"I want you to be more self-propelled." You've been told this, or you feel like people are thinking it.
But you don't intend to be standing still. You are moving, and you are thinking. You react immediately to instructions and don't cut corners. Yet, when told you lack "self-propulsion," you lose sight of what is actually being asked of you.
The tricky part is that no one specifically explains what this "self-propulsion" actually is. Even if told to "think and move on your own," no one teaches you what or how to think. It's a convenient word used while remaining an empty shell.
So, I broke it down for my own notes. When you are told you lack self-propulsion despite moving, what's likely missing isn't the amount of effort. It's the substance of how you move.
The 3 Components of Self-Propulsion
First, breaking down self-propulsion reveals three elements:
[1] Lastmanship: The power to take responsibility for the results. A sense of ownership directed toward "I will do it" rather than "someone will do it."
[2] Objective Variable: The power to use whether reality has moved as the criterion for completion. Whether you can set the goal as "things moved forward" rather than just "I did it properly."
[3] Moving Without Stopping: The power to move forward even if you don't understand, are afraid, or lack motivation. Whether you can look for reasons to move rather than reasons to stop in front of a wall.
When these three align, you change from a "person who handles the scope of instructions" to a "person who moves reality (a self-propelled person)."
"Executors" and "Professionals" Stand in Different Places
There are cases of fundamental misunderstanding. A professional's role is not to "execute everything themselves." In fact, it's the opposite; the more you hoard work, the further you get from being a professional.
Defining the goal, identifying missing capabilities, involving the boss if necessary, rearranging resources, and carrying it through to the outcome—this is the mission of a professional.
Even for the same task, the executor and the professional stand in different places.
● The Executor
A person who handles given tasks. They move within the scope of instructions, wait if their hands stop, and don't look outside their assignment. Completion is when their own work is finished.
● The Professional
A person who stands on the side of moving the outcome. They move proactively, procure missing pieces themselves, and take responsibility even outside their assignment as a leader. The definition of completion is whether reality has moved.
Standing on the front lines as a professional means continuing to be on this "moving side." It doesn't matter if it's internal or external, your job title, or years of experience. This posture itself is the implementation of self-propulsion.
[1] Lastmanship: Taking Responsibility for the Results
Without this, you aren't even at the starting line: Lastmanship.
Lastmanship is exposed in these situations:
- When a project goes up in flames, the person who ends with "I did what I had to do" versus the person who steels themselves to "hold it until the end."
- When pressed by a client with "Why did this happen?", the person who escapes with "I'll check with the person in charge" versus the person who answers everything on the spot.
- When asked by a boss "How is this going?", the person who replies "I'm leaving it to Mr. X" versus the person who can say "I have a handle on it."
Lastmanship is: "Are you facing this work in a state where you can answer everything yourself, no matter who asks what, at any time?" If compared to money, it's close to the feeling of whether you can be a joint guarantor.
Therefore, people who blame others or are indifferent are out. Blamers are in a state of dependency, expecting "someone to do something." Indifferent people are disconnected from the results, thinking "it's not my problem no matter what happens."
Those with Lastmanship might take it on due to external pressure like "I'll get yelled at if I don't." They might take it on out of a sense of responsibility like "This is my job." Or they might take it on out of ownership like "Reality won't move if I don't do it."
The substance of the motive doesn't matter. It can be not wanting to get yelled at, for an evaluation, or wanting to move reality. Only the direction is questioned: Are you facing "I will do it" instead of "someone will do it"? Rather than stopping to try and purify your motives, reality moves forward better if you take it on and move even with impure motives.
[2] Objective Variable: Where Do You "Complete" the Job?
The second, the objective variable, is a matter of where you place the completion criteria.
This is where capable people often trip up.
Self-referenced people:
They complete it when they've "done it properly." The quality of work might be high. However, they don't notice if the purpose has shifted. Only a sense of accomplishment remains, and it's treated as complete even if reality hasn't moved a millimeter. High quality hides the misalignment. This is NG.
Environment-referenced people:
They complete it when "everyone is satisfied." This is a state where moving the "environment" of the meeting or team becomes the purpose. It's close, but reality sometimes doesn't move even if the environment is satisfied. This is NG.
Matter-referenced people:
They complete it when "things have moved forward." Documents and agreements are means, not ends. This is the state where the purpose of the work matches your completion criteria. This is it.
For example, consider an order to "create a document."
- Self-referenced: "It's my job, so I'll work hard on it."
- Environment-referenced: "If everyone is satisfied, we can move to the next step."
- Matter-referenced: "Even without a document or agreement, if I can secure the key person, we can move forward."
Actually, many people do have Lastmanship. The difference lies in the level of meaning-making.
The question is one: Are you able to make "moving reality" the completion criterion?
[3] Moving Without Stopping: Advancing While Not Knowing
Even if you have Lastmanship and the right objective variable criteria, you might stop.
There are two causes: "slowing down because you lack motivation" and "stopping because you don't know."
Motivation can be steered. The three elements that make motivation easier to control, as cited by Daniel Pink in Drive, are the clues:
❶ Autonomy
A state where you can decide what, when, and how to proceed. When the subject changes from "being made to do" to "choosing to do," the quality of action changes.
❷ Mastery
The awareness of trial and error while aiming slightly higher. The response of becoming able to do something itself becomes fuel for the next step.
❸ Purpose
The sense that your work connects to someone or society. When you can see the "what for," you can take on short-term loads.
You probably have a sense of these three. I think the difference between when you have motivation and when you don't appears somewhere in these. For work you don't want to do, you arrange things so these can be created through your own thinking and approach.
The more troublesome reason for stopping is the other one: "stopping because you don't know." This is very easy once you get used to it, but it might be called a rite of passage for young professionals.
You can escape it with 4 simple steps.
● STEP 1: Verbalize the "I don't know"
"I don't know anything" is a sign of stopped thinking. Is the purpose unclear, the scope unclear, or the procedure unclear? Break down what is unclear into items.
● STEP 2: Hypothesize within the known range
Don't wait for all information to be gathered; place a temporary answer like "It's probably this." Using only the materials at hand, draw the current situation and the desired state. And since you'll stop immediately if you only think in your head, go out and test it everywhere. (See diagram below)
● STEP 3: Move proactively starting from the hypothesis
Don't go to get an answer; go to verify the hypothesis. You don't need to do all the work yourself. Use AI or research, or follow a boss's lead to find someone who seems knowledgeable. It's the movement of "going to get" information itself.
● STEP 4: Increase accuracy while moving
Move small and correct without waiting for perfection. This is because action generates new information. Put out a draft and fill in the gaps.
Consider a situation where you are told, "Look up other companies' examples by next week."
People who stop freeze without knowing what to do and get yelled at in the end. People who move write down what they don't know, hypothesize the known range, go get information themselves, and course-correct if information cannot be obtained. Even for the same request, the landing point changes completely.
"I don't know" is not a reason to stop. If you have a hypothesis, you can move while not knowing.
In Closing
Self-propulsion is not a talent, but a combination of three powers:
- Lastmanship to take responsibility for results
- Objective Variable based on whether reality moved
- The power to move without stopping, even if you don't know
These three are not independent. With only Lastmanship, you become a person who works hard but misses the mark. With only the Objective Variable, you become a person who sees the goal but cannot move. Reality moves for the first time when the three mesh together.
"I want you to be more self-propelled." The next time you are told this, you don't need to respond with the amount of effort. If something is lacking, it's one of these three. If you return to that, the measures become concrete. What separates the executor and the professional is not job title or years of experience. You can change your position starting today.
Self-Propulsion Self-Check
You don't need to change significantly starting tomorrow. Just keep these questions at hand and stop for a moment every time you receive work, and your position will begin to change.
Lastmanship (Taking responsibility for results)
□ Are you in a state where you can answer on the spot about your assigned tasks, no matter who asks what, at any time?
□ When you are about to say "I'm leaving it to Mr. X," can you rephrase it to "I have a handle on it"?
□ Even if it's outside your assignment, if you find a stuck point, are you able to go pick it up once?
Objective Variable (Deciding completion based on whether reality moved)
□ When you receive work, do you first write one line on "what changes will make it complete"? □ Do you reflect based on "did reality move" rather than "did I do it properly"? □ Have document creation or consensus-building unintentionally become the purpose?
Moving Without Stopping (Advancing even if you don't know or lack motivation)
A. Steering "stopping because of lack of motivation"
□ Have you found parts you can decide yourself, such as the procedure or order, and changed "being made to do" to "choosing to do"? (Autonomy)
□ Are you aiming slightly higher than usual and picking up the response of becoming able to do it yourself? (Mastery)
□ Have you put into words who this work helps, and are you not losing sight of "what for"? (Purpose)
B. Escaping "stopping because I don't know"
□ When you feel "I don't know," do you break down and write what you don't know into items?
□ Before information is gathered, can you place one hypothesis like "It's probably this"?
□ Without waiting for perfection, can you put out a draft first and go to fill in the gaps?
Not all boxes need to be checked. The questions that aren't checked are your current room for growth. First, try one in today's work.
I've started sharing these kinds of business tips, so please follow me!
Please also check out my books:
