My three-year old daughter is at the annoying stage of asking why a lot. While it's exasperating, especially when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere, her persistent questioning of why I'm doing something, is quite illuminating. It definitely gets me to think a bit more about what I'm saying to her and how I'm parenting. It turns out that the annoying question of why is where the magic is found.
When you understand the purpose behind the goal, it's like rocket fuel 🔥💥for building better, more consistent habits. 🎖When your why is 🎯laser-focused, how you get there is much clearer and easier to achieve. When you understand the reason behind your goal, you're far more likely to stick with it and ultimately achieve it.
The power of why.
For years I battled to set goals. They were something I told myself I'd get done pretty much when the 31st December rolled around. They were resolutions, dressed up as goals. As the weeks of January rolled on, my resolve was gone, the novelty worn off or staying the course was just too hard. Sound familiar? When I started understanding goal setting and studying the great sages and goal setting gurus of personal development, I started to get to grips with an important factor that I had often overlooked. That simple word is why. Forget SMART goals, writing them down, diarising tasks and setting up a routine. If the simple step of WHY is not sorted out in your process, you can forget about achieving anything substantial. In 2009, Simon Sinek, in his now famous book, Start with Why - How Great Leaders Inspire, started a movement to help people become more inspired at work. While he uses it as a way to connect with your purpose in life, ultimately if you want to motivate yourself (to achieve your goals), you need to start with the why. When you understand the reason behind your goal, you're far more likely to stick with it and ultimately achieve it. So take a look at your goals again (if you've set a few of them for 2022). Start to interrogate the why. And don't rest until you've settled on the real answer within your soul.
Using the 5 Why's method for goal setting
Using the 5 Why's method, which is traditionally used for problem-solving, drill down further to the core reason for why you are setting your goal. Watch the video for more insight into the technique. Remember it doesn't need to stop at 5 either, it can go on until you've found the actual root cause of the problem (or in this case, the actual true motivation for wanting to set that goal).
Losing weight? Why? Is it the health benefits? Yes, maybe. Let's go deeper.
Is it to fit back into old slimmer clothes? Yes, partly... go deeper. Do this five times.
Journal freely and listen to what your heart is telling you. And when you've settled on the why, don't let it go.
This is where the power lies in goal setting.
A purpose behind a goal is like rocket fuel
Attach a purpose to your goal.
When you understand the purpose behind the goal, it's like rocket fuel 🔥💥for building better, more consistent habits. 🎖
When your why is 🎯laser-focused, how you get there is much clearer and easier to achieve.
In this process of delving deeper, if you discover that your why is actually something that would please someone else, you're on the wrong track. Whenever you set goals to make other people happy, you're just about to derail yourself. That's because the goals you set have GOT to be about what YOU want, what would make YOU happy. So finding out your true why is essential to achieving your goals and feeling good about yourself.
Hope this helps ;)
Good luck out there x
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