Put yourself in drive.

"Great leaders go forward without stopping, remain firm without tiring, and remain enthusiastic while growing." Reed Markham, American Educator

Sometimes I come across these quotes which will change the way I look at the day. I may scribble it down on my notepad and forget about it when I turn the page the next day. I like this one because it is simple and straightforward. No frills, no bullshit. It's honest. Without discipline you have nothing. Without drive you have nothing. What drives you?

I keep asking myself that question over and over. And what I've come to realize is that it's changing all the time. My drive today may not drive me tomorrow. Maybe I should rephrase the question. What drives you today?

A business, too, has a drive. It can be the vision statement or mission statement written down to reiterate the foundation and future of the company. Or the employees who look at that vision statement like it's a daily motivational quote. I think it's the employees who keep the business focused, and innovative, through the good times and bad. You cannot rely on a vision statement, but you CAN rely on the people behind it.

There are the leaders and the followers, the innovative and the traditional. Whatever your role in an organization, it doesn't go without saying -- without the followers, there would be no leaders, and without the traditional, we would not have the innovative. The environment around you will mold you into the role destined for you. Forcing your role in a company when you have not even defined it can be destructive but also critical for growth.

Failure is expected. Without failure, success will not be as rewarding to you.

I remind you to look at what is driving you today? Make up your own quote or borrow one from a few of the many quotes I have jotted down in the past:

"The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."
Erica Jong

"Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes."
Peter Drucker

"The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I'. And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say 'I'. They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think 'team'. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'we' gets the credit.... This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done."
Peter Drucker