Have you ever felt as if your days were all the same? That none of what you’re doing makes sense anymore.
Orphanage Trip
Last Saturday, we were on a trip to the orphanage, and I was with my colleagues at Cebu South Toastmasters. On the way to the orphanage, one of my colleagues asked me, what is my “WHY”. Why do I do what I do, and what is the reason I’m striving hard today. I froze on my seat. I realized I just forgot my “WHY”. It’s only been two years, yet I’ve forgotten the reason why I’m doing what I do.
The theory behind the WHY
Simon Sinek originated the idea of the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle is composed of your WHY, HOW, & WHAT. Employees and customers buy into a company who follows the order of the Golden Circle. In order to get people to buy into your company, you need to start with WHY. WHY you do what you do, then HOW you do it, and lastly what you do. Most mediocre companies give us what they do, and that doesn’t convince us to believe in them.
Let me give you an example from Apple:
“Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo.
We believe in thinking differently…
The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.
And we happen to make great computers’’
These companies have sold us on their purpose, and that is why we don’t have any problems buying from them.
Looking Within
Not only is the Golden Circle applicable to companies and brands, but it could also be applied to individuals as well. It all starts with a goal. During your journey to achieving a goal, especially if the journey is long, we tend to forget the reason why we are doing it in the first place. For example, your goal could be to finish a degree, save up 1 Million pesos, or save up for a home. These are long-term goals that take more than a year to achieve. When we work for a goal, it’s very easy to get tired along the way. It’s very easy to give up.
BUT when you are working for a purpose – everything changes.
WHY do you want to get that degree? Or WHY do you want to build a home? WHY are you pursuing medicine?
If you answered – “money or comfort” – these are shallow reasons.
But if you answered:
- To make a difference to the lives of many people
- To heal the sick
- I want a home to call my own because we’ve never had a home growing up (looking back to your childhood)
- I want a million pesos to build up own business – so that I could spend time with my family and simply work at home (looking forward to the future)
Above are the reasons that make us want to work more. These are very simple phrases. But sometimes, we get too distracted by the shallow reasons that we tend to forget pairing it with the deeper reasons.
Start With Your Why
When I reminded myself of my deeper reason – which is to someday have a complete family and being able to take care of my family full-time, everything just makes sense.
I am trying to earn passive income and build businesses because one day, I want to be able to work at home and be with my family. I’ve realized I’m not really interested in being part of the Fortune 500 unless I can bring my kids everywhere.
When you know WHY you do what you do, you have all the reasons to keep on going despite all the difficulties that come into your life. Defining HOW you do it, will allow you to enumerate the different habits that will bring you to your end goal.
