Figure Out What Drives You

5 Most Common Motivators

Everyone is driven by something.

The Banker and His Wife, Marinus van Reymerswaele (1540)

The dictionary defines the verb drive as “to guide, to control, or to direct.” Like a car by its engine, a golf ball by a club, or a nail by a hammer, you and I are driven by something. And it is our chief duty to figure out what it is.

“A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder—a waif, a nothing, a no man.” —Thomas Carlyle

Here are what I think are the five most common drivers (in no particular order):

Guilt

Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories. They run from regrets and hide behind shame. They allow their past to control their future and unconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own ambitions.

There’s a pattern in the Book of Genesis worth pointing out: sin is almost always punished with nomadism. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they were banished from paradise. When Cain killed his brother, God said, “You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” When the bui…