The way I see it, there are two forces pushing us to carry on: drive and motivation. On the surface, both seem to be the same thing - they are both mental stimuli that both helps us to continue on our journey and to get back onto our journey if things don't go according to plan.
However, there is, I think, a gulf between one and the other. Let's take motivation first.
Motivation is something we all have in abundance when we first start: it gets us up, helps us to say no to things we shouldn't eat, helps us to read up on healthy lifestyles...it's our get up and go. Motivation, though, is swift, it is fleeting and it disappears as quickly as it comes. Oh, it can come back time and time again, but it will always wane, slow down and always, eventually, leave you - like a sugar rush leaves you without energy to carry on.
Drive, on the other hand, is a lot more permanent. Drive is the unstoppable force that compels you to keep going even when every fibre of your being is telling you to quit. Drive tells you to pick yourself up, focus on what you want and keep pushing even when you don't want to. Drive is what winners have.
I think that drive definitely needs motivation to start you off, but once you have it then generates it's own motivation through seeing the end goal and forever striving to get to it. Drive forces you to see the failure and think about an alternative route to get there, even if that route takes longer. It is it's own momentum. Each failure motivates the driven to do better next time, to not give up. It is a hunger, a desire, a passion to succeed that gets us to our goal no matter what.
There are, I think, a number of ways to become driven rather than simply motivated. Firstly, obviously, you need a goal and a plan to get there, and you have to continuously reflect on your journey, trying different paths along the way. Factor in failure also and how you will deal with it.
Alternatively, you can set yourself a series of mini goals that will lead you to the same major goal, only you will have lots of different routes to it rather than simply one. Any way you want to look at it you need a hunger and a desire to do it no matter what. Motivation will come and go but hunger, desire, drive will keep your engine running.
I suppose it doesn't really matter how you maintain your drive, but a focus on the big goal is key, I think, and knowing that there isn't a single route to that goal is the way forward to your drive, your passion, your desire to keep going
whatever blocks your path.
It will get you you there and nothing will stop you!
Thanks for reading.
Stay strong. Stay honest.
Sean.