What the hell is my WHY?
I’ve read the books, listened to the interviews, attended the seminars.
It’s very trendy today in self-improvement books and business development trainings to talk about and identify your WHY.
Twenty years ago, it was all about your mission statement.
Today it’s about your WHY, made famous by Simon Sinek’s TED talk, followed by his book.
I’m a big fan of that video and his book.
He coined the phrase, “People buy what you believe.”
This caused countless businesses and entrepreneurs to ask themselves the questions, “Why do you do what you do? What do you believe in? What drives you?
These are great questions to ask.
I do it often.
And I have answers.
My wife and kids mean the world to me and I often frame my answer to those questions around this fact. But there is more to it.
When I know I’m positively impacting my family, the people I work with, my clients in my real estate business, guests on my radio show, charitable organizations through Impact Club – it all feels amazing, it feels like my purpose, and it drives me to keep pushing.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t often question it.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have hard days or weeks when I start to question “Why am I doing this?” and I find the answers have become blurred.
My friend Ryan Sloper, (the same guy who inspired me to start the 20 pull-up challenge I posted about yesterday) wrote about this exact same challenge this morning. How his WHY has become confusing at times because he has so many WHYs and he finds it difficult to clearly identify with just one.
He shared how listening to a recent interview gave him great clarity about his WHY.
Here is a bit of what he said:
================================
Listening to the Tom Bilyeu interview with the “Godfather of Street Skating” Rodney Mullen. A true pioneer in the skate industry. At one point he had won something like 34 of 35 Skate Competitions.
Just a machine.
There was something about Rodney’s voice that captivated me. It wasn’t the words either. It was his delivery. The tone of his voice. His conviction. His authenticity. Rawness. Uniqueness.
Just friggen’ REAL.
Take a listen…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmA55DOJrB8
This quote hit me straight in the heart…
“When I see people with success, I see boredom…….when you get what you thought you wanted, the fire goes away……just find joy in what you do for the sake of it, and recognize how your being shaped in the process and hopefully you become a better man because of it.”
==================================
That quote impacted me too.
It refers to the struggle we all face.
Each day we are fighting for something. If we are not fighting for something, we get bored. So finding joy in the struggle, and even purposely seeking it out, is important because that is how you grow and become a little bit better each day.
Feeling inspired, this is what I wrote back to Sloper:
——————-
“My ‘Why’ gets blurry for me too. I like the idea of it being as simple as
“The pursuit to become a better man each and every day and inspiring and impacting others along the way.”
It encompasses so much. It impacts my family, my relationships, my businesses, my community, my personal health and well-being, my mind. All of it.
It helps me to explain to myself, and to others, why I do the crazy things I do. Work long hours, aggressively attack new challenges, take risks in business, etc. Great share!
It definitely gave me clarity in helping me understand “WHY” we do what we do. Cheers Brother.”
——————-
It’s hard to think my WHY could be that simplistic.
My mind wants to make it more complicated.
But at this moment, it seems to fit perfect. I want to be better, to inspire, to impact.
Have you ever struggled with identifying your “WHY”?
Cheers,
Mike Turner
0 Comments