driv·ing
Synonyms: impulsive, dynamic, energetic
Can a drive to achieve success be a negative? I guess it depends on the definition of that success. I don’t believe that the drive itself is negative in any way.
A drive to succeed, a driving ambition, a drive to do and be more is really the core to success in my mind.
That ambition is what drives me to reach for the things in life that I find valuable. In my business and with my friends and family my ambition to reach my goals is what drives me to success.
There have been times in my life when I have doubted whether or not I had what it would take to reach those goals. Sometimes ambition kicked in and motivated me. Other times I fell into my doubt and failed. Sometimes I just existed and failed to enjoy what life could be like because of that existence. Generally, those times motivate and drive me today. You can say that the failures of my past, the periods in which I settled and existed, are parts of the driving force I have with my business. I mean… who wants to just exist? Have you heard the quote, “Life’s a journey, not a destination”? 
This is where being driven to succeed comes into play. To live for the competition that the steps to challenge me along the way; to learn, to grow; these are part of the drive. In becoming one with the opportunities that find me, although there may be a struggle, the result and the success are all the more meaningful.
In a partnership, drive is very valuable. There will be times when one partner is feeling doubt, existing, settling. It is during those times that the drive of the other can keep things moving forward, positive, and balanced. And those tables turn. Seeing the drive in another when you are doubtful can give you a renewed drive of your own and turn things around.
As an office manager I once helped move a business of 40 employees from their existing leased office space to their own building. We were shutting down the office in the leased space on Friday at noon, moving, and re-opening in the new building on Monday morning. All week that week the contractors working on the new building were saying it would be ready. There really was no way to turn back, and on Friday morning I pulled into the new building to find the business owner, my boss, in the parking lot looking at the trees. I wondered why he was out there and went inside.
Looking around I could see that we were not ready to have a building full of furniture arrive at 5 PM. Contractors milled about hurriedly and I decided to check out the server room, which in three hours had to be ready to hold 8 servers. It was waiting, empty, except for one inch of drywall dust all over the floor. 
I went out to look at the trees with the owner and asked, “Are you okay?”
“No.” there was a long pause, “This place isn’t ready and I have no clue what we are going to do,” he huffed.
I responded, “We’re going to move. And we are going to move until it all works out.”
I hopped in my car and went to get a shop vac to attack the server room. When I returned he was still out waiting for some sign from the trees on how to proceed. I went in and cleaned the server room. To me there was no alternative than to get things done. Two hours later, I looked like the Pillsbury dough-boy, white with drywall dust, but the server room was ready. The owner appeared at the door and looked at the room that, hours earlier, had paralyzed him. He looked around, at me, and a light inside of him went on. He said, “We can do this.” And yes, we could. And yes, we did. Why? We were driven to do so.
Are you driven in the life you are living now? Are you facing your challenges (opportunities) head on? Are you enjoying the journey?