What's your why?
Posted on July 30, 2022 by K P, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Why statements should be simple with the power to move you to action. They're the secret to taking action on what you already know you need to do.
You want a better life, a more fulfilling career, more time with your kids, less time working, more time working, more travel, more experiences, less stress, less overwhelm, more energy, better fitness, improved nutrition, more sleep, better sleep, more education, more learning, better skills, and the list could go on for ages.
Sound familiar? Someone out there is selling a solution for every single one of these goals. In fact, thousands of people are selling thousands of solutions that promise to get you where you want to go.
I’ve been there – reading the marketing copy and thinking “This is it! This is how I get skinner! Smarter! More energy! My best self!”. Or sometimes reading it with skepticism and thinking “I’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to last for me, I don’t have the discipline or commitment. But let’s throw spaghetti at the wall one more time.”
But here’s what no one tells you.
You already have the solution. You know what you need to do. But you can’t get past the noise in your head, the roadblocks, the obstacles, and the fear to get there. To do what must be done to achieve your goals.
How do you move past all those barriers?
You know this one too – you have to define your why. Simon Sinek wrote an entire book on the subject, “Start With Why”. It is not a revolutionary concept but it is incredibly difficult to distill all your thoughts, goals, dreams in to simple and powerful why statements. Why statements that move you to action.
Many times, we think that we can have only one why. But the reality is that most dreams will be supported by multiple whys. There’s no need to limit yourself but you they do need to be simple and direct.
I want to share one of my why statements with you. It’s the why statement that was the catalyst for where I am today – pursuing entrepreneurship.
My why?
I want to pick my kids up from school in the afternoons.
My kids will start Kindergarten in a couple of years, and when they get out at 2:00pm or 3:00pm, I want to be there waiting on them. To others, that may not seem very powerful or inspiring. Some may say that my why is too easy and doesn’t go far enough. But those people don’t understand what it took for me to find my why.
You see while that why statement seems very simple. The behind-the-scenes is brutally complicated, messy, and complex. It took tremendous thought, effort, work, grit, and determination to sort through the noise in my head to determine what I wanted to achieve.
You can find one of your why statements. The process will look like a mess but you can emerge with one or multiple why statements that move you to action. Take the leap, start writing down your thoughts, and I promise that over time you will emerge with a powerful why.
