Do you have dreams of changing something about your life? Or maybe you really want to start a new habit? We often jump into starting something new or trying to change without thinking it through. But when you imagine what you want for your life, if you actually want those things – you need to make a plan. That means writing down your goals and planning on how you’ll achieve them. But it also means, you need to know your why. Knowing your why is the single most important step to ensure you keep going and follow through on your goal.
You need to know your why because if you don’t have a DEEP understanding of why a goal matters to you and feel connected to that importance you probably won’t complete it. Your why creates focus and gives clarity to your goals, it also helps make clear your purpose. Knowing your purpose in life gives meaning to what you are doing and drives you forward.
Spending time thinking deeply about why it matters, what difference it’ll make in your life and what problem it will solve you are more likely to see it through. Spending some time journalling is really helpful. Rereading what you’ve written alls gives me insight into my thinking. This also requires some forward thinking.
- What if you didn’t save money now, what does that mean for 10 years in the future you?
- What if you don’t become more active now, how will you feel in 5 years?
- Or even bigger, what if you don’t pursue your passion because you’re scared or you can’t right now or you can’t go back to school or you don’t want to get up early, or, or, or and you wake up in 20 years and you’re still not fulfilled?
Take the time to write down the big things you want in life because if you don’t plan it and make it happen – no one else will.
How to Start
So first, take the time to write down the big things you want in life because if you don’t plan it and make it happen – no one else will.
Then go through each one of those goals and figure out WHY it matters to you. Tie it to some big emotions. How will you feel if it never happens? What will it mean for your life overall? Does it affect your physical or financial health? Really connect to it and know your why.
Compare lists
Once you’ve figured out what you want, you need to look at your current life and figure out where things match up and where they don’t.
If you want buy a house, do you save money?
If you want to lose 15 pounds and feel stronger, do you exercise?
Sit down with your list of goals and compare. Notice where things are missing and then make a list of small actions you can take right now to start working on those goals. And I mean small. If you want to exercise, start with 5 minutes a day or save money, save a $1 a day. If these end up being no problem for you to show up and do, you can always increase. But what you don’t want to do is set the bar too high on too many things at once because you are setting yourself up for failure. Even if you do know your why, it needs to be sustainable.
The power of tiny gains
Consistent, small action is much better than big, sweeping action that fizzles out in a month. You can always do something for 10 minutes a day but not necessarily an hour. And that exercise habit that you start today with 5 minutes can turn into an hour but when you’re okay with 5 minutes then you are never going to stop doing it.
I used to be a huge perfectionist and would encounter this time and time again. I worked really well on huge, all-in projects but would fail myself time and time again when it came to consistent action because what felt like showing up to me was more than I could do consistently. So I would beat myself up for not doing things the ‘right’ way and feel like what I could offer some days was never good enough.
Maybe you’ve felt the same? Well I’m here to tell you that lowering that bar is the best thing you can do. You are going to show up for yourself more often and achieve more, with balance, than ever before. And because you know your why, when it feels crazy hard or you want to quit, you will keep going. Even if it’s 5 minutes, you are going to show up for yourself and your future self.
How to craft your why
So now you’ve thought about what you want and you’ve thought about why but let’s craft it into a powerful message to yourself. You want there to be power behind those words and for it to elicit those big emotions. It has to be something powerful.
“I want to lose weight” or “I want to make more money”, is not enough. It needs to be deeper.
”I want to feel stronger, more energetic and healthier so I can do all the things I want; play with my kids, work on my passion, spend time with my partner”
or
”I want to earn more money so I can have more choices in my life and be able to fill my days with things and experiences that bring joy and connection.”
See how that really attaches onto things that are more meaningful than just saying you want to lose some weight? Or figuring out what you actually want to earn more money for, rather than just having more money? It helps clarify and make it something you can hold onto when you feel like giving up.
Your ‘know your why’ statement:
- Think of what you want and why you want it, really connect
- Write it out simply – “I want to find a new job”
- Then broaden it, connect it to what that change will bring to your life – “I want to find a new job that has more balance so I can spend more time with my family. I want to be present for bedtimes and weekends and connect with my kids.”
- Live with it for a bit and then refine as necessary.
I hope this helps give you some direction and get you started on your bigger goals. What’s something you’re working on and what is your why?
