Drive

[financeguy]

People often talk about 'drive', especially in the context of careers. The state of 'having drive', 'being driven' are put forward as things to respect and seek to attain. To talk of someone as being a driven person, is usually viewed as a complimentary thing to say particularly as regards the male of the species.

Now, don't get me wrong, no-one ever achieved anything of importance without plenty of hard work, but I sometimes wonder if all this talk of 'drive' really means forcing yourself to do things that you don't really want to do in order to achieve goals that are somewhat questionable.

And why would anyone want to do that, I wonder?

I would like to venture the opinion that being grounded is a better aspiration than having drive.

 

[BVS]

Drive can definately be a positive or a negative thing.

I don't think it's the size, it's how you use it...

 

[cobl04]

i wish i had drive.

 

[LemonMelon]

I wish I had a car.

 

[Pearl]

I believe you should have a drive to do whatever it is you want, just don't run people over. It will come back to haunt you.

 

[kafrun]

I'm driven by my desire to heal people. Feels very natural, not forced by some questionable motivations at all. It drives me every day. Sometimes I just wish I had more hands so I could do more.

 

[Devlin]

Don't I need a license in order to have drive? /sarcasm

Yes. I hate, loathe, and detest this ideal. I've been told I need to have drive, that I'm wasting my life.

Really?

Now, let me think this through: everything you've suggested for me has been made of fail. Epic, towering, crushing fail. Now that I've gotten exactly nowhere, can I crawl under the bed and hibernate?

Some days, I'm lucky to get out of bed and brush my teeth.

I think you may have the right of it. Grounding is good. If only I could find it, because I am really afraid of heights.

 

[Earl-Of-IMDb]

I wish I had a car.

me too.

 

[AliEnvy]

T.E. Lawrence said "...but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible."

To me, that is the essence of drive.

In a career context, companies want you to do whatever it takes to be promoted or keep you job. It's fear-driven - either you don't get ahead or you may not even stay employed. It's a load of bollocks.

 

[Liesje]

I train German Shepherds and "drive" is a very desirable thing (food, prey, defense, and fight drive). In that context it's best understood as the dog working through all manner of pressure (physical, mental) to get what it wants and also that the dog is being proactive, not reactive. The biggest goal as a handler is to learn how to bring up the drive and cap it - working the dog at that level without the dog fading or getting over the top. I guess I don't see drive as forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do. If the goals are questionable, I don't see how there can be that much drive to achieve them. To me that is something else. I could put a shock collar on a dog and force/pressure it to do just about any behavior under the sun and have him do it with precision and intensity but that is not an example of the dog working in drive. On the other hand I can show my dog his favorite toy and he will willingly walk through fire and plate glass to get to that ball simply because he wants it and is going to find a way to get it no matter what I throw in front of him or ask him to do along the way. I see drive as being something from within yourself (dog or person). Sometimes there is outside pressure to achieve goals that we may see as questionable but I don't see that is true "drive", that's just feeling pressured to do something and being reactive to whatever/wherever the pressure is coming from.

 

[yolland]

^ It's an interesting analogy, though I'm not sure how well it applies to human professional/career "drives"--food/prey/fight drives are hardwired and innate, whereas the very concept of "career" is artificial, and only present in certain human societies at certain points in time, so I don't see how that could be instinctive.

Status drive, maybe?

 

[AliEnvy]

I think you both are quite right...all three of us alluding to intrinsic vs extrinsic rewards (org behaviour 101 ).

Working throuh all manner of pressure (physical, mental) to get what you want

is a good description. Your own passion and purpose being intrinsic and status achieved through career definitely being extrinsic.

 

[Liesje]

^ It's an interesting analogy, though I'm not sure how well it applies to human professional/career "drives"--food/prey/fight drives are hardwired and innate, whereas the very concept of "career" is artificial, and only present in certain human societies at certain points in time, so I don't see how that could be instinctive.

Status drive, maybe?

Status....maybe. But when I ask myself, "Self, why do you do [X, Y, Z] that you spend so much time and effort doing?" the answer is simply because I like doing it. I have no idea why I like it and why I will spend 5 hours on one task and give up after 5 minutes at another, other than some things *are* just instinctive. Some things are self-rewarding while other things we can do well but question the point and only keep going because of outside pressure. For some people, being successful and achieving some "status" just seems more innate than others.

 

[Pearl]

I think if you were driven by status, materialism and other things, you would eventually burn out. I know I would, so I can't speak for the whole human population.