There’s a familiar refrain among pro athletes: “No one puts more pressure on me than I do.” That’s because excellence is a standard you set for yourself.

No one can make you “work hard.” No one can make you care. Unless you find something you’re intrinsically interested in and want to become the best in the world at, you will never be great at it.

If your motivation comes from the outside, you’ll burn out. But if it comes from the inside, nothing can stop you.

External Motivation Is Useless.

No one can make you care about something. Sure, they can incentivize you for a little while. Your boss can give you a raise. Or up your potential bonus. Or even give you equity in the company.

But if you’re not intrinsically motivated and interested in what you’re doing, those are short-term solutions to a long-term problem.

To become truly great at anything - to become a master - your motivation must come from the inside out. It needs to be written into your DNA. And you can’t fake it.

People try to fake interest all the time. I did this for years at my last job. But humans are so good at reading other humans, that we can tell when someone is feigning enthusiasm. Something is just off - and the other person isn’t sparkling with the shine of someone doing what they’re meant to be doing.

The World Will Push You In The Wrong Direction.

Most people haven’t found what they’re meant to be doing because the world is very persuasive. It’s noisy, and that noise pushes them in the wrong direction. Here’s Naval Ravikant talking about this:

“If it’s your internal purpose, the thing you most want to do, then sure, you’ll be happy doing it. But an externally inflicted purpose, like ‘society wants me to do X,’ ‘I am the first son of the first son of this, so I should do Y,’ or ‘I have this debt or burden I took on,’ I don’t think it will make you happy.”

That’s why procrastination isn’t a problem. It’s actually a signal that tells you what matters to you in your life. If you’re bored, or unmotivated, or disinterested, it’s not because you’re lazy or lacking some “drive.” It’s because you’re working on the wrong thing with the wrong people at the wrong time.

You don’t need to work harder. You need to quiet the noise of the world and figure out what you really want to do. You need to find your craft, not your next job.

Find A Craft, Not A “Job.”

When Jay Woodcroft - the head coach of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers - talks about his players, he talks about how seriously they take their “craft.”

Most people don’t think of pro sports as a craft, but it is. You don’t become one of the best in the world at something without approaching your work as a craft. It’s something to practice for the sake of practice - for the sake of self-improvement.

In the beginning, the motivation for players isn’t to “win” - it’s only to improve. Because to improve your craft is to improve yourself. And that is motivation that comes from the inside. It’s your soul you’re improving, not your sport.

Because of this internal motivation, success is a standard they set for themselves. The media, fan base, coaches, and management can never put more pressure on those players than they put on themselves.

Mastery Begins With Curiosity.

To become the best at something, you need to be curious about it. Mastery begins with curiosity about how that thing works.

And you can’t choose what you’re curious about. It’s innate to you. So ask yourself: What do you care about? What are you naturally good at? What do you do for fun in your free time? Let the answers to those questions focus your search.

Naval writes:

“Everyone’s motivated at something. It just depends on the thing. Even the people that we say are unmotivated are suddenly really motivated when they’re playing video games. I think motivation is relative, so you just have to find the thing you’re into.”

That’s where excellence starts. And from there, it’s a matter of what you’re willing to ignore to focus on the thing you care about. It’s what you’re willing to exclude - all the noise from the world - to focus on the thing you really want.

Start now.

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SOURCES

Jorgenson, Eric. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. Magrathea Publishing. Kindle Edition.