Driven

Understanding and Harnessing the Genetic Gifts Shared by Entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, Pro Athletes, and Maybe YOU

Alexandra got this book for me after she saw that Ben Greenfield recommended it. Douglass Brackmann got a dual PhD in 2002. Then he “struck out to research the components of powerful thought and action, helping driven ‘hunters’ focus their gifts.” We explore the paradoxical truth of Optimizing and actualizing as a Driven person (hint: discipline equals freedom), the fact that you have a great story to write (and you need structures to channel your energy), the Mastery Mindset (how’s yours?), the reality that better has no finish line (that’s worth repeating: better has no finish line), you and your sword (forging time!), and the Mastery Path (you on it?).

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labour and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always seems to be doing both. Enough for him that he does it well.

Lawrence Pearsall Jacks

I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.

Sam Walton

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Big Ideas

The Paradoxical Truth

Discipline equals freedom.
Your Great Story

Requires structure.
The Mastery Mindset

Looks like this.
Better Has No Finish Line

That’s worth repeating.
You and Your Sword

Forging time.
The Mastery Path

If we’re lucky it never ends.

“Once those of us with these Driven traits can reconceptualize our purpose so that it maps to our genetic blueprint and begins to harness our latent potential, we can be excellent at what we do in the world as it is now. Again, we are not broken; the world around us is designed by those different from us, and we forgot, over time and over generations, what our purpose in society was.

It was a collection of Driven brains that put a man on the moon and created the iPhone. It is the Driven who can take an idea and create a company that will dominate the market within months and years. We are Driven. All that energy, which is not very useful when a class of children learning their ABCs, is channeled into a force that cannot be stopped when leveraged correctly. These individuals become super-charged with purpose and focus. ...

The purpose of this book is not to make scientific inquiry into these [epigenetic] interactions. Rather, the goal is to inform the reader that these behavior patterns are a normal variant of human behavior. The Driven are not broken. They possess exceptional gifts. When you understand this, you can move beyond the social stigma and personal shame often associated with these differences. More importantly, you will be able to follow the Mastery Path, the lifelong path toward learning to use the powerful advantages you, as a Driven person, possess. As someone who is Driven, you are uniquely suited to the Mastery Path. On the Mastery Path, you will learn to harness your gifts and thrive even if the world does not seem a fit for you.”

~ Douglas Brackmann, PhD from Driven

Driven.

Alexandra got this book for me after she saw that Ben Greenfield recommended it.

Douglass Brackmann got a dual PhD in 2002. Then he “struck out to research the components of powerful thought and action, helping driven ‘hunters’ focus their gifts.”

He tells us that “nearly 10 percent of the population possesses a genetic difference that, with the right environmental conditions, manifests in a powerful, unstoppable drive.” The genetic difference is tied to what’s known as the allele genes DRD2-A1 and DRD4-7R. I’ve done some genetic testing and I know that I *don’t* have the DRD2-A1 allele (which influences dopamine functioning and, according to Brackmann’s approach leads to “Driven” characteristics).

The tests I’ve done didn’t measure whether or not I have the DRD4-7R allele but, well, as you might have noticed, I’m kinda driven. (Hah.) Brackmann tells us that our environmental upbringing can also influence our tendencies (of course). For me, hanging out in the womb of an anxious mother (love you, Mom!) and being raised in a family with an alcoholic father would have definitely helped create the conditions to kickstart some Drive. (#OMMS!)

Driven people who may inspire you include all the classic heroes across a range of domains—from Albert Einstein, Galileo, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci and Walt Disney to Alexander Graham Bell, John F. Kennedy, Magic Johnson, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.

We’ll save the details of all the genetic stuff for the book/another discussion. (Get the book here.)

For now, I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas from the book that can help ALL of us with a Drive to Optimize and actualize in service to the world by creating the right conditions in our lives to harness our latent potential and give the world all we’ve got. So, let’s jump in!

The Paradoxical Truth: Discipline equals freedom

“Initially, Laura’s need to be rewarded also resulted in some negative behaviors, and she was kicked out of three high schools. She was, however, able to recognize those tendencies and establish some critical boundaries, building her own set of practices to handle her powerful drive. At an early age, she recognized that her own ‘container’ needed to be tight, and she would have to guard against the negative manifestations of her genetic gift. These disciplines were the key.

Laura learned the paradoxical truth that discipline equals freedom. She knew her powerful energies must be channeled correctly and addressed constantly. She had opportunities to learn these techniques through her travels and multicultural experiences—spending time at the Shaolin Temple in China, practicing Kung Fu and meditation, making nine trips to India, studying yoga, and finding herself in the hospital multiple times following snowboarding injuries.”

That’s from an early chapter called “Real Life Stories.” Brackmann kicks off the chapter with a story of Elon Musk (who he tells us is “an archetype for being Driven”).

The basic idea? As a Driven, we need to find a way to HARNESS all of our Energy—lest we spiral out of control and burn ourselves and those around us out.

As I read this, I thought of a couple things.

First, I thought of our antifragile confidence algorithm and our emotional stamina concepts. As we discuss ALL the time, if we want emotional stamina and antifragile confidence, we’ve gotta write and run the algorithm: “The WORSE I feel, the MORE committed I am to the protocol.”

We can adapt this to being Driven quite well. It would go something like this: “The greater your intensity levels, the greater the need for structures!” In other words: If you’ve got a TON of Driven energy, you BETTER know how to harness all that. You need an “air-tight” container.

Which leads us to the next thing I thought of.

It’s impossible for me to read “discipline equals freedom” and NOT think of Jocko Willink and his book/field manual by the same name: Discipline Equals Freedom. (<- Check out the Notes.) Jocko is, of course, the very DEFINITION OF DRIVEN. Seriously. Open the dictionary to “Driven” and you know who you see? Jocko Willink!!!

btw: He’d be right next to David Goggins and all the other Navy SEALs we’ve featured—most recently Admiral William McRaven (see Notes on Sea Stories and Make Your Bed) and Adam Brown in the epic book Fearless. (As it turns out, the co-author of the book (Randy Kelley) is a former SEAL and the SEALs are frequently used as Driven examples.)

One of the reasons Driven guys excel in the SEALs is because of the fact that it allows them to push themselves to the very edge of their potential AND because the military provides a built-in set of structures to help them flourish—which is one of the reasons why former military guys (and gals) often struggle when they leave the services—they lose the challenge, the camaraderie AND the structures.

All that to say: Are YOU Driven? Awesome. How are your structures? You working your protocol? Let’s remember that the MORE Driven we are, the MORE committed we need to be to executing our protocol. TODAY.

Your Great Story Requires structure

“The predisposition to need something better or to look toward the future is ultimately grounded in the primal dissatisfaction that manifests as drive. We have the potential for great stories, like those of Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, but we need a structure that aligns with the Driven urges, yet keeps us on track. When that framework is absent, it can lead to bad stories.

Clients who haven’t found structure and can’t direct their drive fall victim to addictions from gambling to drugs to sex. These addictions promise relief from the endless, almost obsessive-compulsive desire to be better—to get to the anticipated point on the horizon. The drugs, sex, or alcohol offer respite from self-perception as failures, beliefs confirmed by falling short of societal and self-imposed expectations and not grasping that coveted prize. Their disappointment is crushing proof of their inadequacies.

Highly Driven people need the right environment, and the right design for their ‘high-powered’ drive. Envision a Formula One race car. If you put this super-charged machine on a downtown street, you’re going to get into trouble. Take that same race car and put it on the Indianapolis Speedway, and it’s a perfect fit. Understanding your drive is the key to overcoming and avoiding addiction. You want to put your gifts in the right environment, an environment in which a Driven individual can thrive.”

Did I mention that structures are super-important for Driven people? Well, I’ll mention it again.

Here’s the primary theme of the book in a nutshell: “When the Driven thrive, their gifts bring extraordinary outcomes for themselves and society. The trick is to harness those gifts to work for us, rather than undermine our efforts.”

In our last Idea, I mentioned Adam Brown. If you’ve read our Notes on Fearless, you know his story. You also know that he’s the PERFECT case study for EXACTLY what Doug is talking about here. And, now that I think about it, so is JAY-Z. Those two guys? They were both DRIVEN.

We called them “hustlers” in our Notes on Michael Eric Dyson’s great biography of JAY-Z. He tells us there are two kinds of hustle: “blight” and “bright.”

Blight hustle—whether that’s dealing or doing drugs—is what happens when we don’t have the right environmental structures. Bright hustle, on the other hand, is, of course, when we’ve got the right structures to channel our enormous DRIVE in a positive direction.

So, I ask yet again (all caps this time): HOW ARE YOUR STRUCTURES?!

Do you know what you do when you’re on? Are you doing it?!

P.S. When I read this line: “The predisposition to need something better or to look toward the future is ultimately grounded in the primal dissatisfaction that manifests as drive,” I immediately thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson “A feeble man can see the farms that are fenced and tilled, the houses that are built. The strong man sees the possible houses and farms. His eye makes estates as fast as the sun breeds clouds.”

P.P.S. When I read the brilliant (!) metaphor about the Formula One race car on a downtown street, I thought of John Eliot’s wisdom from Overachievement where he tells us: “Working on techniques to manage stress is a bit like trying to win the Indy 500 by putting a governor on the engine of your race car or swapping out a powerful V-12 for a V-4 because it offers a ‘quieter ride.’ You wouldn’t do that. Not if you were after the checkered flag.”

Remember: We all have the potential for great stories. Let’s write ours together. TODAY.

The Mastery Mindset

“The Driven person is especially suited for the life of Mastery; in fact, given our wiring, we almost have to get on the path or we will eventually self-sabotage. As Driven, we’re wired to feel that it’s never enough or not good enough.

This feeling is what drives us to do amazing things, but it also drives us to shame and to sabotage. The Mastery Mindset doesn’t change our drive, but rather directs it. It shifts us from a place of never enough or not good enough to a mindset where we look for something more or something better. We realize that we’re okay in the present, but that we can be better. This shift is life-changing.

We’re able to stop trying to cover up our perceived failures, but instead learn to run at them. ‘How can I be better?’ cannot exist if you ‘didn’t screw up,’ without finding your faults. We’re done pretending to be something in the outside world while hiding in an internal ‘secret, shameful’ world. The suffering we experience in our lives stems from the discrepancy between the two worlds. We shift to align the outer and inner world.”

That’s from a chapter called “Stop Sabotaging Yourself.” How do we do that? We adopt a Mastery Mindset. Think: Carol Dweck’s Growth vs. Fixed Mindset (a la our Notes on Mindset and Self-theories). This, as we’ve discussed, so many times, is REALLY (!!!) important to get.

When we come at life with a Mastery Mindset, our lives change. We KNOW (at the depths of our soul!) that we’re PERFECT in the present AND that we’re capable of SO MUCH MORE.

I actually kick off the “Celebrate” session of our Mastery Series fundie discussion for our Coaches with what I called “The Paradox of Optimizing.”

I lean on some ideas from Conquering Perfectionism 101—reminding ourselves that our ideals are GUIDING STARS not distant shores and that we’ll never get “there.” The challenge is to hold our high standards (super important!) as we GO FOR PERFECTION while embracing the constraints of reality (super important!) and *knowing* that we’ll NEVER ACTUALLY ATTAIN PERFECTION.

I read this quote from John Wooden to bring the point home: “Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.”

Then we spent a bunch of time accepting ourselves, reality and our failures. With that level of acceptance, we can put ALL our attention at having fun seeing just how much better we can get as we remind ourselves that “How can I get better?” GOESWITH “That needs work!” as we spiral up one little micro-gain at a time—always curious about just how much better we can get while knowing that better has no finish line.

Which just so happens to be the next Idea…

P.S. Whenever I think of Mastery these days, I think of Robert Greene’s Mastery, Stephen Cope’s The Great Work of Your Life and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Creativity. I’ve reread those Notes more than once over the last couple weeks. They’re SO GOOD! Check ‘em out!

Better Has No Finish Line

“Better has no destination and better does not mean perfect. This is a huge difference from a mindset that tells us we need to achieve what’s on the horizon so we can be okay, or we need to get all A’s in college to prove we are smart (and, of course, once we get the A’s, we rationalize that anyone could have gotten them because the courses were easy). There is no need for self-hatred, no need for self-sabotage. We shift to a mindset that knows we’re okay, but we can always seek to be better. We can always be better.

There is excitement in being better, excitement that motivates us to try harder. Better has no finish line. Understanding and believing this is critical to putting an end to self-sabotage.

You may come up with ways to be better but, since better has no finish line, you never failed. You never get there, which is great, because there’s no longer a reason to be anxious. … By focusing on being better, we can make small, manageable changes that will last a lifetime.”

“Better has no finish line.” <- Isn’t that an EPIC line? It’s worth repeating: Better has no finish line. Better has no finish line. Better has no finish line.

Reminds me of my Yoda’s wisdom that we’re never exonerated. We’re never going to get to a place where we’re finally (!), once and for all, happy ever after. In fact, the illusion that we THINK we will someday arrive in that make-believe Fantasyland is, in fact, the source of a ton of suffering. ESPECIALLY for the Driven.

The solution? Accept yourself. With all of your wonderful imperfections. Then go get better. Know that there’s no “there” there but get curious to see just how far you can go—just how much better you can get.

As I typed that I was trying to think of the book in which I first heard the idea that our potential is an “asymptote.” Enter: A quick search of the Mac. After poking around a bit, I found it.

Drive by Dan Pink. Then I laughed. Of course it was in a book with nearly the exact same title as this one. You know what Dan says? Well, basically EXACTLY the same thing as Doug. He even has what he calls “The Three Laws of Mastery.”

Law #1: “Mastery Is a Mindset.” (Sounds familiar!) + Law #2: “Mastery Is a Pain.” (As in: Do the hard, deliberate practice to hone your craft!) + Law #3: “Mastery Is an Asymptote.” (An asymptote is a curved line that approaches a straight line but never quite hits it. Again: We NEVER ACTUALLY ACHIEVE PERFECT MASTERY. It’s always outside our grasp. And that’s awesome.) One more time. Remember: Better has no finish line.

P.S. Dan Pink also tells us: “Reminding yourself that you don’t need to be a master on day 3 is the best way of ensuring you will be one by day 3,000.”

You and Your Sword

“Japanese swords are known to be some of the world’s best. Handmade even today in an extremely intricate process, these swords do not break in battle. The sword-maker puts hard metal on top of soft metal and folds it again, and again, and again, thousands of times. Hard metal will break and soft metal will bend; yet, when you fold them together over and over, you’re taking the best attributes of each metal and turning them into the most exquisite cutting machine in the world. These swords don’t easily lose their edge, and they’re curved at exactly the right angle.

Just as we’d craft a sword in a certain organized way, we do much the same thing with our minds and bodies. We must be soft and gentle in attitude, but strong and accountable in action. … The ability to experience and integrate the impulsive, the emotional, and the logical parts of our life as a whole results in flow—that fluid state in which we perform at our optimal best.”

Earlier in the book, Doug tells us to read Josh Waitzkin’s brilliant book The Art of Learning to see a Master at work on his process. I second that. Check out the Notes for more.

In his great book, Josh echoes this wisdom with his own sword metaphor. He tells us: “Great ones are willing to get burned time and again as they sharpen their swords in the fire. Consider Michael Jordan. It is common knowledge that Jordan made more last-minute shots to win the game for his team than any other player in the history of the NBA. What is not so well known, is that Jordan also missed more last-minute shots to lose the game for his team than any other player in the history of the game. What made him the greatest was not perfection, but a willingness to put himself on the line as a way of life. Did he suffer all those nights when he sent twenty thousand Bulls fans home heartbroken? Of course. But he was willing to look bad on the road to basketball immortality.”

Reminds me of the Derek Jeter line we discussed in It Takes What It Takes. If we want to hit the game-winning home run, we have to be willing to strike out in the same batter’s box. That’s how swords are forged. Dissolving the apparent dichotomies of life while we integrate our intense focus on Optimizing with an equally intense acceptance of reality as we give THIS MOMENT all we’ve got. And the next one and…

The Mastery Path

“The Mastery Path is not about making big decisions or big changes. It’s the micro-commitments and the micro-adjustments we make that constitute this constant state of learning. A small change does not trigger resistance in our elephant; it allows us to slowly expand our bandwidth.

If we appreciate and are grateful for this progress, if we celebrate the small steps, we can enjoy the reinforcing feelings of satisfaction. We don’t lose heart; we don’t give up. We don’t focus on a specific point in the distance because we’re not interested in a specific location on the path, only the path itself. The Mastery Path is perpetual. There is no finish line. We keep learning.”

Ah, the Master and his or her path. George Leonard comes to mind.

In his book called Mastery he echoes this wisdom as he tells us: “We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.” And, perhaps my favorite line ever: “And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels.”

On what does the Master focus on his her path? The micro-commitments and micro-adjustments. I think we have a way to describe that… Yep. —> +1. +1. +1. <- All day. Every day.

Especially TODAY.

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