Topic of the day
Define your Why
Plan > Focus > Execute
Be more efficient at work and spend time doing the things you love.
The non-fiction book I recommend most to people is probably Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” (book link) or if you prefer video, the excellent 17 minute TED Talk from 2009.
The key message is that people don’t really care what you do, or how you do it. To win people over you have to show them why.
This applies to all aspects of business from marketing and sales to design and customer service. But not only that, it’s relevant to your own personal story.
Things change when you ask the most simple question: why?
Your Why sustains you through hard times. It acts as a reminder when you get deep into a task. It helps you to course correct when the purpose is no longer clear.
On a more positive note, it keeps you motivated to wake up early and live a full day. It helps you focus on a single purpose of achieving the thing you are chasing.
No two Why’s are exactly alike. They are individual, unique. And having one is absolutely necessary.
You probably already have a good idea what yours is. And with some time and thought you could tell someone. But most of us don’t take time to write it down. You can feel it but haven’t yet expressed it in words.
This is important.
Your Why needs to be real and written. It needs to be well considered and accurately captured. In time it will become your mantra, your north star, your guiding principle. The more clear you can make this the clearer your purpose becomes.
Without a Why to sustain you through good times and hard times you’ll just continue a cycle of self improvement that goes nowhere. Read about it, watch videos, think about it, maybe write a little, but no action.
And without action all the rest is useless.
Hopefully, it’s clear that a strong “why statement” is important and brings benefits. Now, let’s take a look at how you go about writing it down. Here is a short exercise you can complete to help you find and write your Why.
Finding your Why:
Start by dreaming big about what you want to get out of life. Imagine a vision of what you want to achieve and who you want to be. From a powerful vision comes clarity of purpose, and inside this purpose is where your Why lives.
Step 1 - Brainstorm
There are so many ideas in your head. Start by getting them out and onto a long list. List EVERYTHING you could ever want to do in each of these 5 categories:
- Personal
- Work
- Life
- Community
- Fitness
Get it out of your head and onto paper.
The aim here is to start big. Realise that you can’t and probably won’t do everything on the list. But in that jumble of words you’ll notice similar items that all require the same core actions. These are the ideas that mean the most to you.
Step 2 - Craft Your Vision
For EACH category, write down what your life will look like exactly one year from now. Use your lists for inspiration.
Not what you hope it looks like. What it actually looks like. Don’t hold anything back.
You can write a few sentences, a short paragraph or more for each category, but make sure to consider each one individually. Think about each area of your life separately first. You’ll combine them in the next step.
Remember: start with the end in mind.
Step 3 - Find the Golden Thread
Take a break. Give it a little time after doing all that writing. Perhaps a few days. When you are ready, come back and review what you’ve written with a fresh perspective.
What you are looking for is a common thread running through each vision.
It may be hard to see but it’s there.
Success in each of the five categories may look different, but they are typically driven by the same underlying motivator. Find that and you’ve found the key.
Step 4 - Capture your Why
That common thread you found - write it down. (Last writing exercise I promise!).
Expand on it. Consider it from all angles.
• Why is this important to me? • What influenced this in my life? • Who is my model for this behavior? • When did I begin to care about this? • Where do I picture myself doing this?
This gets to the core of the intrinsic motivation for why you do anything.
Step 5 - Review and refine
Distill this down into a sentence or two.
It should be a statement about Why you do what you do.
Keep it short and sweet, like an elevator pitch to yourself. It doesn’t need to be perfect from the start. You can refine and update it over time.
It’s easy to jump in, work on productivity and try to optimize your life. But without understanding WHY you are doing it your results wont be as good, and you risk a lack of long-term motivation. So often, this is why we give up.
A strong Why is the foundation upon which a strong life is built.
Now, when it comes to personal productivity and work performance, you might want to get things done efficiently so you can spend more time with your family. Or perhaps you want to earn more money to save for your dream car?
Whatever it is that motivates you, take time to figure it out and spell it out.
Have a great week!
Did you enjoy this issue? If you think someone else might benefit please consider sharing it with them. Also, if you have any comments or questions then I’d love to hear from you. Either email me or send a DM on LinkedIn.
Thank you for subscribing, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.
Mike
