One of the words you hear small children repeat over and over again is the word, “Why”
“Please go and brush your teeth”
“Why?”
“Daddy, why is that dog brown?”
‘It just is’
‘Why?’
“Mummy, why do I have to eat all my dinner?”
‘It’ll make you grow up to be big and strong.’
‘Why?’
“Grandma, why is the sky blue?”
‘Why?’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’
As many parents know there are times when you wish you’d never heard the word at all.
And yet, although this repetition can be tiring for the parents, the children learn so much, able to make more sense of their world as fast as their parents satisfy their demands for answers.
But many of us lose that insatiable childhood curiosity as we grow up and start accepting things as they are. Much of our formal education is about information recall and the wonder of “why” gets lost as we focus on remembering the facts and figures of what we are taught. We forget not only how to think for ourselves but also how to challenge everything we’re told and instead we seek and accept answers from the world around us without question.
It seems like much of our curiosity, or our ability to be curious gets lost. And another ability we lose from childhood is taking spontaneous action. When we were young and had an idea for a game or something to do, we just got on and did it.
Now, we can roll an idea around in our head for so long that we lose all enthusiasm for it and nothing actually gets done. And for some of us, there are so many ideas teeming around in our heads and we make the decision about what to do with them seem so difficult. Which should we take action on first, which would be better, is it right to do this when there seems like so much to be done? And just getting started at all can be the biggest challenge.
That’s why I advocate we go back and find our ‘why?’. Before we are spurred into action, rather than spending time contemplating what we’re going to do and when, take a step back and think of why we want to do it, because when our ‘why’ is strong, that determines our course and fuels our actions.
In his classic book ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Napolean Hill states that “the starting point of all achievement is desire” and without a burning desire we are unlikely to achieve anything at all. Your desire comes from the reason you want to do something, your ‘why’.
Simon Sinek, in his TED talk, ‘The Golden Circle’ he says that many companies start their marketing talking about what they do, but people don’t buy what we do, instead they buy why we do it.
Jack Black, talks about the passion in goalsetting as your inspiration and that no-one, no-one gets out of bed on a Monday Morning with a passion to achieve a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound) goal. Only when you think big about what you want to achieve will you be truly inspired to reach your desires. It’s never about what you want, it’s about why you want it. And when your ‘why’ is strong, your energy is high and your passion drives you forward.
At VisionWorks, we always start by building your vision and then we strengthen it with why you want it. Every vision, every purpose, every ‘Why?’ is as unique as the person experiencing them, influenced by their history, their values, their family, by who they are.
The next time you are planning your future, doing some goal setting or even just thinking of a day out, ask yourself why you are doing it and see the difference in your approach when you have a really strong purpose, reason or ‘why’ behind it.
Feel your energy rising, notice the increased effort you put in. Because you know why you are doing what you are doing so it matters more. And notice too, how much better, easier and faster your results happen.
Why? The Most Annoying Or The Most Inspiring Question Ever
One of the words you hear small children repeat over and over again is the word, “Why”
“Please go and brush your teeth”
“Why?”
“Daddy, why is that dog brown?”
‘It just is’
‘Why?’
“Mummy, why do I have to eat all my dinner?”
‘It’ll make you grow up to be big and strong.’
‘Why?’
“Grandma, why is the sky blue?”
‘Why?’
‘Why?’
‘Why?’
As many parents know there are times when you wish you’d never heard the word at all.
And yet, although this repetition can be tiring for the parents, the children learn so much, able to make more sense of their world as fast as their parents satisfy their demands for answers.
But many of us lose that insatiable childhood curiosity as we grow up and start accepting things as they are. Much of our formal education is about information recall and the wonder of “why” gets lost as we focus on remembering the facts and figures of what we are taught. We forget not only how to think for ourselves but also how to challenge everything we’re told and instead we seek and accept answers from the world around us without question.
It seems like much of our curiosity, or our ability to be curious gets lost. And another ability we lose from childhood is taking spontaneous action. When we were young and had an idea for a game or something to do, we just got on and did it.
Now, we can roll an idea around in our head for so long that we lose all enthusiasm for it and nothing actually gets done. And for some of us, there are so many ideas teeming around in our heads and we make the decision about what to do with them seem so difficult. Which should we take action on first, which would be better, is it right to do this when there seems like so much to be done? And just getting started at all can be the biggest challenge.
That’s why I advocate we go back and find our ‘why?’. Before we are spurred into action, rather than spending time contemplating what we’re going to do and when, take a step back and think of why we want to do it, because when our ‘why’ is strong, that determines our course and fuels our actions.
In his classic book ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Napolean Hill states that “the starting point of all achievement is desire” and without a burning desire we are unlikely to achieve anything at all. Your desire comes from the reason you want to do something, your ‘why’.
Simon Sinek, in his TED talk, ‘The Golden Circle’ he says that many companies start their marketing talking about what they do, but people don’t buy what we do, instead they buy why we do it.
Jack Black, talks about the passion in goalsetting as your inspiration and that no-one, no-one gets out of bed on a Monday Morning with a passion to achieve a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound) goal. Only when you think big about what you want to achieve will you be truly inspired to reach your desires. It’s never about what you want, it’s about why you want it. And when your ‘why’ is strong, your energy is high and your passion drives you forward.
At VisionWorks, we always start by building your vision and then we strengthen it with why you want it. Every vision, every purpose, every ‘Why?’ is as unique as the person experiencing them, influenced by their history, their values, their family, by who they are.
The next time you are planning your future, doing some goal setting or even just thinking of a day out, ask yourself why you are doing it and see the difference in your approach when you have a really strong purpose, reason or ‘why’ behind it.
Feel your energy rising, notice the increased effort you put in. Because you know why you are doing what you are doing so it matters more. And notice too, how much better, easier and faster your results happen.
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