Developing Young Leaders: Self-Drive: The Root to Accomplishing Anything

The first time I heard that self-drive is a trainable skill, I had to pause for a second. I had never really thought about it that way. I always assumed I had self-drive for the things I enjoyed or was naturally good at—it didn't seem like a skill, it just felt natural. 

But the more I thought about the areas in my life where I exhibit self-drive, the more I started to see the habits and rituals I built around improving at those things. Once I understood that, the next step was figuring out how to apply those same principles to areas in my life where I wanted to develop self-drive.

This is what we’re working on with the LTAD group this week. The first step for them was to identify where they already have self-drive. Here are some of the areas the kids shared:

• "Going to the field to practice soccer on my own."
  
• "Working in the basement with the soccer ball."
  
• "Taking shots at home to improve my accuracy."
  
• "Practicing baseball, golf, and basketball."
  
• "Reading."
  

These answers didn't come out immediately. Before we started the workout, I asked them to think about things they felt driven to do. At first, they listed tasks they felt they had to do, like homework or cleaning their room. 

This highlighted an important aspect of self-drive: it has to come from within. Self-drive isn’t about doing something just to please your parents or avoid getting in trouble—it’s about something you’re motivated to do for yourself. This doesn't mean they shouldn’t do tasks like homework, but understanding the root of their self-drive is key to replicating it across different areas of their lives.

After we discussed this and went through the workout, the kids were able to identify the areas where they truly felt self-driven, and those are the examples they shared above.

Before we started breaking down their habits and rituals around their self-driven skills, I asked them another question: "What is something you would like to have self-drive in?" 

• “Study more to get better grades”
  
• “Doing more homework in study hall”
  
• “Reading more to improve E.L.A (A+)”
  
• “Being able to improve my time in the cold plunge and do it more often”
  
• “Pratice my volin”
  

My belief is that by helping them see the gap between the areas where they have self-drive and where they don’t, it will become easier for them to identify the habits that drive them and apply those same habits to other skills they want to improve.