Sunday, September 5, 2010

Drive - VS - Discipline


















I would consider myself a very "driven" individual.
I get pumped, amped, excited and all-around jazzed about a new idea.
A new start-to-finish project.
I can throw myself into a short-term project 100% (Point of Clarification: anyone who says that they throw themselves into something 110% is exceeding their means and bound to fail. The most you can give is 100%...that's all of it.)

I have a drive that is second-to-none. I want to succeed in ways that most people might think ridiculous, but I shoot for the stars with no thought of landing on the moon.
And no, that's not arrogance.
I just simply believe whole-hearted in my God-given talents.
I have always found myself in positions of favor, and I refuse to settle for an ordinary life.
When it comes to my drive, I am willing to lose countless hours of sleep to get a project done. I work great under pressure and in conditions that allow my creativity to thrive.

However, in day-to-day disciplines, I kinda suck.

QUESTION: does "success" (notice the quotation marks, please) require both?

If you ask me to do simple daily and/or weekly maintenance on a set of systems, I will lose excitement rapidly. I will fall through on simple tasks because I am not a good maintainer. It is not one of my strengths. Neither am I a good multi-tasker. We place a lot of importance on the ability to multi-task in our corporate-driven society. However, if I'm working for and/or with you and you want me to thrive, let me fully throw myself into a short-term project that requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking with definite results and a definite project-end date.

On the flip side, there is also a lot of credit given to the "out-of-the-box" people, and that may not be your strenght. You may thrive on day-to-day routine. Both are great and neither is better than the other, I'm just telling you where I sit on the spectrum. Meg is a great opposite, indeed a perfect opposite, for me because she is that steady rock that keeps my creative drive in check and makes sure that we get the day-to-day maintenance done.

Now, I know that there are daily disciplines that I must keep (ie: daily Bible reading, daily prayer, daily workouts, daily chores around the house), and I'm trying to gain discipline in certain areas that I have previously faltered in...but it is not always easy!

What about you? Where do you fall on the list?
Are you a short-term, driven, project-oriented person like me, or do you thrive under conditions of day-to-day, steady paced, disciplined areas?

Again, one is not better than the other. They are both needed to keep the world going... be honest, where do you thrive? Are you currently in that situation? Can you make that situation possible for you so that you can offer the most of your God-given talents to the world?

1 comment:

  1. I'm exactly like you but don't usually have the luxury of living in my strengths! Unfortunately, most of my day-to-day is mundane to me and I have to invest myself in projects to give me energy. People wonder why I stress myself by adding these things. I have to in order to keep my sanity! However, I am in trouble either way, because my energy is drained by the mundane or I am stressed by all the things I add to my plate! I don't think there is a win-win for me:)

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