Recently, I read an amazing book for driven people called, Driven. I met the author, Dr. Douglas Brackmann, on his podcast. We had a blast and the podcast has received rave reviews.
Doug’s expertise is in going deep into essential trait number four, the Driven trait.
He helps people with the driven trait understand it, live with it, and maximize it. I asked him to write a guest Leap Lesson for us.
If you like what you’re about the read, please click here to find out all about Doug, his work, and his 6-week course.
Here is his message to us:
The drive inherent to born entrepreneurs can manifest in many ways, and it’s almost always what makes you stand out, not blend in. Because your drive may have ostracized you from the group at some point, you’ve also likely adapted who you are to ‘fit in’ or excel with peers, pushing the parts you think are less accepted into the shadows.
When you are Driven, you feel that there is always something better out there. You push harder than others would push, taking accountability and striving to solve problems. But, when you reach a goal the satisfaction is fleeting and you set your sights on something else. You start to wonder: ‘What’s wrong with me?’
You develop an identity around this inner feeling of angst and you use your drive to try to outrun your fear of not being enough. But that fear may be the very thing holding you back from taking your entrepreneurial leap. All Driven individuals are afraid of abandoning the fear driven behavior that has gotten them to where they are. We have found a truth for Drivens. Fear will only get you here, not where you want to go next.
You’ll start to feel this happening, when your fear driven behavior isn’t serving you. You may not be applying yourself in a way that best utilizes your energy, or you may feel like you’re ‘driving with the e-break on’, constantly fighting uphill battles. If you are a Driven person, you have to address this side of your drive or everything you build may one day be lost.
Can you imagine a world where you live everyday as the best version of yourself? One in which you reach your goals and actually feel content during the journey? What about one where you focus on your passion without burning out your body and ruining your relationships? It’s not a sales pitch, you can have it all. It is actually quite simple, but it is not easy.
You must look inward, accepting and understanding the parts of you that lie in the shadow, because the only thing that can hold you back, is you. We all are not called on the hero’s journey. If you’re Driven, a true genetic and biological entrepreneur, it’s not a choice.
The Pitfalls of Not Possessing the Essential Trait of Being Driven
Being an entrepreneur is something you are, it’s not something you do. It’s not a process, or a system. An entrepreneur is possessing six things, the six essential traits. And
