Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the best and the brightest in the industry. The reach started with my co-workers, partners, and vendors, but gradually expanded due to the likes of maintaining a blog and occasionally being on Twitter. In a recent exchange with someone who gave me a massive pivot and jump start in my career almost 10 years ago, it reminded me of a presentation this same person gave back then.

One of the key themes of this presentation was “Intrinsic Motivation.” This was the first time I had ever heard the phrase – the speaker talked about one’s inner desire and self-motivation as the reason for wanting, learning, and doing. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe, but I remember thinking during the presentation, “Hmm, I think I may have that.” It’s not something many of us talk about, but those that have it can often see it or sense it in others. On the surface, it could be called a passion. It could be a hobby you love or when work starts to overlap as your hobby. Maybe it’s just OCD coupled with the desire to feel a sense of accomplishment and feel like you’re making an impact in some way, shape, or form. Money never hurts either, but it’s usually not the driver behind actions taken by those who are internally driven.

Ever since that presentation, I’ve though about Intrinsic Motivation quite a bit actually. Fast forward 10 years, Michael Bushong (@mbushong), recommended a book to me, as well as many others, called Drive by Daniel Pink. In the book, Pink goes on to define Intrinsic Motivation in great detail. That was the second time I’ve heard of someone else using this phrase. He also writes about “flow,” when you are in the “zone” and tries to get the reader to realize what the person is doing exactly when they are experiencing flow. I equate this to being “wired in” in the software dev world. But it doesn’t have to be in IT, the point is to try and figure out what drives you. Solid book, highly recommend it to all.

I think it’s pretty evident what drives me from a technology perspective as it’s exactly what I’ve been writing about. The topics vary, but they include high level trends such as SDN, Cloud, DevOps, Open Source tech, and Automation. My interest in many of them clearly have a network focus.

Why am I sharing all of this? Well, as it turns out, it’s time to take the bull by the horns, and go after something. That something is what I’ll say I’m intrinsically motivated to do — I’ll be taking the leap to get out on my own, make it a company soon, with a focus on what I’ve been writing about. The products and services I’ll be offering are still being developed, but over the next few months, I’ll be announcing more.

Last Friday was my last day at Presidio, which by the way, was and is still a great place to work. It’s just that I have a vision, and need to try this “thing” I’ve been thinking about for a while. To sum it up, I want to help change the way networks are built, managed, operated, and ultimately consumed.

Stay tuned for more.

Thanks, Jason

Twitter: @jedelman8