Drive by Daniel Pink

Published on December 29, 2009

 

         Drive encompasses an idea that motivation is more than what people perceive it to be. External rewards such as money or an upgrade in status surround us as a society, which creates this façade that these things are all we need to push us in the right direction. Daniel Pink was motivated to write this book, because of the very principal that is motivation. Pink recognizes the breach that lies between science and business, and the knowledge the two fields have of what motivation truly is.

         I believe that the primary purpose of the book was to challenge and inspire people to do more than focusing solely on their goals. The author bursts the bubble that we as a society have been far too cozy in for a while, where things are very much not what they seem.

In my opinion, the book delivers a very profound truth about what concerns us when we are only focused on the actions afoot. 

         The truth that I found in reading the book was that we are constantly losing, when we think that we’re winning. That isn’t to say that our accomplishments are not worth noting or worth attaining, but rather that we forget what we learned on the journey. I distract myself with the external rewards that come with my end goals, thus deeming the process I went through to get there as irrelevant. The reason for this remains that because my focus was offset; there were sometimes harmful side effects that resulted, such as narrowed focus.

          External rewards are not the enemy, however, but rather just bonuses that we should redeem with a grain of salt. In both personal and professional circumstances, Daniel Pink encourages that we instead focus on autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I think that these three concepts will be extremely useful in any potential career that I pursue.  I want to visualize the result and be my own result. The knowledge that my own desire and urge to be and to do something that is much larger than myself is the greatest reward of all. It is something to be proud of and something to be revered. The reward of directing my own path is something that will never leave me and can never be spent, so long as I remain steadfast in what I believe.

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