Drive

Some days a good colleague of mine asked me something like: “How do you manage to do all those things?” and that got me thinking. I do not do many things. In fact, I’m surrounded by very productive people, and I do not look at myself like one of them. But there is one thing that I did discover over the years: “take the most of the ongoing drive.” I’ll explain it.

I can define drive as that force that pushes you to do things. Sometimes you feel the urge to do something. Probably is not the most urgent thing at that moment, probably not the essential but also necessary. When I manage to bend that thing to the main priority, I can start that work immediately. And take full benefit of that inexplicable force. That is tricky because that thing was not the highest priority, and it takes a bit to decide it that is worth pursuing. It not always the case, but when it is, the end result is very beneficial.

Let me give you an example. Last year at the beginning of the year, I decided that it was the perfect time to refresh my acknowledge on iOS, (the platform that I work every day on). I put a schedule in place and a plan to work the whole year on it and cover all the areas I want to improve.

I did the job, but it took a lot of effort to set the mindset to read articles every day, read some books, and practice some skills. At the beginning of this year, I decided to invest my time in learning a new programming language. Then I discovered myself having the need to learn more about iOS. So, I did get a good book recommendation from a friend, and I bought d 1500 pages brick that I’m reading every day. As a result, and without almost no effort, I’m refreshing my basic skills of iOS without really needing to think about it. I did learn more about the platform in the last 60 days than in the whole of last year. I read every day, and I practice the new skills every day with almost no effort.

That is what I call drive. I don’t know exactly where it comes from, but it is fabulous when it happens and aligns with your goals.

I can give you another even clearer example. Two years ago, we bought a piano for Pau. At the time, he was starting to take some piano lessons. The first day that the piano was at home, I sit in front of the piano on I tried to play a little bit, mapping my acknowledge on the guitar to the keyboard. I realize that the piano sounded fantastic. But I knew the effort that it will take to learn the piano. So I decided not to invest a minute in it.

One year ago, around Christmas time, the piano had been in the living room for one year already, and I haven’t looked at it. Then I decided for some strange reason that I should learn to play it. I bought the subscription to one of the best methodologies that I found on the Internet, and I started playing every day for around two hours. Today I have played the piano for 474 days without missing one (thanks to Covid, of course). I sit at the piano every day and practice major and minor scales, arpeggios, chords, and more. I do not understand where do I take the strength from to do that job. I just do it, and I love it. I love the sound of it, and I really enjoy every single note. It’s clear to me that I will never read the score properly to do sight-reading. It is also clear that I will play the piano poorly for the rest of my life, but I don’t care. I wanted to do it, and this force pushes me to do it. In the end, we have to enjoy things and have fun with what we like. The Driver helps me to do it.

I have no idea how long the piano playing drive will last, and to be honest, I’m blown away that it has already been 1 year and 4 months, but I will take it while it lasts.

Lesson learned: When you feel the drive to do something that will be beneficial to you, just do it. It is the moment to do it. Thanks to it, you will do it effortlessly and enjoy the ride.