Drive
Drive by Daniel Pink is a book focused on human desire and what intrinsically motivates the soul in the 21st century. From looking at business organizations to monkeys during an experiment, the case studies highlighted how our biological drive pushes us to conduct different actions.
“Autonomy - the desire to direct our own lives; (2) Mastery - the urge to make progress and get better at something that matters; and (3) Purpose - the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves”
I initially read this book at the beginning of December after my primary care provider recommended it to me. I went through only a few pages and the book ended up renewing while I was midway through. The time wasn’t right.
I then started a life coach certification, where the instructor highlighted the book once more. “Two people have recommended it to me that I trust for knowledge. Why not come back to it.”
One concept highlighted persistently throughout the book was flow. “In flow, people lived so deeply in the moment, and felt so utterly in control, that their sense of time, place, and even self melted away.” An example of flow is runner’s high where your body releases endorphins to help relieve pain, reduce stress and improve your sense of well-being.
After finishing the book, flow started to appear more in my life not only in the form of runner’s high, but also with writing book reviews such as this, working on side projects for internal development, and messaging friends and family.
Top 3 Lessons:
The greatest professionals in life are the people who chose to work on one thing repeatedly no matter the day.
Finding motivation is an internal process that no one else controls but you.
Each day, ask yourself if you were better than yesterday
Lesson 1: The greatest professionals in life are the people who chose to work on one thing repeatedly no matter the day.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he states it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert or master performer in any field. 10,000 hours is equivalent to about 417 days, 59 weeks, or 1 year. Upon achieving those 10,000 hours is the first step in becoming an expert. Professionals then continue past that milestone and continue to push further onwards.
As an example, let’s take a look at the man who is tied to the first decade of League of Legends Esports - Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. Lee began playing competitively in 2013. Assuming 10,000 hours of play averages out to about 2 years given other human needs, Faker has at least 50,000 hours of practice with League of Legends after joining the competitive eSports scene as of 2023. Even as a seasoned veteran, he continues to dominate the scene with 12 of the 17 premiere international tournaments to date with multiple finals appearances.
Lee is one of many professionals who has dedicated a multitude of hours to become the name he is today. Like many others, he may have had days where he did not want to play the game or work on his skills, but he continued to persevere no matter what.
Lesson 2: Finding motivation is an internal process that no one else controls but you.
To break down this lesson, let’s take two scenarios of where you have to wash dishes at home. One scenario has your parents telling you to wash the dishes, whereas the other is where you are rewarded with $1,000 for washing the dishes. Of the two, which one would you choose?
In either case, let’s take a look at what you are considering. Assuming you washed the dishes in both, your motivation in the first scenario would be making your parents satisfied, whereas your motivation in the second scenario is the $1,000. Either way, you are choosing what you care about and finding the motivation to wash the dishes.
This analogy can then be scaled out to an infinite number of other decisions. Motivation in itself is the reason for conducting an action. You have full control over what you do as an autonomous human being.
Lesson 3: Each day, ask yourself if you were better than yesterday
Imagine you want to win a chess tournament in six months and you have never played chess in your life. How would you approach your first day?
There are many ways you could approach this from reading a book about chess, watching an online streamer, practicing with a friend who is skilled in the sport, and much more! Whatever you choose, you dedicated some amount of time and energy into preparing for the chess tournament. You went from not knowing anything about chess to knowing the basics.
As we scale this up and continue the chess journey, other milestones may not be as apparent, but as you continue to check in and see how you moved different pieces on the board, understand more about the game, etc. You are always improving yourself every time you dedicate intentional time and effort into the activity.
Drive by Daniel Pink is a tome of knowledge to understand more about how to motivate yourself and others through their daily lives. From discussing the concept of flow to breaking down motivation through autonomy, mastery, and purpose, this book is a must-read for young adults searching for their own internal motivators.
What are you waiting for?
Read the book here: Kindle | Hardcover | Audiobook
I’d love to hear your learnings from the book! Tag me on an Instagram story once you finish at @kevintptran.
