Foundational Internal Drive (FID)

by Anna Erickson

I made up a new term: Foundational Internal Drive (FID). FID is defined as a human’s baseline internal drive to life itself - regardless of the task which they place their intention. This requires a strong sense of self and your capabilities regardless of life’s adversities. A “be like water” approach to life. Meaning having a strong ability to adapt to situations yet be true to who you are at your core. FID is crucial to calculating a humans projected success in life. Here’s why:

There are a lot of people who chase their dreams - dreams of playing in the NFL, dream of being a CEO, dreams of having a top marketing positions at Nike, dreams of a sold out album, etc. - whatever aspersions they may be. I applaud everyone who has dreams because everyone should have aspirations and something greater-than-the-current which they are working towards.

A lot of the true dreamers, who actively manifest in themselves, get tunnel vision: there is an urgency and a hunger that is all consuming. In this state all else falls to the background. But what truly separates the ‘dreamers’ from those who are ‘dreamers and are successful’ has to do with internal drive.

Most people ask “what do you want to be when you grow up” but not a enough people ask “are you willing to give up and work as hard as it takes to get there.” The dreamers who end up successful have the internal drive to do it, will make that happen at all cost (a high FID). The problem with just dreamer’s who lack FID (meaning they lack a strong internal drive, groundedness, and a strong sense of themselves and their overall capabilities) is that if you take that dream away, then all success seems impossible. For example: a college football player who has worked his whole life towards playing in the NFL, then gets injured. He will either a) go back to where he started OR b) begin to strategize about that’s next.

What separates these two is ALL in internal drive and sense of self (FID).

It is really all about what comes from the inside and radiates out more so than reaching out grabbing what’s out there - grabbing that dream. Think about it like the internally motivate people are a wet sponge that is getting compressed: you have all your richness and all your water inside and it leaks out into the world at your own choice no matter what the task. Whereas those who are chasing an external dream are like a dry sponge trying to soak up a trickle of water - and if you take that tickle away, you will remain a sad dried up sponge for the rest of your life.

It’s really all about YOU and what comes from YOU.

Also, this is why I find it so funny in rap songs when artist ask things like would you still stay with me even if I lost all my money. Meanwhile all those people who are wildly successful, and have worked to get to that point, have such a high FID making it so that even if you took one dream away they would find another way to ‘make it.’ If you are the type of person who can build an empire out of thin air - even if you take an external thing away from that person - they are whole because of their strong sense of self. They are whole because everything they do comes from them. It comes from inside. They will not be beat down by life’s adversities They will know how to improvise and they will find another way even when told ‘no.’

This is why Foundation Internal Drive is such a huge factor when it comes to maximizing one’s potential and self-realization. Building your FID can be achieved through building a strong relationship with yourself and knowing of your virtues and vices. Without this strong foundational core, it is impossible to be whole. And if you are not whole it makes it hard to believe in yourself to the extent which is necessary for the wildly successful.