In a famous clip, Stephen Hawking was being interviewed by British pundit (eww…pundits) Piers Morgan. The accomplished scientist was asked about who the smartest person alive was. Hawking dodged the question by stating that “people who boast about their IQ are losers”, to which the British pundit chuckled nervously. Piers Morgan is known for having an ego the size of France (hehe, see what I did there?), especially regarding his own perceived intelligence. As satisfying as it is to watch a pundit squirm like an ant underneath some kid’s magnifying glass, Dr. Hawking didn’t go nearly far enough in his condemnation.
“Dan, what do you mean he didn’t go far enough? That was a total lambasting!”-a confused reader of mine will protest. Hawking neglected to mention that people who boast about their drive are also complete fucking losers. Yes, you read that correctly and yes, I’m serious. People who brag about how driven they are and have an allegedly unmatched urge to succeed are some of the most grating people to listen to on Earth. Worse yet; the internet is filled with these types; look no further than the loudmouths on Blue Reddit.
Now, before we get too far down this rabbit hole, I’ll set the record straight. I absolutely love drive when it is done correctly. In fact, I even wrote an article called An Ode to Hustle Culture in which I warn against demonizing young men for being entrepreneurial. Furthermore, I personally have been called a try-hard numerous times throughout my life, and I’ve spent my 20’s openly resenting the lazy and whiners. I mention those tidbits of information to say that I am no stranger to the topic. While speaking on this topic, I’ll use the terms drive and motivation interchangeably, despite some angry Karen who will inevitably quip well, motivation is only short-term! Yes, I know that, and I’m choosing to use the word in its most common usage rather than by a strict definition that the layperson wouldn’t even consider; deal with it.
The tall-children who brag about their drive love to reference this Wil Smith quote, however the population that actually lives up to that quote is far smaller-and quieter-than the population that litters our conversations and feeds with such sentiments. Chances are, unless you’re David Fucking Goggins, or putting 100 hours per week towards your chosen pursuit like Elon, then you likely are not going to die on the treadmill. As an aside, I wonder where all of Mr. Smith’s endless motivation was when it came to saving his marriage?
Anecdotal as it may be (Gasp!), most of the people that I’ve met in life who have bragged about their level of motivation have done so mostly to put others down. This is done in the same way that some insecure assholes rub in their money, material status symbols or IQ scores/GPA’s to those they perceive as lesser than them. News flash: assuming that you are indeed wealthier, smarter or more driven than someone else (a claim I’ll take at face value for now), that does not put you above them. It seems that that those who brag about their level of motivation must have skipped that basic lesson that we teach to literal toddlers. Besides, there is always a bigger fish, and chances are that bigger fish is closer than you think.
People who brag about how driven they are also tend to be hyper competitive, even when the situation clearly doesn’t call for it. It was one thing for Tom Brady to throw a tablet on an NFL sideline when he was losing a playoff game, but it’s another thing entirely for him to air-mail a controller towards the TV when losing a video game. While I have nothing against competition in itself (in fact, I love sports), feeling the need to constantly win at mundane tasks is a sign of deeper insecurities. What’s with the need to constantly seek validation? Who hurt you? By the way, this isn’t a fringe opinion either. People who brag about their drive are deeply broken.
Additionally, one of the saddest things I’ve personally ever seen (two anecdotes in a single article? Gasp!) is when people use their education to loudly boast about their drive. This practice doesn’t signal what the bragger thinks it does. At best, it signals that you are good at following rules that other people set out for you (rather than innovating) and had ample opportunity to amass more degrees than a thermometer; the latter of which means that you’re out of touch with most Americans. At worst, however, it screams colossal student loan debt and a know-it-all yet under accomplished career student with little to offer. Adult graduate students (by that, I mean people that have been in the professional workforce for a few years between their bachelor’s and grad school) that use their post-name alphabet soup to brag about their drive frequently miss that nobody outside of your immediate friends and family will fucking care and that even with those select few, the talking point will eventually wear out.
These motivational show-offs tend to forget that others are likely similarly motivated but by far different things. People are dynamic and context-dependent, so the alleged slacker at the workplace is likely highly motivated in his weekly Tuesday night bowling league. As the great Jocko Willink put it, you need to figure out what game you’re playing and adjust your strategy accordingly. Allegedly hyper-driven people don’t seem to realize that others are not necessarily playing the same game as them.
The supposedly-driven crowd also fail to mention that having a ton of inherent motivation is a necessary-but-not-sufficient quality to succeed in whatever given endeavor that they are discussing, Clever strategy, market fit, timing, and luck are all necessary for business ventures to become profitable. All of the drive in the world will only take your fitness so far if your nutrition habits are poor; in fact, too much drive can kill your gains. Again, I’m not here to demonize drive, but anyone who says that drive is all that is necessary to succeed in life (whatever the hell that means?) is either delusional or has an agenda.
The amount of drive you have should be immediately obvious to those around you anyways. Being insanely driven is like being a badass or being a minimalist: if you have to announce that you are, then you aren’t. Go ahead, sharpen your pitchforks; my give-a-fuck meter will still be registering a 0.0 if that last sentence offended you. Elon doesn’t have to go around telling people that he is driven, just as Jocko Willink doesn’t have to go around telling people that he is a bad motherfucker.
Shut up and grind…
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