3 Ways to Find Your ‘Why’
When we want to improve our lives, it is easy to go around asking our friends and relatives for advice, or resort to the internet. However, while a lot of these could be helpful as we work towards taking concrete action, it’s usually not long until we begin to wonder why nothing seems to be working.
Why is that?
It is only through beginning with our ‘why’ that we will be able to find fulfilment in the things we pursue.
Life becomes a lot simpler when we take some time to ask ourselves why we do the things we do. As our primary reason for being and the purpose that drives us forward, discovering our own unique why will help us to align our choices, beliefs, and values, and serve as the foundation for ultimate success. Here’s 3 tips on how we can find our why:
1. Track your thoughts
95% of our thoughts each day come from those from the day before, and recognising them will help us paint a clearer picture of what it is that we truly care about.
Tracking our thoughts can be done through practicing daily journaling. Whether done through carrying a journal around or simply typing through the notes app, this practice does not have to be tasking or time-consuming. The ultimate goal is to be able to track recurring thoughts as this aids in the process of developing self-awareness, helping us to better evaluate the alignment of our actions with our values, and giving us a clearer sense of why we do what we do.
Our thoughts, feelings, and actions have patterns in which our ‘why’ could be hidden. We need only to look.
2. Make a list of the things you love doing
Maybe it’s traveling, painting, spending time with friends, family movie nights, or even meditating – Big or small, it can be anything. By creating a list of what we love to do, we gain a better understanding of ourselves and how we prefer to spend our time.
After creating this initial list, we then must ask ourselves questions such as “why do I love doing this?” or “why is this important to me?” or “how do I feel when I am doing this?” and take some time to reflect as this helps us to recognise how we feel when we do certain things, which then provides us a clearer picture of our intentions and purpose.
3. Do the 7 Levels Deep exercise
How can we keep striving for success in what we choose to do even when things get tough? It always boils down to the foundation of our decisions, because when our why is strong enough, we have the drive to stick to our goals no matter how rocky the road gets. There may not be a more powerful motivator than knowing one’s true why, and the 7 Levels Deep exercise is focused on guiding individuals to achieve anything in life through anchoring on their great why.
It is best to do this somewhere quiet where one can reflect and focus, either alone or with a partner. Some young people say that their goal is to have their own source of income. Incorporating this into the exercise, a question to ask then could be, why do you want to that? To provide for personal and other loved ones’ wants and needs? Why do you want that? So you don’t have to keep asking your parents for extra allowance? Why is it important that you do not keep asking your parents for extra allowance? Because you would like to help out more or be more independent? Why is it important for you to be more independent?
The general idea is to begin with a goal, and to keep responding with a question related to the previous answer in order to get 7 levels deep with the why and get to the heart of the desire. Dean Graziosi, the author of Millionaire Success Habits where this very exercise is discussed, said, in his own words, “7 Levels Deeps was the biggest impact in my life, ever.” He says that when he learned to go deep into his why, bad days, wanting to skip the gym, or any other reason could not stop him from getting out of bed in the morning and living out his why.
Our why comes from within, and discovering it builds the strong foundation and paves the way to success in the path we choose to take. As Dean says, “Dig into your heart, find where you want to go, point your ship in that direction, don’t let anybody get in your way.”
For more information about helping your teenager with motivation, confidence, and a strong sense of direction through the Empower U Program, click HERE.
