Dynamic Drive: The 7 Keys to Sustainable Success

THERE is drive, and then there is Dynamic Drive. Dynamic Drive is about aligning what you do with who you are. Author Molly Fletcher says, “It’s about figuring out whether there are parts of your life where you are playing small or safe or are dissatisfied.” It’s about fulfillment.

Dynamic Drive is about the journey. It’s about becoming. “Dynamic Drive is the process by which we implement and sustain intentional change. It’s a belief system that the ‘yeses’ will come if we stay the course, and the ‘nos’ along the way are just feedback.”

To begin, you need a sense of who you want to become. It is your purpose. It’s what keeps you going when motivation fails you.

Complacency is the enemy of drive. “Complacency is a feeling of self-satisfaction that keeps you from reaching your potential.” Success can lead to complacency, but you can’t remain in that state if you are to reach your potential. “Complacency happens when you don’t recognize that you’re stuck or you aren’t willing to do anything about it.” In a state of complacency, you miss the gaps between where you are and where you want to be. You’re compromised and on autopilot. You have to make a move. “Change is hard; it’s uncomfortable, particularly when you have been in a current state for a long time.”

Dynamic Drive is the process Fletcher created by which we implement and sustain intentional change. It’s not about achievement. It’s about what you become in the process. “If the sole focus is achievement, what comes next are dark, empty, lonely moments.”

There are seven keys to using the power of Dynamic Drive for sustainable success.

First Key: Mindset

The mindset she describes is a possibility mindset. A mindset that serves your purpose. “You are the narrator of your life story. The old story is usually tied to something that’s holding you back. The way you’re talking to yourself isn’t serving you. What you tell yourself matters, and it’s time to take control of that messaging.”

Second Key: Energy

Be intentional about how you spend your time. “You must have the guts to ditch the things that don’t bring meaning to our priorities in life. Invest more time in the things that sustain and replenish your energy and eliminate or better manage those things that drain your energy.”

Third Key: Discipline

Discipline is the bridge that takes you to your goals. “The bridge is the daily grind, the behaviors and habits that get you to your goals.” Take the long view and be intentional about every action you take.

Fourth Key: Curiosity

Curiosity leads to learning, and learning leads to growth. Curiosity that leads to action is the edge you need for sustainability. Curiosity “unlocks new opportunities and strengthens connections. A mixture of confidence and vulnerability is necessary to be curious. It takes both to acknowledge that you don’t have all of the answers.”

Fifth Key: Resilience

“Resilience is the ‘capacity of a system, enterprise or person to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances.’ Resilience is built through action. You can’t think your way into it; you have to do it.”

It is important to understand, too, that “it’s inevitable that your Dynamic Drive will be interrupted—that’s what makes it dynamic. Resilience is the key to embracing the unexpected hiccup as just that, and not the decline of your Dynamic Drive.”

Sixth Key: Connection

Connections are built through conversations and time spent with others. Building a culture of support will help you to sustain success and maximize your impact through the success of others. Build relationships that amplify your Dynamic Drive. “Positive and ambitious friends and colleagues can inspire us to grow, learn, and push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. They introduce us to new opportunities or experiences we might not have considered on our own. Close friends often provide emotional support and encouragement.”

Seventh Key: Confidence

Confidence is the belief in your abilities. Confidence wanes at times. If it doesn’t, you probably aren’t pushing yourself as you need to. It doesn’t come from your comfort zone. Confidence comes through actions that push you. “Confidence helps you take action, and the more action you take, the more confident you become.”

Discovering your purpose takes time and can change through the seasons of your life. “Purpose is something that you can uncover through doing, through action, and through showing up. Get clear on direction, do the work of reflection, and then take it out to the streets. You’ll continue to refine it. You’re molding it constantly. Putting yourself out there, even in less-than-ideal circumstances, allows you to learn about your purpose and to dig deeper into how it feels as you’re engaging it. You’ll see the gifts and benefits of a clear purpose when you start to live into it.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 03:57 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Motivation , Personal Development

Leading Thoughts for September 12, 2024

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with:

I.

Harvard Professor Paul Lawrence on making morally significant choices:

“It is as much within our power to make choices that lead to the destruction of species as it is to make choices which keep us on the track of continued life and development.

History shows us that humans have always needed gifted leadership to help them recognize and fulfill the universal moral sense we all have (except people-w/o-conscience), to see the opportunities to move forward on track, to see the potential of worldwide bonding.”

Source: Driven to Lead: Good, Bad, and Misguided Leadership

II.

Art Horn on judgmentalism:

“Paradoxically, one of the chief tasks of leaders is to judge without being judgmental.

“We make judgments all the time, and that’s okay. The problem crops up when our factual judgments become generalizations and personal attacks. It’s the difference between finishing the first apple of your life and declaring, ‘I didn’t like that apple,’ and moving on to saying, ‘I don’t like any apples,’ and moving even further to ‘I don’t like your apples.’

“Generalizations and personal attacks are often, but not always, the result of egos becoming engaged. Ego is the part of the individual that sees itself as above, below, or against others. When you are in this mode, you are more likely to generalize and personalize your observations. Doing so helps you to protect yourself in some way. If you feel like you’re up against another department, for example, you’ll likely be tempted to take a fact or two and generalize. ‘See,’ you declare, ‘these guys are all like that.’”

Source: Beyond Ego: Influential Leadership Starts Within

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Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:57 PM
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Leading Thoughts for September 5, 2024

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with:

I.

Inky Johnson on burnout:

“People don’t burn out because of what they do. People burn out because life makes them forget why they do it. Meaning life hits and hits them with something until they just like, “Man if I’ve got to go through that, I’m not bringing it today, man.” And every day is not a good day. Everything is not all peaches and cream. But that’s why the culture is so important. That’s why when the culture is set, we know what we bring to it, and we know how we get down because we know what we’re working for. And the purpose of it is greater than any individual.”

Source: VIDEO: Control the Controllables

II.

Molly Fletcher stressing that drive is internal:

“When we focus on the opponent instead of running our own race, we allow the measuring stick to be our competition instead of ourselves. We are distracted by something uncontrollable.

“When I focused on the other agents, scrutinizing their every move and comparing myself with them, I was quickly distracted from upping my own game.”

Source: Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 02:33 PM
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First Look: Leadership Books for September 2024

HERE'S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 2024 curated just for you. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.

Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success by Molly Fletcher

This isn’t just another self-help theory: Dynamic Drive is your practical guide to unlocking your true potential. Through her decades of experience working with top athletes and peak performers across industries, renowned keynote speaker and leadership expert Molly Fletcher has created a proven formula backed by research that outlines the seven keys to sustainable success. The truth is fulfillment doesn’t come from setting and accomplishing goals in isolation. It comes from Dynamic Drive—a holistic approach that connects all parts of you with your purpose and allows you to engage in meaningful growth, both personally and professionally.

The Upside of Disruption: The Path to Leading and Thriving in the Unknown by Terence Mauri

In The Upside of Disruption renowned disruption thinker and best-selling author Terence Mauri delivers a compelling set of mindset shifts for today's unique leadership challenges. In the book, you'll find the future-ready insights and tools you need to lead for today and prepare your organization for tomorrow. The author explains why so many of us continually overestimate the risks of bold decisions while underestimating the downsides of standing still for too long in an increasingly complex and volatile world. You'll learn about the upside of disruption and how to turn it into a tailwind for laser-like focus and strategic courage.

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out by Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink and Ramesh Srinivasan

When the pressure is on, many of the world’s top CEOs turn to McKinsey & Company to reinvent themselves and their organizations. The Journey of Leadership brings the experience of one of the world’s most influential consulting firms right to your fingertips. This book is the first-ever explanation of McKinsey’s step-by-step approach to transforming leaders both professionally and personally, including revealing lessons from its legendary CEO leadership program, The Bower Forum, which has counseled more than five hundred global CEOs over the past decade. It is a journey that helps leaders hone the psychological, emotional, and, ultimately, human attributes that result in success in today’s most demanding top job.

Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy Dialogues by Steven T. Collis

Most people have experienced the slippery slope of dialogue that descends into -polarized argument. We yell at each other. We gaslight. We twist one -another’s words and meanings. We embrace facts that support our conclusions and ignore those that don’t. Or we sit in silence, afraid to discuss anything of substance. If how you treat others matters to you, this book offers powerful new habits that can give you the confidence to engage in dialogue about hard topics while building and strengthening relationships. Steven T. Collis, one of the world’s leading experts on civil -discourse, reveals ten practical habits that can help you navigate the potential minefields of hard topics and leave you and those you converse with feeling thoughtful and productive.

The Art of Changing Course: A 3-Step Strategy to Get Unstuck and Solve Your Real Problems by Chris Ruden

Learn the foolproof framework to take back control and create immediate and lasting change. Getting stuck in life is a guarantee. Staying stuck is a choice. In The Art of Changing Course, amputee, diabetic record-holding powerlifter, and renowned motivational speaker and author Chris Ruden provides a clear-cut process that walks readers through digestible, actionable stages to get unstuck, allowing you to rise beyond simple awareness of the desire to change and become the person you truly want to be. Backed by numerous psychological principles, management techniques, and organizational change theories, The Art of Changing Course focuses on helping readers make three distinct shifts: from subconscious to conscious, conscious to communicated, and finally, communicated to broadcasted.

Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership by Kim B. Clark, Jonathan R. Clark and Erin E. Clark

Generative AI and the remote-work revolution show us every day that we're in a new era. The rules and norms have changed—and so must leadership. And yet, coercive bureaucracy, hierarchy, and control—old ways of thinking and working—are still with us, a deep-seated and powerful legacy. We are living through a profound transition from an old, industrial era to a new one that is digital, transparent, and complex. In this important new book by former dean of Harvard Business School Kim Clark, written with his business school professor son, Jonathan, and management consultant daughter, Erin, the dynamic struggle between two competing paradigms of leadership is compellingly illustrated: an old paradigm that involves control and power over people versus a new one that enables and inspires power through people.

For bulk orders call 1-626-441-2024

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“You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well. And I mean that last "well" in both senses. You have to be good at reading, and read good things.”

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 09:55 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Books