Find Your Why: The First Step to Getting on the Right Path

As you go about your busy day, do you every pause to ask yourself why you are doing what you do? Or are you so busy tackling the issue in front of you that you do not even pause to ask yourself that question? Or maybe you realize you have lost your why, but you are not sure how to find it again. Or maybe your why today is not the same as it once was, but you are not sure how to live out your why. You either do not know how to answer these questions or fear answering these questions because this is not where you imagined you would be at this point in your life.

If we want to feel an undying passion for our work, if we want to feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, we all need to know our WHY. -Simon Sinek

Following a Map

Finding your why reconnects with purpose. Finding your why keeps you on the path when life feels overwhelming. Finding your why keeps you grounded. Basically, your why is the purpose behind what you are doing and why you are doing it. Your why is your true north, the lighthouse in the dark stormy night, the GPS when you lose your way.

Years ago, before the invention of the mobile device and GPS, my work required me to travel throughout the very large county I worked in. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, where I worked, was 527 square miles and, at one time, the largest county by population in the state of North Carolina. In order to get around I used a 60 page spiral bound map. Often my destination required the use of several different pages in the map. I cannot tell you how many times I had to pull over and stop to pull out my map to reorient myself to where I was and where I was going. My why was the destination. The route is how I got to my why. I stopped and recalibrated often to get to my destination, my why.

Think About Your Destination

Stop and think about your destination in life. Do you know where are you are going? Do you remember why you started in that direction? As you ponder, you may realize that you are not headed in the right direction. You lost your destination. Guess what! That is okay! Just like when I stopped to look at the map and find a new route when I got lost, you can do the same thing with your life.

It is important to remember why you started towards your destination. It is just as important to give yourself grace if you are lost and not sure how to get from where you are to where you originally started. Getting lost is okay! Staying lost is not.

Or maybe your original destination is no longer where you want to go, it is not longer your why. That is okay too. Do you know your current destination? What is your why in this season of your life? If you cannot answer that question, then stop and figure out your why.

Recalibrate Your Destination

Okay. You stopped and realized you are not headed in the direction you want to go. Again, that is okay! So, let’s take time to recalibrate and get back on the right path and live your why. Here are some suggestions on how to recalibrate:

1. Get some time to yourself. It is helpful to give yourself as much time as you can, but you need at least 15 minutes. I suggest giving yourself 30 minutes.
2. Take out a sheet of paper and write down what is important to you in life and what you want to work towards. It could be that you want to be my ideal body weight and have a certain body mass. It could be that you want to own a $1 million dollar mansion. Your why is your why. The point here is to look at where you life is now in relation to your destination.
3. Now that you have written down what is important to you, write down your current reality - what are your daily actions in relation to making your why a reality. For example, you want to be your ideal body weight but you realize that every night you eat a pint of chocolate and have not exercised in a month.
4. Now that you see on paper your why as well as your current reality, brainstorm ONE thing you can do to get back to your why. This is key. If you write down a lot of things to do, you are going to overwhelm yourself, get frustrated and decide to not do any of it. Believe me. I have seen it time and time again in my personal life as well as in the lives of others. So, write down that ONE thing.
5. Lastly, write down your plan - when, where and how - you will incorporate that ONE thing into your life to get back to living your why.
6. As a bonus, write down a way to track it. Habit tracking is a great tool to keep you motivated and to keep your ONE thing top of mind. That is key in the busy and hectic world we live in.

Take Massive Imperfect Action

Now that you have a game plan it is important that you take massive imperfect action today. If you delay you will lose your motivation and that “still small voice” in your head will give you every reason to not move forward. So, take action and do it even if you do not have the “perfect” conditions! It is better to take action in imperfect conditions than to take no action at all. As you begin to take massive imperfect action you can refine and retool as you go along.

Conclusion

In the busyness of life it is easy to lose your why. There are so many things vying for our attention and focus that we often lose sight of why we are doing what we are doing and where we are going. We all get lost sometimes and that is okay! It is not okay to stay lost and wander aimlessly. Use these simple steps to reconnect with your why and develop a simple plan to move forward with living your why and living your purpose.

If you are feeling stuck and not sure how to get unstuck, feel free to reach out to me. I would love to help you find you why and live your purpose.