I was recently privileged to be part of a panel discussion at a professional development workshop that had professionals from the corporate sector, the educational sector, and the non-profit sector. It had professionals who worked within the constructs of corporate entities, and it had entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The theme of the panel discussion was “Re-Discovering the joy in your why.”
A large portion of the conversation focused on answering “What’s your Why?” The conversation then migrated to “When did you know it was your why?”
When the topic came to my side of the panel, I asked the question:
“WHY….is your WHY…. your WHY?”
Surprisingly, this question seemed to be a HUGE thought provoker, and got people thinking, talking, soul searching, and seeking more.
Have you ever asked yourself these questions, sequentially:
- What is your Why?
- When did you know it was your why?
- Why is your why, your why?
The answers to the first 2 questions are great for getting a vision of what you are doing, compared to what you want to be doing. The answers to those 2 will absolutely bring into focus the events surrounding you personally and professionally at that point in time when you decide what your WHY was to be.
Interestingly, the answer to the 3rd question gets to the heart of the momentum needed to sustain your WHY, rather than the motivation to initiate your WHY.
Momentum with succeeding at your WHY is critical when you get a few years into your WHY, and the “shine” wears off the WHY and the clarity of vision turns into the cloudiness of vision.
WHY your WHY is your WHY will always carry with it the CLARITY of the vision and will not only act as the fuel to move your WHY forward, but it will do it with the utmost fuel efficiency.
Here are 3 things to consider once you have answered WHY is your WHY your WHY:
- Sometimes your WHY is just good practical sense. For instance, I have a mortgage and car payment, so that is WHY I do what I do.
- Sometimes your WHY is NOT YOUR WHY. For instance, you may find you went to medical school because your parents always wanted you to be a doctor, but that is not what you want.
- Sometimes your WHY gets confused between passion and purpose. For instance, you want to help others, but have a hard time charging for your services. Your passion to help is confused with the purpose of being in business for yourself – to provide a service at a fair profit.
Exploring what your WHY is, when it became your WHY, and WHY your WHY is your WHY is the beginning of developing both the strategic vision, and the tactical steps to your own personal and professional best self.
You’re not alone in this quest for your best self. Just set up a 40 minute, guided, customized, and confidential WHY session with our trained team.
