“May the space between where I am and where I want to be inspire me.” – Tracee Ellis Ross

So, there is external stimuli and there is internal stimuli. External stimuli is when you are about to bungee jump but you need someone to push you off the edge, and internal stimuli is when you take a crazy life threatening looking dive yourself and enjoy the jump in its full glory.

The funny part here is you complete the task in any case and have fun nonetheless and have a story to tell and rave about, however the difference was in the execution. Sure the plan was yours to sum up courage and step up for a jump, but the little push you needed was the external motivation, being self-driven is all about deciding to do something and then executing it without a doubt.

The Dictionary.com defines Self-driven as:
(Of a machine) containing its own power source, as an engine or motor.

Let’s go ahead and understand how to be our own power source and be self-driven

“Only he who can see the invisible, can do the impossible.”

 

Understand the importance of something

Knowing is not enough you must understand. Knowing you have something important to do is not enough, you must know why it’s important.
Why in the sense of the larger picture. Because even exams are important and you know it and you also know the why, but that does not help in taking away the stress, or help you perform better cause you know the why, it actually adds up to your stress, you think, if I fail it’s going to cost you a lot.

Understanding the importance of something is understanding the direction you are going in, what you will accomplish in the long run, and what satisfaction you will gain after you complete a particular task efficiently, it might not be instant gratification, no great achievement gives you instant satisfaction when you are on the way, you have to think in the long run, long term. When you truly comprehend what the completion of that task will add to your life, is when you become self-driven.

Momentary hurdles, set back, laziness and difficulties will be taken as an experience to move forward more efficiently, you will be encouraged by every little thing you come over, every little set back you turn into a step ahead, will give you lifelong lessons and stable satisfaction.

When you understand the importance of all the actions you take throughout the day and where they are eventually leading you, you will make the right choices and the larger picture will keep motivating you to move in its direction and the distractions along the way will not affect you as much.

Do it for yourself, no I don’t mean you should be selfish, I personally distaste selfishness, be a team player always, but if your team is messy then play for the team and not for the people in it.

Don’t do it for the money, the fame, or for recognition. Don’t do it because you want to prove something to someone, don’t do it to one up someone, never ever do something to impress anyone, never do something just because it’s popular at the moment and especially just because something is cool.

Do it for the right reasons. Play to enjoy the game not just for the prize. Do it for your family and people, the one’s that stand by you no matter what, identify those and if something you do benefits them as well then do it. Do something because you love it. The simple pleasure of doing something you care about, something you think holds value and making progress in it and getting better at it gives you satisfaction.

Understand the needs and necessities of your life, understand what the right direction for your life is, never let discouraging opinions of others make you change your course. Listen to everyone, respect everyone’s opinions but do what you think is fit because in the end it’s your journey.

If you go behind praise, money, fame and recognition and approval of others, remember you will burn out and you will be demotivated. That thing won’t be the driving factor in your life, it will be the exhausting factor of your life, cause no matter what you do, those are external factors which are not in your control, so if you never feel satisfied by doing what you do, how are you supposed to feel driven?

To be self-driven you need to have insane passion for it. Because your passion for it will be rewarded when you put in the work that is required.

 

If you won’t then who will?

Your time and your goals are important, you know that right? And after contemplating over the point above, now you understand that as well. If you do it for yourself and the things and people that matter to you, you won’t even feel pressurized to get them done in a systematic manner.

If you won’t then who will, might seem like a stress inducing statement however it’s a responsibility driven one. You have to take responsibility of your goals, your dreams in life. You have to understand that they are too important to disappear like smoke if you don’t act on them every single day. You must know that only you can make them come true, even if there is a slight chance of you successfully achieving what you have set out to, then it’s worth taking a chance and putting in the effort.

You ask why? It’s because the average life span of a human being in our era is 70, might be a far-fetched assumption too if you think about it honestly haha. Everything you know will disappear after that much duration, you tried will have more weight than you failed. Even if you achieve some part of it in the pursuit of what you want, you would have lived a happy life. Understand this, things, just money and prestige will not give you satisfaction in the long run, so if you think like this “If I fail I won’t even make a decent living for myself.”

I honestly tell you from what I believe in, that in trying to make a life, I think we can definitely make more than a living.

Because when you do what you love, you strive for excellence and progress, you strive for the next big feat you can achieve and that drives you automatically. That’s your inner fuel.

It all depends upon, if you are willing to put in the work every single day for the rest of your life, yeah one day you might retire but until then you have to take the responsibility. Because again “If you won’t then who will?” and trust me once you create some momentum and start seeing the results of your work, it becomes an addiction and that will make you self-driven.

 

Have a sense of Well being

What I suggest you to do is right after you finish reading this article, sit quietly for a while, think of the things that are making you feel bad about your life, then also note down the reasons behind why does it make you feel bad?

When you find those reasons, now you have a tangible problem to deal with, now you have very specific questions that demand an answer for you to work on them and feel good about yourself. Now keep in mind, this questions should be goal oriented, life pursuits driven and not associated with people, like I am unhappy because this particular person is not behaving in a desirable way. No. The questions should be something along this lines “Waking up late in the morning, with absolutely no energy and enthusiasm for the day makes me feel unhappy” Yes! Sure that sounds like an answer but we can derive a couple of questions from that statement, Like “Why do I wake up late?” “Why I don’t feel any enthusiasm or energy for the day?”

After that step think of all those things that you can do or want to do and think that yes! this things will definitely make me feel more satisfied and content at the end of the day.

Now when you have this 2 lists, cross tally them, understand which actions you do every day need change, which one are hampering your enthusiasm for doing the right things. What course of action will you take to precisely do the things that you listed down in the feeling satisfied list?

What this will do is, it will build a general sense of well-being for you. Every day you will wake up fresh and excited for the day, you will know slowly that the dark clouds of inactivity are lifting and you are feeling better about yourself. Asking the right questions and finding their answers is a very important step in every pursuit and action in life.

I always stress a lot on being very contemplative in my blogs. More often I see not asking the right questions and deriving the right answers is what diminishes our drive.

Create an exciting environment for yourself, nitpick all those little things you are messing up and start fixing them, the happier, the more excited and a stronger sense of well being you have every day, that will make you self-driven.

 

Build a play list

Now enough of work, you so serious and dedicated person. Don’t get so submerged in making something of your life.

What I mean by building a play list is, not just songs but a lot of things. However I seriously encourage you to make a new playlist for yourself. Find more songs, find songs that resonate with your goals, I mean they have the right lyrics to pump you up, the right mood to make you feel the right things and the right beats to get you jumping.

The type of music we listen to greatly affects our thinking process, also music associated with bad times makes you feel bad and that which is associated with good memories makes you feel amazing, I have a whole article ready on this very topic, if possible I will make it available for you here. So I strongly encourage you to build a new playlist for yourself.

If you have been listening to the same music from a decade please freshen up your environment right now I insist, you will feel the magic of new music I assure you. Find new music for a new time and let it groove you to the beats of change. Whenever I am free, I make time for finding new artists and new type of music, its appreciating new talent and it makes you feel great, along with developing your taste pallet, it grows your brain. The article I will be posting on music will make you believe what I am saying here.

So what I mean by building a play list in a broader form? I mean develop some hobbies, get deeply interested in things that make life worth living, plan some activities for a month, go trekking, visit a local wildlife sanctuary, visit a wine festival, learn new recipes, appreciate art, visit places in your city that you haven’t as of yet and find out what’s it all about? And if you find something further interesting at that place, start exploring that particular thing. Also follow ongoing or early childhood hobbies, like painting for me.

All work and no play makes you a donkey. Also variety is the key to change and growth, refer bodybuilding. If you have been doing the same things from a couple of years, it’s definitely time to shake up your entire surrounding right now.

Build a playlist, play some sports on weekend, go somewhere you haven’t been before, get to know something that has interested you from a long time, meet new people listen to their stories attentively, expand your horizon. Doing this will give you a fresh jolt of energy which will propel you and make you feel crazy excited for life.

 

Conclusion

“The world belongs to passionate driven people.” – Jack Welch

Don’t go behind things, achievements and name. Go behind Passion, Interests and growth. No 1 thing for being self-driven. Understand this simple fundamental truth, you cannot make you forcefully achieve greatness in something which you are not passionate about. For some people I understand money is the driving factor, however they have a clear goal in their mind, making more money makes them happy, therefore they are willing to push themselves beyond their comfort zone to make it.

If you are not one of those, then you cannot just work for the money. You have other needs and desires. Passion in anything is very important for drive, develop that.

Deep interest in living needs to be cultivated, deep interest in knowing things needs to be cultivated, a balance of work and play needs to be made. Such a balanced sense of well-being makes you self-driven.