Your Why Is More Important Than Your What.
People generally raise questions like: what do you want to become in life? what do you want to achieve? what is your passion? What is going to be your next step forward? What have you been doing currently?
It is very rare that someone asks us: Why do you want to become so and so? Why do you want to achieve this particular goal? Why is this going to be your next step? and so on.
As we move ahead in life, with each passing day, we realise that more than ‘what’ and ‘how’, our ‘why’ needs clarity.
Have you ever noticed that most of the time we all are pretty confident in answering the question: What do we want? Also, all of us are smart enough to figure out how to get things done. But then at some point in life, we get stuck and lose interest in what we have been doing until now. And the first thought which crosses our minds is: Why did I opt for this particular task in the first place? Was it because I lacked a long-term goal, and my focus was simply to earn money?
The answer is that a purpose or a long-term goal was missing. Now that we have all the hard-earned money available, we still experience a lack of joy and interest in doing things. That is because most of us mistakenly consider our short-term goals as our long-term goals. Having a purpose and a long-term goal in life should be the reason behind everything we do.
Question: Why does anyone want to have a job or a business?
Our instant reply would be, ‘Of course, to earn money, what else?’ Oh yes, everybody wants to earn money, who doesn’t want to? Have you ever asked yourself what can be the next step? The next step may be to buy a house or let’s say a car. Yes, you will have all the money and things you desire in life, but then at some point in life, you may ask yourself: What’s next? Some more money? More savings? More luxury? After a certain point of time, you may realize that the right answer to why you opted for a particular job or business is not ‘money. Everybody knows how to earn money nowadays but very few know what to do with that money in the long run. People generally lose interest or get stuck in the middle of what they have been doing so far if the purpose is not clear enough. So, choose your line very carefully.
If you have clarity in mind regarding the ‘why’ and a particular action interests you, then trust me, just to make a living will not be the only answer you will be left with. There is a thin line between ‘surviving’ and ‘living’ a life.
Whatever you do in life, your ‘why‘ is that one constant which will help you move to the next step. You may get stuck after achieving ‘what’ you wished for, but your ‘why’ will help you move to the next step. Your ‘what’ will give you the motivation but your ‘why’ will give you the inspiration. And we all know that inspiration gives us long-lasting results compared to motivation. You will never need a fire to ignite your motivation if you have the inspiration and clarity of the purpose in life.
For any step you take in life, always think ‘why do you want to do it. Is it just because everyone is doing the same thing and you don’t want to be left as the odd one out, or is it because people around you have told you to do so? To discover the right answer, we must all analyze our area of interest, dive deep into what we like to do and what we are good at. Never make decisions based on societal pressure.
We notice that some people perform quite well in their field of work and not everyone is on the same performance level. If money would have been the main reason, then why is everyone not on the same level of performance? why are only fewer people dedicated than the rest? This is because of the clarity of purpose one has.
If you have the clarity to your ‘why’, then:
- You will have a feeling of contentment in what you do.
- Mondays will never affect you. You will not consider it a stressful day at the beginning of the week.
- You will enjoy your journey towards your set goal. As they say, the journey is more beautiful than the destination.
- You will never run out of ideas if you are involved in doing something that interests you.
- You will always be adaptive to a change.
If your ‘why’ is strong enough to attract your attention towards learning something which interests you, then the execution part (how to do it) won’t feel like a burden. Do not let your decisions get influenced by others. Yes, of course, we all should keep our eyes and ears open to a bunch of advice we receive, but before jumping to conclusions, do analyze if that is exactly what you want. Avoid having a fixed mindset.
One of my educator’s advised us: ‘ If you learn a concept by heart, there may still be a 1 percent chance that you forget it, but if you understand the concept and logic behind it, you will never forget it.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how- Friedrich Nietzsche.
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