Boosting Drive for more Action

Dreams are nice, but they guarantee nothing. They prove nothing. They offer nothing. Dreams are like cotton candy, marshmallows and jelly beans… sweet and delicious. But a steady diet of only that is bad for you. Motivation is also nice. Motivation is like pasta and potatoes… starchy carbs that provide a lot of initial energy but are short-lived. Motivation is fleeting. It delivers a rush of adrenaline and then fizzles out. But drive? Drive is the thing on which others can depend. Drive is like protein. It is the “effort” muscle. Drive delivers action. It is the executive function most responsible for career success. So how do we build up our drive?

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Motivation and Drive – Two Sides of the Same Coin

We commonly say that someone who is determined or assertive is “driven”. Or they might say that person is “motivated”. While these are qualities we recognize and admire in others, is being motivated and driven the same thing? And where does motivation and/or drive come from? Is it innate, like eye color, or something we learn or develop? What happens if you lack motivation or drive? Can it be increased? Most importantly, how much do motivation or drive account for achievement and success? If this is the fuel that drives behavior, what can be done if the tank is on empty?
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Executive functions – such as working memory, self-control, adaptability, flexibility, and planning — help us remember our goals and the steps needed to reach them, resist distractions along the way, and find a Plan B when Plan A doesn’t work out. And, it helps us ensure that a plan is carried out properly. That’s called updating, and it is very important for getting work done. Without these cognitive abilities, we’d be lost. But what happens if a person’s brain is not very good at updating or other of these executive functions? Can this unseen hero of productivity – cognitive updating — be improved? It turns out that all executive functions can be improved, and there are lots of exercises that can help.

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The human mind performs many cognitive tasks that control how well we learn, work and manage life. They aren’t part of IQ or EQ. These are “executive functions” like self-control, planning, adapting, viewing things from different perspectives, creating new ideas, storing and retrieving information to perform complex tasks, making decisions, using reasoning or logic to solve problems, and much more. One of the cognitive functions most used by successful people yet least acknowledged is called “updating.” Without updating, no college course is completed, no degree is earned, no project reaches the finish line and no work plan is accomplished. So what is cognitive updating, how does it work and what happens if your brain is not very good at updating? Can this unseen hero of productivity be improved?

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