The most important thing to know in any given situation is the WHY. This may come from the questioner in me, but I feel like I need an answer to ‘why’ before I do something. The ‘why’ is what gives something a purpose and provides motivation to complete a task (or leave it!). Knowing what to do and how to do something is pointless if you don’t know why you are doing it. For example, as a therapist, I should know WHY my patients need to do a specific exercise. Knowing what to do and how to do it alone is not enough- if it was, my job could be done by someone else.
This is how I see it:
The people who know HOW to do something become the workers.
And the people who know WHAT to do become the managers.
But the people who know WHY you do something… they become the CEO.
Learning how to recognize ‘the why’ is a learning process. It comes from experience and mistakes. If you were taught what to do and how exactly to do something all your life, you will have learned a skill. But without an explanation on why you are doing it when you should, you won’t learn the purpose behind it or even when to use that skill. Whenever I am with my nieces and nephews, instead of giving them all the answers, I ask them to think about it. If they don’t get it, instead of telling them the answer alone, I give them a thought out explanation on why we did something the way we did.
This is what I want you to take away from this post: If you’re WHY is clear, then putting everything else into place is made easier. See below;
WHY is the purpose.
What do you do? You do what serves the purpose.
When do you do it? You do it when it serves the purpose.
Where? You do it where it serves the purpose.
Who does it? The people who can serve the purpose efficiently
How? You do it in a way to serve the purpose.
Call to ACTION: Think about your goals and WHY you want to achieve them. Is it because someone else told you that you need to or is it because you want to yourself? Give everything a reason and you’ll find it more meaningful to do.