The Value of drive

I hope as we have been looking at the value of drive you are begging to identify what drives your own life. Your drive can sometimes hide your motives, and if you really what to know what is your motive for doing sometime search your heart and think about what is the primary force ruling your actions? Whereas motive is the reason, aim or intention for doing something, drive guides motive into how and why to do it. Now let’s look at three more things that can drive our lives;

Driven by fear-sometimes past traumatic experiences such as being abused by some can cause us to fear. Or some people come from families where they have over protected and controlling parents, then over time they become afraid of doing things by themselves. These people miss great opportunities because they are afraid to venture out, instead they play it safe, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo. The next value I will be taking about in the next two days is the value of risking taking so if driven by fear tune in I will definitely have a word to encourage you.

Driven by the need for approval- there are those who let other peoples expectation about their lives control them. It could be career demands that their parents have placed on them, or performance expectation that coach has for them, or even may friends controlling their lives. If you find yourself in this category, my advice to you is “that the followers or a crowd normally get lost in it” (Rick Warren), if you want to surely fail please and follow everyone.

Driven by Materialism- there some people who are driven by the desire to acquire the latest Gucci bag, the latest I-phone or the latest thing in fashion. They think that having material possessions will bring happiness in their lives. What they don’t realize is that having material things only make you happy for a little while, because things change quicker we eventually become bored and want bigger, newer or latest versions. Do fail into the trap of believing that having more money will make you happy. Don’t get me wrong I want you to make as much money as you want just don’t let money and material stuff make you.

The value of drive

In his bestselling book the purpose driven life Rick Warren advices that a person can be driven by guilt, resentment, anger, fear, materialism, need for approval. Let’s explore these further and get a clear understanding how the value of drive works;

Driven by guilt- This is the sort of person who is ruled by regrets and the need to hide their shame. The source of these regrets and shame originates from memories. Simply put they allow the past to control their future. A while back I was running and looking behind me to see if a bus was coming, and as I kept on running I kept on bumping into different people. One person complained

“Can’t you watch where you are going?” the next person said

“Ouch!!!! Did you have to step on my foot mate?” and still the 3rd one said

“Are you crazy cant you watch where you are going?”

Guilt driven people are always looking backwards and constantly hurting themselves with painfully memories. They are prisoners to their past, the best way to release yourself from this sort of painful torment is by learning from your experiences and constantly focusing on the lessons rather than the hurt and reason for the hurt.

Driven by resentment- the people driven by resentment always feel bitter and offended over something that someone did to them. Instead of seeking forgiveness and redress to the hurt they hold to it and it becomes a video they play over and over in their mind. What they don’t realize is the only person they are hurting is themselves, as they person who offered them might have moved on and no longer remembers the episode. The best way to drive yourself out of resentment is to guide yourself into forgiveness and let go and let God.

Driven by Anger- a person driven by anger is easily irritated, enraged or annoyed. Because of some past experiences they are always on the defensive. They easily blow up and explode onto others. In friendship you have to be careful about such people because they would normally get you into trouble than good. Stop at think for a moment, do you know anyone who is driven by any of these characteristics mentioned above? Have you at a point in your life been driven by one of the above characteristics?

The value of drive

The common definition for the word drive is to propel, control, direct and guide. Pertaining your life if I was to ask you what control’s it, what propels it, what directs it and where do you get your guidance from what would your answer be? The value of drive can be looked at as the source of the energy that influences, rules and control your life. Generally when you ask people at different points in their life they will tell you they are either driven by a problem, pressure, and deadline to meet, a painful memory, a haunting fear, their circumstances or emotions

1. Driven by problem

There are those who are driven by problems to which they see no way out so their main focus is on the problem. They think of the problem and focus mainly on the negatives aspects of it. While there are those who a driven by the need to find solution to the problems they are facing. The solution focused people drive themselves out of any problem they face.

2. Driven by pressure

Whether it is political pressure, peer pressure and organizational pressure, those driven by pressure are influenced by the pressure exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, beliefs or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member (for example, political party, trade union), or a social clique. A person affected by peer pressure may or may not want to belong to these groups. Peer pressure can cause people to do things they would not normally do, e.g. promote hatred, take drugs, smoke, get a girlfriend, marry, get a job, have children, buy items they don't really need (cars, houses, boats), etc. So always check those around and how they influence you and remember to remain true to yourself, your values and beliefs.

3. Driven by deadline

Sometimes we set unrealistic deadline or people set deadlines that we have to meet and the duration of reaching this deadline the attainment of it becomes the primary focus of our life. A classic example is towards the end of every year and end of April most accounts departments for many firms have a deadline to meet and during this period everything is left on the way side and the primary focus is on the year end.

I will encourage you stop and have look at yourself and ask what is driving your life?

THE VALUE OF HARDWORK

When I say that so and so is a hard working person what picture comes into your mind? To me the picture that comes to mind is of someone who comes to work on time, consistently achieves their set goals or objectives, always lending a hand to other members of team because the understanding of together we are stronger.

While excellence deals with doing things right and creatively, hard word deals with putting your heart and soul into your task at hand ---giving it 100%? Without using shortcuts, slacking, or cheating! People who are committed at this level of service are always easy targets for promotion and progression in any organization. You would be surprised that research has shown that only 5% of the work force are committed to this level of productivity.

Ask your this question are you with the 95% or 5%?

ZIGGY DUST-DANCING ROAD CLEANER

Zizzy dust as we have come to know him is a polish road sweeper in Chiswick, West London. He rose to stardom on you tube and world press by showing extra-ordinary passion to his work (sweeping the street). What has marked him out from other road sweepers is the fact the he sweeps, dances and have fun while he is doing it. Here is a couple of comments from the people who have seen Ziggy dust, zinging on the streets.

Jackie Carr said: "I love the dancing bin man who works in Chiswick High Road. He makes me smile every time I see him." Kieran Loughran said: "The dancing bin man is a breath of fresh air." (Sourced from the evening standard) How many of us would say something that positive about a street sweeper. I bet not many, when you pursue excellence with passion in what you do, you will get you noticed even in places where people would not normally notice you.

Now here is what the man himself had to say about his road sweeping?

"I dance while I am working as it makes it more fun. I love music and dancing. I am used to performing and I get a great reaction from people in Chiswick. Mothers stop with their children and dance with me and one old lady phoned the council to say she wanted to take me for a cup of tea on my break. It is not the most interesting of jobs but I am very happy doing it as I make other people happy and have made lots of friends." (From the Evening Standard Newspaper). To him what gives him joy in his work is the people he makes happy.

If you want to have a laugh and see why ziggy is making people happy please follow the link below for a video of Ziggy in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THFTwkNJVe4

The 8 things that the value of excellence will require of you

If you are passionate about your work, have a persistent commitment to quality, and will continue with a relentless attention to details then you will have the essential markers of excellence. Quality work and an appreciation for the importance of details benefit not just the clients a business serves; these attitudes and habits also bring joy and peace of mind to the person who delivers the work. To know how to do something exceptionally well is to enjoy it. The last four habits you need for excellence are;

5. Paying attention to details

The thing behind every outstanding act is always found in the smallest of details."If you long to accomplish great and noble tasks, you first must learn to approach every task as though it were great and noble. Even the biggest plans depend on the success of the smallest components. Many people downplay small details, dismissing them as minutia-the "small stuff," that we're encouraged to ignore. But, in fact, our whole environment is simply collection of small details.

Successful people, in many walks of life, understand the importance of detail: Watching CSI you will notice that crime scene investigators know that it's often the smallest, most obscure detail that results in the arrest and prosecution of criminals. In Athletes coaches are all too aware that one minor misjudgement can swing momentum to their competitor and result in a loss rather than a win.

6. Loyalty

Watch your words, never speak negatively about your boss or be around those who do because you do not want those seeds to be planted inside of you. Loyalty includes taking charge of bad thoughts. Don’t think of your boss in a bad way. Every thought you have produces something in my life. Negative thoughts will produce negative fruit in my life. Make it your deliberate effort to focus mostly on the good parts and before you know it as you think so it will become.

7. Perception

Pay attention to the perception that your boss has of you because it is generally his reality of you. Anytime my boss sees me working it should as if I am working hard. Perception is more powerful than truth. If my boss perceives me as a hard worker I will get a raise. Remember your boss can’t be there every single hour to see how hard you are working so the limited time he is there make sure he perceives you as a hard worker. Perceptions guard it, protect it and enhance it.

In case you are wondering what is the 8th thing you have to do to becoming excellent, commit to doing the first 7 things and before long the 8th will become clear to you when it does will you please post a comment on my blog and let me know?

The 8 things that the value of excellence will require of you

Every time I come across someone who is in pursuit of excellence I astonished how rich and valuable it is to be around them. First it is the pace and momentum by which they do things, the energy they exude and the beauty of seeing their finished excellent work. If you want to cross over into excellence you must be willing to pursue the following habits;

1. Love solving problems

Don’t be intimated by problems, take them head on. Because in the process you will be learning something new, that will help you understand your job better or perhaps even maybe yourself. Research has shown that people who like solving problems are almost always promoted in their places of work and always also easy to get along with.

2. Discover what is the most important thing to the person you are serving.

When I was a teenager I used to work for Marks and Spencer and my boss at the time set us targets. But his main thing was he wanted his staff workers to be on time every morning. Even though I met and exceeded my targets he was always unhappy with me then, because of my time keeping. Eventually he had to let me go because I was hitting my target for work but not the target that is important to him that is time keeping.

3. Serve or give of yourself as you would like other people to give/ serve to you.

Imagine you are the most important person around, how would you like to be served? Now imagine you are serving yourself when you’re serving someone else. What kind of service would give to you? Give that to others you will be surprised how this simple exercises elevate your excellence and joy in serving.

4. Be willing to do or give more than is required of you

The people we celebrate in history, literature and religion gave more that was required of them. Think of mother Teresa and the orphans and the poor of Calcutta she gave more than was required of her and now even those she is dead she has inspired thousands of people to follow in her footsteps.

Friends will you please be committed to a life lived excellently by loving to solve problems, indentifying what is important to the people we serve, giving and serving others as we would like to be served and a willingness to do and give more than is required of us. Please write areas where you want to start serving excellently?