “better” than a single person.

What I’m saying is instead of using that drive to drive against what brought you to that point. Take the steering wheel, and drive towards productivity.

Drop the attitude and hard feelings, but KEEP the motivation to move forward in a much more focused goal.

Now this doesn’t solve the “find your why” question. But what it will do is keep you moving forward towards the “bigger picture.”

Maybe down the road, that “why” will be uncovered. Till then, just move forward.

Originally published on November 16, 2020.