Every driven person should have a ‘why.’ A why is the reason you wake up early, stay late, and continue to reach for more when nothing is left. Your why will remind you on a 10-month military deployment that you have to keep giving everything. A strong enough why will keep you motivated when you are at your lowest point. I keep a picture of my wife and children near me at all times as a reminder. Reminding myself of the why helps me remember that working harder is possible.
Eric Thomas is the first person I heard reference finding your why. The video in this article specifically enhanced my focus. Eric and I have not met, may not ever meet, but I will be grateful for the lesson. Defining the reason for success is a very important process. If you don’t have the reason you want to succeed it becomes much easier to give up. After all, without a reason you are only letting yourself down. When you build the deep connection of a personal reason attached to your success, it becomes incredibly difficult to give up.
Start by thinking of the things you can’t live without. Trim the fat from this list, then really think of the one thing that is your motivator. Make sure it’s something deep, tied to your core, and work like hell to satisfy that why. In my case, the original why was to be better than my father figures. Personally, professionally, and in every way my mind could imagine. If they ran faster than me I’d be mad. I’d measure when one bought their first house, got their first new car, earned a certain income. Admittedly, this may not have been a healthy way to drive myself but it was effective.
My why changed with marriage and children. They became the why. Everything I’m doing is to set them up with a better life. A why doesn’t have to be static. In my opinion, it should be a dynamic, living, breathing, developing cause that you are willing to fight for. Define your why and see how it changes the years, months, days as they go by.
Unlikely-Success 