Read time: 3.5 mins
Your Why is the big, motivating reason that drives you in your career and life, and was popularised by Simon Sinek’s book, ‘Start with Why’.
Having a clear Why is linked to fulfillment and happiness, and is essential to building the career and life that you want.
But most people don’t have a crystal clear Why.
This is a shame, because without it, you quit sooner, doubt yourself more, and create less of what’s truly important to you.
If you don’t have a Why that’s written down, or you haven’t thought about it in the last 6 months, it’s probably time to revisit it.
It can be hard to know where to start, or find the time to do it, so we designed this newsletter to help with both.
Let’s get into it:
3 reasons your Why matters:
1- It provides inspiration to build the career & life you want, even if it’s hard:
Your Why is your driving force.
Sometimes making a big career move or overcoming the challenges you’re facing is uncomfortable with a massive dose of scary.
If you have a strong, powerful, and motivating reason it’s much easier to do what matters, including the hard stuff.
Example: Our Why at Impacted Careers is to help as many people as we can have amazing careers that they love, and in turn, amazing lives that they love.
This Why inspires us and keeps us on track daily.
2- It helps you connect with people you’re leading or working with:
People connect with and respond to a meaningful Why.
Simon Sinek is famous for saying, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
Whether you’re a job seeker, people leader, or business owner, this applies to you too: when you share your Why, people feel more connected with you and the right people will want to work with you.
Example: Our Why attracts a certain type of client; those who want to build their career on their own terms, and are ready to do it.
We LOVE when people with similar values and dreams reach out to us, because we know already it’ll be a great partnership.
3- It helps you make decisions when opportunities come your way:
Your Why can act as your north star when prioritising options or looking to change course.
Example: Given our Why, it would be an easy ‘no thank you’ to any job that required us to sit in an office all day pushing paper around.
Finding your Why is not easy. It can feel fluffy and difficult to nail down.
Here’s how we recommend you create a clear Why:
HOW TO UNDERSTAND YOUR WHY
Ask yourself the following questions to clarify the reasons you do what you do.
My big goal: ___________________________________________________________
- Why is that important to me?
- And why is that important to me?
- And why is that important to me?
- And why is that important to me?
The intention of the exercise is to find the reason that resonates the most with you – i.e. the highest purpose that drives you more than anything else.
If it feels hard, try writing your answers without worrying about repeating yourself or everything perfectly fitting together.
Just get your ideas out, treating everything you write as worthy of being on paper.
Once you’ve got your ideas down, try framing your Why as ‘To _________, so _______.’
When you’re done, print out your Why and put it somewhere visible to serve as a reminder.
Here’s our example:
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For the action takers:
- If you haven’t written down your Why, or haven’t reviewed it in the last 6 months, do the 5 Whys exercise to clarify your Why.
- We’ve made it easy for you – visit our website’s Free Resources page to use our 5 Whys template.
- Make your Why visible so it’s front of mind when you need it. Put it on the fridge, on your desk in a frame, on your bathroom mirror, whatever works for you. Don’t stick it in a drawer and forget about it – it’s of no use there.
So, what’s your Why? Let us know here. We’d love to hear from you.
And don’t forget to reach out if you’re stuck.
Thanks so much for reading!
Speak soon,
Lynne and Steve
Looking for extra resources?
Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action ‘ has 61 million views on TED’s website and we highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet.
His books ‘Start with Why’ and ‘Find Your Why’ are excellent – we refer back to them regularly in our coaching practice and our lives. You can find them here.
TLDR
- Your Why is the reason you do what you do.
- It’s important to have a Why to accelerate your career because it:
- It provides inspiration to build the career & life you want, even if it’s hard
- It helps you connect with people you’re leading or working with
- It helps you make decisions when opportunities come your way
- Revisit your Why using the 5 Whys exercise above, or download our free workbook here .
When you’re ready to accelerate your career, here’s how to ask about working with us:
We offer career coaching & mentoring to support leaders to build confidence and achieve their goals, and are developing career-building courses coming soon.
