The Random Habits of Highly Driven People.

Forget Numbering. Just do it!

There is no need for another list. Tons of articles and books have been written about the habits of driven people. We are tired. I am tired of reading the numbered habits of successful people. Life is more chaotic than what we try to put number to.

All habits are good as long as they support your goal. Putting a number to human acts make it less realistic. Moreover, the highly driven people rarely know the sequence of habits that makes them successful. They just do the thing.

Thus,I have created my own mix of habits that I obeseved among highly driven and successful mentors and business leaders that I have come across in my 10 years of creating and buying businesses. Feel free to rearrange them add yours but doing one good habit consistentlyos far better knowing all the innumerable habits ever existed.

One more thing.

“Driven” is a better word than effective.With respect to the memory of Stephen Covey and his classic book that poularised effective habits, people that are driven are more animated and have the feel of purpose than being effective. While being driven sounds more active , being effective sounds more passive.

Without futhther ado, lets pick these habits randomly and use them.

Driven People Dont Focus on External Events.

“If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters."— Epictetus

The driven people never have time to waste. It is sheer waste of life to sit down and consume stale news either in print or in motion. Information that are heavily influenced and rigged by the owners towards maximixing profits.

Any driven person is always working on something that is within her circle of infleunce:

• Relationships and networking
• Health and fitness
• Business and career
• Building skills
• Sharing their work
• Projects

All energy and resources are focued on themselves. While the media wants all of us to be outside focused, its only the driven that know that inner focus will be the needed thing to bring everlasting change.

Moreover, the media thrives on negativity ,fear and confusion. While would anyone want to subject herself to such trauma and still have the energy to work on what can improve her life and the world in general? Driven people generally are healthy, wise and calm. They radiate energy and motivate others too because they do things that have meaning and purpose for themselves and others.

Driven people Focus On The Process More

If you want God to laugh, show Him your plan — Sigmud Freud

Ambitious people are dime a dozen. There are billions that wear their ambitions as badge of honors. Driven people do the work once they set the sail. They row the boats day and night,knowing that action is the main thing. Goals are for loosers, accordingt to Scott Adam. The work is the reward for them and when they reach a pre-determined stage in their lives, they never stop.

In his book Stretch, professor Scott Sonesshein argued that that being resourceful requires fast and massive action. They have action oriented orientation. They know that excessive planning is a weakness and it does not achieve anything. Mothing creates the real workd line action. They aim, fire and ready. Thie planning are always improvising kearning a lot along the way because their minds are not encumbered by planning on paper. Planners are many. The driven are not goal oriented alone. They do the work that makes the goal a reality.

Driven People Dont Worry

Of course no one can be free from anxiety , insecurity and occasional doubts. But the driven people undestand the dichotomy of control. They know what is within their control. What they can change with their actions is what matter to them. They are far better than the pessimist and idealist.

They are optimist because they understand that they can bend anything to their will through actions while still understand the cultural ,environamental and circumstances of their society. They are curious about everything that they have no time to worry about limitations.

Short. Cashless. Color. Race. All these things do not stop them because they can not change these things and its not withing their control. So they drive what what will drive the change they want.

They focus on whats within to change whats without. To the driven, everywhere is a market to pitch and sell their skills and wares. They see problems to every problems. Their beliefs are mostly fluid based on what the actuons required. They have open minds to resources and stretch a lot to bend the world to their own will. They follow the advise of a philosipher who wrote ,

“Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing.”~ Epictetus

Driven People Never stops.

To be driven is to be dynamic. It is habitual. Once they begin, they see it to the end or quit permanently. Nothing wastes energy like stopping to start a process again and again. They are long term thinkers. While they focus on the present doing the work that matters, they keep the end goal in perspectives too.

Their end goal is not a kind of award or shiny things. They are driven by getting better and better at things they do. They focus on uilding habits. Excuses are B.S to them. Tgey are the professionals whi do thigbs to dicatet their environments and circumstabcea. So come rain come shine, they do the work. We wouldnt want to love people that are reliable.

Charles Munger , in his 1986 speech to a set of graduates used inversion to describe the power of being reliable ,

“First, be unreliable. Do not faithfully do what you have engaged to do. If you will only master this one habit you will more than counterbalance the combined effect of all your virtues, howsoever great.”.

When the driven are ,” jareed unavoidably “ , according to Marcus Aurelius, they go back to the basic and begin again without losing much steam. What do most off us do? We plan and plan until the plan is perfect. When we meet obstacles on the way ,we relant and give up. We never complates anything because planning is far bettter than doing.

To the driven ,one can not do anything if he does not commit to it for minimum of 90 days. Then 6 months, up to a year. If they find it worthwhile and meaningful, they continue. If not they discard and begin another project.

Driven people have massive fun

All the driven and successful people I know and have read about arr nit sadists. They are workaholic either. Tgey are very organised and meticulous with time and space. How do you think they produce at high level if they are not oraginised?

They say,

The way we do one thing is the way we do all things.

Despite the fact that driven people derive so much meaning and joy from what they do , they create time to unwind ,rejuvenate their body and reconsolidate their learning while playing. They play a lot. They do not use entertainment as excuse to avoid work.

I unwind with chatting with friends and sometimes hangng out with friends too. But I am observant what I do with these activities. Play is never bad. It is the meaning and intention that can turn fun to laziness. If you are driven and you have done the work earlier, your mind will be free to derive maximum joy from play. You will be unecumbered by nothing. Then work will become play and play will aignent work.

We can continue to pick random habits of the driven people but to list and list is not our purpose here. The reason I wrote this is bacause I know we are in this together. Life is hard. Life is simple. It depends on how we approach it . But one thing is glaring:

Life is Doable

There is an old hebrew saying: The world is a narrow bridge but we must not be afraid.

We must not be afraid of change. Rather we must be the change by being driven with meaning and purpose. How do we solve problems and make our lives and that of others better if we will wait for calamity to happen before we get going?

I ask myself often , “ How long do you want to wait before you start living your dreams?”

You can ask yourself too.

There is no guarantee in life. Being driven may not change your life and put all you ever dreamt of on your laps. I cant promise you that. Even the driven have their flaws. But if you keep observinhg what the driven do and be courageous to do these habits, you will get better.

I can promise you that.

Thanks for reading,liking,and sharing