How Asking Why Can Put You on The Path of Success
Nov 08, 2016
Have you ever wished to have this feeling of wanting to jump out of bed in the morning, super-excited to start the day – you can’t wait to throw yourself into the day’s work?
How often have you had this feeling? Well, yeah, I guess maybe on the morning of your wedding day (I hope) when you could not wait to get out of bed and start the rest of your life.
Or on the day you went on holidays. Or your birthday?
But the truth is that most of us don’t get out of bed with this kind of excited emotions on a daily basis, and many of us are actually dreading that the sound of the alarm will come too early and worst case you feel tired before even putting a foot out of bed (particularly when you check e-mails while still lying in bed).
What is the difference?
I can understand if you say that these examples are all related to fun and my private life. On the majority of days it’s work awaiting me once my feet hit the floor.
Well, let’s take a closer look.
The wedding day scenario is about “getting-out-of-bed-euphoria”: a lot of people claim that’s the best day of their life. And it might well be, as you are looking forward in the morning to marrying the love of your life (again focusing on the best case and ignoring the statistics) so that you can spend the rest of your life with that beautiful/handsome and fantastic person.
The holiday rush scenario: You are excited to be away so that you can spend some quality time with your kids you hardly see during your working weeks, or the person you just married above or even just on your own to recharge.
The birthday scenario: You get out of bed quickly so that you are ready to spend time with your family or good friends. Or maybe it’s just the birthday presents…
Doing something so that you can…
I’m sure you’ve gathered it by now. The fundamental difference between the different scenarios is the WHY. You have a reason. There is a purpose behind the action. You do something, so that you can achieve something that is important to you.
When did you ask yourself the questions: Why do I do what I do? What is the final picture I have in mind?
Some loaded questions, however are worth posing to yourself as the answers will reveal how you envision your life and your work. They will show the purpose and the desire behind your goals. Or perhaps not. When you don’t have an answer or you simply don’t know there is no vision. If you don’t have any direction of where you want to go or who you want to be, you could say that you are drifting. This is a good indicator that something should change.
The various roles in life
What kind of parent do I want to be and why? I want to be patient because I know that my kids feel loved when I show that side of me. I have a unique chance to enhance the growth and development of another person’s life.
Who do I want to be as partner/lover to my spouse and why? And who do you want to be in your workplace or your community, whatever this is.
Your true vision is a synergy of heart and mind.
If the answer to the WHY does not really excite you, you might ask yourself if you are in the right place and if not - try and change it.
Already groaning and thinking…jeez, all this theory, it is not that easy.
No, it’s not and I will never claim it is easy. It’s a challenge and yes, it will be an effort or even hard. But wouldn’t it be great if you can answer the WHY in a way that has you excited and loving what you’re doing - regardless in which part of your life?
The million-dollar question now: how to get there?
Step 1: look into what kind of roles you have in your life. I mean all of them
Step 2: give it some serious thought who and what you want to be in those roles
Step 3: write it down, and drill it down to a statement for each role, if you can to get the essence where you see yourself in each of those areas
Step 4: put it somewhere, where you can see it daily
That’s the super short version. If you want to dive into that a tad deeper, watch the free video above (or just click here) where you can learn more details of what those really mean.
Be kind and patient with yourself
It will not work out if you think this will be an overnight success and if you don’t really take the time to think about your WHY.
You will struggle, and so will I. Remember the example of who I want to be as a parent? Well, you bet that there are times when I lose it and shout at my kids. When everything gets too much, if I have a crisis on my hands and then a disruptive teenager comes on top of that. It is a path, and I fail from time to time - and so will you. Failing once does not mean though that it won’t work in the future.
You will grow, and so will your vision – so review your statement from time to time.
And – just doing that for one role in your life, will probably lead to imbalance and still not give you this ultimate energy and drive in your life: if you are successful in your business, but fail to fulfil your mission or vision in your role as a parent or spouse you’ve lost the perspective of the big picture and might end up frustrated …or divorced (statistics are at times unfriendly).
Path for success
A personal mission statement is a powerful tool because it provides you with a path for success, and it gives you permission to say NO to the things that are distractions.
The next step
If you are unsure about your answer to the WHY, take a notebook (and time), go to a place where you’re not going to be disturbed, go through the steps I have outlined (again I suggest you watch the video) and start developing those deeper insights into who and what you want to be in your life and most importantly….WHY?
