“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” ~Frederick Nietzsche
Do you have a hard time trying to get things done?
In my last post, I spoke of the need to streamline your life behind what matters most and allow some of the tasks that pile on already-overburdened shoulders to let shrivel on the vine of the intentionally neglected (see it here).
What is Your Burning WHY?
But if you’re still struggling to finish what needs finishing, maybe the problem is that you haven’t yet found your animating WHY.
Find the burning WHY that drives you and the HOW will follow. Your WHY is what burns in your soul. It is the fundamental purpose and passion that animates you.
So what is the big fat WHY that animates your life? Have you found it yet?
What Defines Me
For me, it’s the hunger to make a positive impact in others’ lives. It’s the desire to do good, to leave the world better off for having allowed me to step foot on it. It’s my deep hope that others will feel lifted, happier, better for having met me. It is the passion I have to be an agent for change, to be a vehicle to growth and happiness, to leave a legacy of human decency, compassion and love behind when one day it’s my turn to go.
What compels and inspires and animates you? What’s at the core of what you do and why you do it?
What is your Burning Passion? Your Core Value? Your Ultimate Cause? Your Deepest Purpose? You Inherent Motivation and Most Personal Inspiration? What is the WHY that courses through your veins and narrows your vision and compels you forward?
Internal Motivation
Once the burning WHY is found, motivation becomes much easier to sustain because there is internal buy-in. Your desire to work at your goals comes from within you, from a burning desire to experience the results of the thing you’re currently procrastinating. Your hunger to do becomes stronger than your desire to watch Family Guy reruns on TV or X-Factor first auditions on YouTube or superhero movies on Netflix.
To be sure, there will still be wasted hours and procrastinated diversions. The flesh is week at times, for sure. But those moments will be far fewer if there is an internal fire burning within. The flame of passion will drive you forward at those times the TV seems so much easier.
But once found, uncovered, created or discovered, life becomes much easier. Distractions from what moves and inspires you become easier to limit or quickly get out of the way, to get back to what matters most.
Finding Your Inner WHY
For some, it may be doing good. For others, it’s the path of happiness or holiness or spirituality. For still others, it’s family, or friends, or doing God’s will. Some are motivated by the sense of accomplishment that getting things done gives them or the pursuit of excellence and mastery. Some are inspired by personal growth or enlightenment or ending hunger or discrimination. For some, it will be creativity or artistic expression or achieving flow.
But the first step is to discover what moves you and adds meaning and purpose to your life. There are no shortcuts here. It takes self-analysis and experimentation and study. Explore what’s out there. Try what sparks your interest. And see what gets your heart beating and your mind racing and your imagination, well, imagining!
So find your animating WHY and watch how much energy builds up behind accomplishing the things that matter most to you.
Let me know what you think in the comments (just scroll to the bottom)!
My “why” is wanting to pass on information and wisdom which did me good, which made a difference in my life. pass it on to others and then let go … because I do realise that what works for me, might not work for someone else.
As for your “why” Ken, you ARE making a difference with your posts.
Thank you again and namaste
Karolien
(PS. I closed my Facebook-account but I will for certain keep following your mail posts)
This is so brilliant and inspiring, Ken. And it comes at a time when I’m thinking about strategic planning (not just doing for the sake of doing, but deciding what activities are valuable and should be continued and what activities to drop) in my business life. The universe does this to me/for me ALL THE TIME. Connections and meaning and inspiration pop up and clarify things for me not just in spiritual ways, but in the physical and mental realms of my existence as well. Thanks again for a timely and helpful post.