It’s one of the most important things to spend your time on. Without it, it’ll be harder to get out of bed in the morning. When motivation dwindles, it’ll be harder to press on. When you feel like throwing in the towel, it’ll be much easier to give up.
What is it? Your “Why”.
Discovering your heart behind doing something is a powerful measure. It invites passion, joy, gratitude, and curiosity into the mundane aspects of day-to-day life.
When you know why you do something, it fuels your fire. Now, in the morning you get up excited for the day. When motivation does a nose-dive, you’ve got purpose to back you up. When you feel like giving up, you remember the deeper meaning behind what you’re doing.
This is vital.
2 years ago, when I began working for Tiger Performance Institute, I didn’t know what my “why” was, other than simply helping others live more energetic and healthy lives.
That was not good enough.
Over time, I realized that, if I was going to be the kind of coach my clients deserve, I was going to need to spend time discovering a deeper meaning behind why I do what I do.
Here’s my new “why”: To encourage and inspire others to be excellent stewards of the resources they have been given.
That’s better.
When I start to get down on myself, I turn back to this simple phrase: “stewardship”. It can be very helpful, if you’ve already discovered what your “why” is, to boil it down into a word or a short phrase. That way, it’s always readily available to you in short-form.
If you have not taken the time to discover why you do what you do, I would encourage you to begin that journey today. You won’t regret it.
When someone joins one of our coaching programs, I will always begin by asking what their “why” is. For one thing, it helps me understand the person better, but on the other hand, now I know what fuels them.
When working toward behavior change, developing a new habit, or getting rid of an old one, having a strong “why” will carry you where motivation cannot.
So, take some time to get into a quiet space today with a pen and paper and consider all aspects of your career.
Write down each thought that comes to your mind. From this, consider what you’re “why” may be.
If you already know your “why”, maybe take some time to reevaluate it and see if it still aligns with where you’re at and where you’d like to go.