Here are your results
Your Primary Drive Is:
Achievement
Inertia is your enemy; growth is your energy source. Even the notion of not improving in any way personally or professionally compels you to seek out even the smallest moments throughout the day/night, where you find a way to occupy your otherwise racing and curious mind productively.
You enjoy learning new skills, as well as relentlessly sharpening the skills you already possess.
While you realize true mastery may be unattainable, you view physical, emotional, and intellectual growth to be cornerstones in the process. Professionally, you are OK with being led by others, but value autonomy.
The phrase “leaders are lifelong learners” resonates with you strongly and few of the “small” details which others may often miss in their work or daily interactions rarely escape your attention.
Even when you acknowledge you deserve a day of rest, you will feel dissatisfied if something small doesn’t get checked off your list.
Strengths
- Action-Oriented: For you, each day starts at zero, and you approach it as if there’s no time to waste. You possess tremendous stamina and a sense of urgency that compels you to contribute at an uncommon level and provides you with the advantage needed to become a leader in your field.
- Accountable: Being someone who values growth in general, you don’t wait to be told what to do, and you don’t need to be reminded that the quality of work you perform is of paramount importance. You are your own harshest critic, which could be harmful if not appropriately managed, but for you, it allows you to see your work with a sense of clear(er) focus.
- Humble: As someone who consistently strives to do their best and push their limits, you likely have gone through phases of humility. While there may have been points in your life where pride got the best of you, you’ve eventually learned the cliche, “the more you know, the more you realize what you don’t know” is exceedingly accurate.
Snares
- Obsession: Achievers vary in their desire to compete with others vs. competing with themselves. Still, they share common ground in that eventually they will have to learn to live with some level of discontent given their predisposition for perfectionism. Achievers benefit from understanding that not everything can be accomplished or needs to be accomplished. You will ultimately transcend personally and professionally by learning how to pick your battles better and let some of your ideas go.
- Disconnected: Given your relentless desire to accomplish and your ability to focus intensely, you may be perceived as “detached” or even accused as someone unwilling to share what you know with others. No matter how great your desire to grow professionally, you need to take great care to ensure you don’t begin to undervalue small moments or neglect nurturing your relationships. Yes, acquiring new skills and knowledge can enhance your ability to give back to others, but for that to happen at the highest level, there must be a balance of warmth and competence.
- Imposter Phenomenon: Inevitably, Achievers begin to position themselves to be around others like them, people who are committed to doing great work and pushing their personal and professional limits of accomplishment. While seeing the significant work others are performing can be inspiring at first, it also tends to make Achievers feel like their own work is no longer “good enough” in comparison. This lack of ability to internalize or accept their relative success makes them feel like their accomplishments result from luck instead of actual competence. If not managed carefully, this leads to a pervasive feeling of fraudulence. For more on this, see our guide on overcoming feelings of imposter syndrome HERE.
As you review and share your results, remember nobody fits neatly into only one category. Life and our social nature cannot be forced into a vacuum, as people and their relationships are far too complex for that.
This quiz is a starting point, albeit a critical one.
Specific drives and even our responses to situations will vary depending on the context, including cultural values, our motivation to engage with a given activity, our mood, the physical location we find ourselves in, the company we keep, and numerous other factors.
To become better people, all of us must engage with activities that make us reflect more deeply on our tendencies, behaviors, state(s) of mind and perceptions of what drives us and others frequently.
To derive more value and growth, share your results with others, and join the conversation.
Share this quiz!
There is an abundance of scientific literature that debates the accuracy and validity of many existing tests like this of which you can learn about in my book. Amidst these debates, people forget that we benefit from merely taking the first step by taking part in reflective activities of any kind.
From an accuracy standpoint, nothing will ever be perfect- and perfection isn’t necessary for progress.
Human nature may be predictable, but all of our behaviors are not.
For more accuracy, we strongly recommend you engage with this quiz multiple times, whether in varying emotional states, physiological states (fatigue, alert, happy, stressed, etc.), physical locations, times of the year, and even when around friends.
You can continue your journey by learning more about drives, leadership and communication by listening to episode 130 of our podcast, reading my book, or taking my online course Bought-In
