Motivation to keep going

Very illuminating profile the other day on George Lucas, revealing glimpses of the both the roots of his success and the dangers of becoming absorbed by it.

I loved the comment from Sid Ganis that Lucas possessed “an intuition that he stubbornly sticks by.”

“There’s something in him, when you’re told, ‘No, it’ll never work,’ it’s motivation to keep it going.”

That refusal to give up is such a key facet of becoming great at something. Many of our highest achievers somehow seem to relish people telling them "no." There are some wonderful stories of Michael Jordan being especially adept at magnifying tiny displays of disrespect or lack of belief in his ability, turning them to enormous challenges in his mind and using that to booost his motivation.

Most of the Lucas article highlights a certain ego sickness that seems to have taken hold of Lucas, a smugness that compells him to make rude remarks to the reporter  -- "that's why you're here" -- and to bizarrely indulge in preemptive nostalgia for small, beautiful films that he hasn't yet made.

Comments

[Tim Dellinger]

I read the profile a little differently: to me it's a classic case of an addictive personality.

Googling and grabbing the first link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=950DE1DF1138F93BA25752C0A965948260
Gives us a New York Times story from 1983 called "THE ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY: COMMON TRAITS ARE FOUND". The common traits?

- Impulsive behavior, difficulty in delaying gratification, an antisocial personality and a disposition toward sensation seeking.

- A high value on nonconformity combined with a weak commitment to the goals for achievement valued by the society.

- A sense of social alienation and a general tolerance for deviance.

- A sense of heightened stress. This may help explain why adolescence and other stressful transition periods are often associated with the most severe drug and alcohol problems.

Pretty much every quote in the George Lucas profile supports one or more of those statements!

[CJ Alexander]

Hi David,

Great post; it's nice to see your insights again!

I would love to hear one of those stories about Michael Jordan, at some point. It does seem to me that an extreme emotional sensitivity can either massively inhibit or enhance one's capacity for greatness — there's probably not much middle ground. Personally, I find the idea inspiring that an instinctive inclination to harbor even minor slights can be turned into a force for productive (rather than destructive) emotional energy.

I know it's probably a ways off yet, but I'm looking forward to buying your book once it's available. This blog has been a treasure so far.

Cheers,
CJ