Telegraphik

In Marc Andreessens guide to hiring his first criteria is Drive. Here’s a quick quote of what he has to say about drive.

I define drive as self-motivation — people who will walk right through brick walls, on their own power, without having to be asked, to achieve whatever goal is in front of them.

People with drive push and push and push and push and push until they succeed.

Winston Churchill after the evacuation of Dunkirk: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

That’s what you want.

The same first trait it takes to get hired by Marc is the very same trait it will take to suceed in web publishing. The common denominator between all the heavyweights in new media is this all of them have drive. Except maybe Dave Winer and he has longevity which almost trumps drive.

When I think of Jason Calacanis, I think of drive. When I think of Peter Rojas, of Engadget I think of drive. When I think of Mike Arrington of TechCrunch I think of drive. The common thread that binds successful publishers is an amazing will power and all of them are driven.

So before you get moving along to quickly on your blog, or new site ask yourself this. Are you driven enough to succeed? Are you driven enough to take your site to new heights? Do you believe in yourself enough to pour your heart,sweat,blood,life, and death into it? If you aren’t turn back now. It’s not worth the heartache.

Not everyone is influential. Not everyone will succeed. Not everyone is smart enough. Not everyone has the next big idea. But even fewer people are driven. It’s the driven who execute the ideas that matter. The people who think up great ideas are just that thinkers. Driven people are successful. Driven people are the ones that change the world. Driven people are the leaders in every industry.

Do you have the drive? Do you have what it takes to be great? If not. Find it. Find that drive deep within yourself. Once you have it come back. Come back to your project and pour everything you have into it. Otherwise it will surely fail. And so will you.