Understanding your "WHY"

I have spent a large majority of my waking time trying to work on strategies and directions, both in my personal life and work. Sure, we need a plan, we need the right execution, timing is everything, great, we're all set! Or so we think...

Not too long ago, I was asked a very simple question: WHY do you do the things you do? Was it about money? Success? Reputation? No, that's not it, but what is it? Why do we do the things we do and what keeps us driving it day on day making sure it succeeds? 

Every organization talks about a vision. A master-plan that we envision of what we will become in the grand scheme of things. This is the "why". Usually a vision is conceptualize by the leaders of the organization and communicated to all levels with the expectations that people at ground level will subscribe and believe in it. Most, unfortunately, do not. The reason is simple; they either have different goals in life or it is quite simply too far fetched and meant for a perfect world which we all know we do not live in. Therefore 99% of visions are created and believed by only that 1%. The odds will tell you that this will not work. 

Which brings me back to my original question. What is your WHY? What do you REALLY want?  If you don’t know why you are doing something, why would you do it?  Why do you get up and go to work everyday?  What do you want out of life?  Going through the process of discovering your WHY can hit really deep for some people.  The whole purpose of understanding your WHY is really about uncovering what you truly want in your life, and that will be the catalyst to get you to do the things you need to do.

Discovering your WHY is discovering your Purpose. Only when we understand our purpose and what makes us who we are, can we embark on a journey to realize our vision. In this new Y-Generation, I see lots of young, enterprising people skip from job to job, career to career in search of their whys. Most have not found it, many aren't even trying to look for it. They progress through their career with one simple goal in mind - how do I increase my earning power? At some point, they would start to feel almost meaningless, the constant change, the having to continually prove yourself, it'll all start to take its toll and you'll be left asking yourself...why? 

If only, they had started with the WHY instead of HOW, I'm almost certain that things would have taken a different course. Leading your own life is no different from leading an organization. We need to spend some time to determine what really matters to us, what motivates us to do things differently from others and to constantly do it better and faster? All Leaders at some point, will question their own ability to lead and likewise, do not fret if you find yourself questioning the reason for your existence. It is normal and quite frankly, a good starting point that you will need to endeavor.

German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once said, "He who has a why can endure any how." Knowing your why is an important first step in figuring out how to achieve the goals that excite you and create a life you enjoy living. Remember, this is about YOU, no one else can do this for you. Indeed, only when you know your "why" will you find the courage to take the risks needed to get ahead, stay motivated, and move your life onto an entirely new, more challenging, and more rewarding trajectory path. 

Time to ask yourself these questions:

What makes you come alive?

What actually inspires you? Accordingly when you are working toward things that inspire you, it literally makes you feel more alive.  What makes you come alive isn’t referring to taking your dream holiday or watching your favorite team play football. It’s bigger than that. I’m talking about a why that moves up the food chain from being about you to being about something bigger than you. It’s about connecting with what you’re passionate about, knowing that when you focus your attention on endeavors that put a fire in your belly, you grow your impact and influence in ways that nothing else can.

What are your innate strengths?

What are the things you’ve always been good at? Are you able to see patterns and opportunities amidst complexity? Are you creative, naturally adept at coming up with out of the box solutions? We need to ask ourselves what is the point at which natural talent and skill meets personal passion. Let's call this our "natural element". When people are in their natural element, they are not only more productive, but they add more value and enjoy more personal and professional fulfillment. Remember this, "Find your element and you'll find yourself!" Of course, you can also be passionate about things you have no natural talent for, and talented at things for which you hold little passion. However experience has shown me that we rarely aspire toward ambitions we have no natural talent to achieve.

Where do you add the greatest value?

Doing work that you’re good at, but which you hate, is not a pathway to fulfillment. That said, knowing your greatest strengths and where you can add the most value (through the application of your education, skills, knowledge and experience) can help you focus on the opportunities, roles where you are most likely to succeed. With success, I am certain you will find a greater sense of accomplishment and contribution - A purpose. Too often we undervalue our strengths, skills and the expertise we naturally acquire over time. You can also ask yourself what problems you really enjoy solving, and what problems you feel passionate about trying to solve.  You’ll then be more successful at focusing on your natural strengths and those things you’re innately good at than trying to bolster or eliminate your weaknesses. Remember, we all get better over time and add value through each problem we solve.

How will you measure your life?

People who don’t stand for something, can easily fall for anything. Deciding how you want to measure your life means making a stand for something and then living your life in alignment with it. Ultimately, living with purpose means focusing on things that matter most. Ironically, the things that matter most are rarely “things”. We're all too accustomed to the notion of what money can't buy and it is quite right to say that the best things in life...well, money can't buy. Figure out what you want to see yourself as or what you want others to see you as eventually and you're already in the right direction. Remember, following the money and following your heart don’t have to be mutually exclusive. By shifting the lens in which you view what you are doing now, you can profoundly shift your experience of it. No matter what your job is, you can draw meaning from it and find greater purpose through how you do what you do.

As you move forward with positive change in your life, the lessons you have learned along the way will help you remain aware of how old mindsets can try to drag us back to a place of comfort - where we just repeat the same old behaviors and think the same old thoughts. You'll need to break free from such habits and constantly focus your attention on realizing your purpose. Remember that you may feel stretched from time to time, a norm with taking on new challenges. But I assure you that at the end of the day, when you have realized your why, the satisfaction you would have achieved would make this all worthwhile! 

Believe in yourself, Believe in your purpose, so that others may believe. 

DancingBlood

March 2015

In tribute to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, in whom we would never stop believing.