What is your Why?

Start with 'why'

Have you done a great job of figuring out what the reasons are behind what it is that drives you? Have you ever thought about those reasons? There is a great TED talk by Simon Senek  that explains to us those businesses and individuals that had a great definition of their "why" and were able to influence others around their vision. If you can figure out your 'why', as in "why am I running this race?" [because I am a leader, and I want to lead by example so that the people around me can find inspiration from my actions]--that may be one why. Or the why may have something to do with a new life habit that you are trying to ingrain which includes daily activity and movement towards an end goal. It may be to re-habilitate yourself from an injury. It may be to keep someone accountable for their goals. It may be a whole host of reasons, and the most important thing is that you are aware of those "why's" and you use them when you run into obstacles and challenges.

Define your 'why'

Recently a friend told me that for a Spartan race they have to do 5 hanging pull-ups for a section of the race, and he was honest enough to admit that he was not able to do more than one at that time (I think that by the time this is published he will have completed a lot more than that!). I decided during a board meeting play session with my son at a local park, to try these for myself. They were not easy, and I had difficulty getting the last one done, and then being able to continue on the money bars as I tried to follow my son through his "obstacle race". My upper body muscles were extremely tired after that workout, and I realized that I need to continue to do those workouts more regularly if I want to remain healthy in my upper body. My "why" to start them was to be able to play with my son, my "why" to continue to do them is for health and fitness reasons. I found that my "why' is dynamic in that case.

Where does your 'why' come from?

This can all come down to your priorities, and this can relate to business and to personal life, and the article that I posted here explains how I shaped my priorities, and what the means to me for my decisions on a regular basis.

Challenges do happen

Whenever you have a goal in mind, inevitably obstacle and challenges come up that may stop you from reaching your goal. For some of us those obstacles happen every day, as in the case of traffic jams, and if we can learn to be prepared for these challenges (get a different route to your destination), then we will surely rise above these challenges. If we have enough of a reason "why" we will find a way to be certain that we can find an alternate route, and even plan to leave much earlier than we need to, and have 2 or more backup routes in the event that there is some unforeseen catastrophe that impedes our travel.

Journaling

Also I speak about the importance of writing things out in a journal where you can put thoughts to paper using a pen or pencil. This process has been extremely calming for me as well. If you have not tried to write anything since school, I would recommend doing so today!

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