What is it that gets us up in the morning?
What are your first thoughts of the day?
I have been reading a thought provoking book that is based around business, but the fundamental message demystifies why we do what we do and why we are inspired by certain people and companies.
The book is Start with Why
by Simon Sinek and I came across it quite by chance. Simon talks about certain big companies and why they are more successful than their rivals and it is all based on their ‘why’, their reason for being. Most companies focus on what they do and how to do it, but have very unclear and inconsistent messages both internally to their employees and externally to their customers about why they do it. As Simon says over and over in the book ‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!’
It occurred to me that this applies to all of us as individuals. If we don’t know why we do things and we are not focused on consistent drivers that are our whys it is not easy to know how to do it or what we are trying to create.
If you look at basic outcome setting this explains why so many are unsuccessful. If you don’t pinpoint the why the how and what will not be strong enough to keep you on track to completion.
This confirms why it is crucial when setting outcomes with others that you receive a resoundingly positive congruent yes when you ask ‘do you really want this?’ I would go further and ask them to outline the reason for this outcome focusing on hearing their why. It could be anything from I so love to help people, to my family are what make me tick. You will soon begin to notice a clear why when the individual becomes more animated with perhaps a broad grin and an increase in enthusiasm as though they are coming to life. Sharpen your acuity and these telling signs will become apparent and signpost their level of commitment, the ‘why’ is the driver. Without it no amount of willpower, courage or grit will keep them going. It is keeping a vivid sense of ‘why’ that is at the core of our determination and persistence to succeed.
So many of us ask ourselves what
we want to do with our lives, but the first question should be why
! Once the ‘why’ is established the how which is rooted in our values and beliefs will follow, but be sure to keep on track. You will know if you are crossing any core values or beliefs as it becomes apparent as discomfort a feeling of going against the grain. Be true to yourself and respect your values and beliefs. The what is the product of your ‘why’ and your ‘how’. When you start with why you are not defined by the ‘what’. It can be anything and it will be successful as long as your ‘why’ is at the core giving life and energy to your intention and is the obvious message as it runs through your how and what.
Once you are in tune with why you become motivated to do what you do and allow that to stream overtly through everything you do the universe will respond and support your success. People will be attracted to your strong sense of why. Well known why people like Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs & Walt Disney had their hearts on their sleeves for everyone to see. They knew why they got up in the morning and in the words of Martin Luther King they had a dream. Everyone around them knew their why and bought into it.
Many of us have not been open to such visionary ideas since early childhood having had dreams squashed and laughed at perhaps through the educational system or unwittingly by well meaning parents who wanted to ensure we had a good grip on what was realistic. We end up complying with the norm and building our own glass ceilings to remain in the realms of what our society and ultimately we as individual adopt as our realms of possibility. Walt Disney pioneered the term ‘imagineering’ which gave his creative mind and those who worked for him permission to think without limits and dream up what would normally appear impossible. Allow yourself to imagineer and if you hear a critical fear voice put it aside and give permission to your infinite mind to dream and create the life you love.
The more we are able to look at life in this way the easier it will be to see the endless opportunities that were there all the time, but filtered out by fear and doubt. There are two signals that may be helpful to you as quoted by Mary Morrisey, author of Building Your Field of Dreams and No Less than Greatness and creator of the Dream Builder Programme. Mary talks about the sacred signals of discontent and longing. Rather than ignore discontent what do you think it is trying to do for you? What if it knows you are not living the life you love and wants for you to do something about it. And do you have a longing that has been put off and ignored, perhaps to follow a path that you were told would never yield a living and so you settled for the steady safe job. The longing wants for you the life you love doing all the things you love! These signals are there to guide you from where you are discontent to a life of joy, abundance and contentment.
Many of us are not used to asking ourselves what would we love, but this is one of Mary Morrisey’s first questions to the thousands of people she has coached with her Dream Builder programme. When we can answer this question and imagine how different our lives would be if we could live a life of full of joy, perhaps we have an image of what it would look like. All you need to believe is that it is possible somehow to achieve this life you love that is expressed in this image.
If you have been going through the motions for some time and think your days are to be endured rather than enjoyed, maybe it is time for you to discover your ‘why’ and find a clearer pathway to a life you love!
I am particularly happy to acknowledge my sources as truly inspirational people in the field of personal and business development. Please see the following links for more information about Simon Sinek: Start with Why
karenoliver31@hotmail.com
