The importance of knowing your "why" in business and life

As a business coach and strategist, I encourage my clients to uncover their “why.”

We discuss the importance of knowing your “why” and the positive impact it can have on your business growth, your overall life trajectory, and life satisfaction.

It’s one of the key elements we use to help you move forward in your business and life.

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What is a “why”

You may be asking yourself what is a "why"?

If you’re a follower of writer and motivational speaker Simon Sinek, you may have read his famous quote:

“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”

Or seen his top-ranked Ted Talk (63 million+ views and counting).

Sinek is a massive proponent, and one of the originators, of knowing your “why.”

And it’s a means of inquiry I use in my work with clients to get clarity, purpose, and aligned action.

In his talk, he asks business leaders:

“What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief?”

What’s key here is that your “why” is the hub that drives the “what” and “how” of what you do, not the result.

I’ve had clients say to me, I don't have a “why.” I don't know what my “why” is. Or I have an inkling, but I'm not sure what it looks like.

Eventually, they get to the clarity of knowing what their “why” is and it’s a fascinating, provocative discovery.

If this sounds familiar, I hope you'll take this to heart because I get it (truly). It can be frustrating and stressful.

You can be stuck and confused and stressed in terms of your direction for your business and your life when you don't have awareness of this key driver.

Keep reading to see that your why” has the power to be a tool that you can use to get unstuck and move forward in your life and your business.

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Why do I need to know what my "why" is?

You may also be asking yourself, "why is this so important?"

Based on this structure your “why” is the constant.

And because of that:

1. Knowing your "why" gives structure and meaning to the day-to-day.

2. It gives you the freedom to create the "what” and “how” that best aligns with where you’re at in your business.

3. It allows you to know what to say "yes" to and what to say "no" to in your business and in life - to make value-based decisions.

4. It allows you to focus on those things that are most important to you, not to anybody else.

Then, when you marry your “why” with what really gets you excited, what gives you juice, that's when the life-changing magic really begins.

In my work with female solopreneurs — especially those that have multiple ideas, multiple interests and passions that they've struggled to bring together — knowing your “why,” and getting that aligned with what excites you, provides you with a hub, with into which all of these interests connect and provides a story around which to move forward.

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How you can get to your “why”.

If you’ve not yet homed in on it, here’s a way in.

Grab a journal (or open a document) and set a timer for 10 minutes.

Ask yourself these questions…

• When you get up in the morning, what's your overarching intent for the day?

• What impact do you want to have?

• What change do you want to affect?

Write. Don’t put down your pen (or stop your fingers from typing). If you spend the entire 10 minutes on the first question, great! If not, keep moving through the questions until the 10 minutes are up.

Sit back and read what you’ve written.

Notice what jumps out at you - what phrases catch your attention (even perhaps surprise you), what hits you In the heart or moves you.

Take those words, phrases, sentences, and bring them together, crafting a phrase that reads:

To {your Impact} so that {your contribution}.

This is your “Why.”

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How I discovered my “why”

I want to share my own story of discovering my “why.”

As I often like to say, "the cobbler's children have no shoes." Meaning it can be very difficult to do for ourselves what we do for others, especially when we're service providers - coaches, consultants, designers, etc.

I know this has been true in my life. We neglect sort of key areas of our life that we tend to in our work with our clients.

One day I woke up and realized that I’dnever put myself through the process that I take my clients through. I call this this process, THE QUESTIONS, and one of them is what is your “why?”. And I realized there was no escaping it anymore. That I needed to sit down and do this. So, one day I did; I sincerely asked myself the question, what is my “why?”.

My immediate response? "I don't have a ‘why’." Clearly, I needed put on my coaching hat and move to the coaching side of my brain, which basically said, “hogwash.”

So, I asked again, I sat down with a pen and paper, as I suggested you do, and did some writing. And nothing was coming that really hit home.

Then I decided to take suggested approach of the German poet Rilke's, which is to live the question. I sat with it; I stayed with it. I let it be in my mind without forcing it and being okay with not having an answer. And eventually one day out of nowhere, the answer came to me. And I knew that my “why” is to awaken people, especially female entrepreneurs, to what the possibilities are for them, in their business and their lives.

Now, given that I'm a business coach and consultant, of course a part of my client work is to help you develop a plan, to bring those possibilities into reality. But where the energy really lies for me is in the first part, because if we never get to what the possibilities are, then we never get create your plan.

What’s your why?

I hope this inspires you to think about the possibilities for your business and life. And to ask yourself, “what’s my ‘why’?”.

If you’re ready to bring thos possibilities to life, check out my Monthly Business Coaching offering then book a call to get started.