Key Messages
How To Live Life With Purpose: Finding And Living Your Why
If you want to understand why you get up each morning, go to work, eat and sleep – it’s time to discover your WHY.
In “Find Your WHY” by Simon Sinek, you’ll learn how to give yourself a sense of direction and purpose in both your personal and professional life.
Rather than wake up every day not feeling fulfilled at the end of your shift, you can start understanding the true reason behind why you do what you do.
Learn to gather stories from your past that hold clues as to where your WHY lies as well as how to share it with others.
The book will also teach you the art of stimulating conversation with strangers by getting them to talk about their WHYs, the importance of specificity in discovering one’s purpose and how ‘hows’ are they keys that bring a WHY into reality.
Start discovering WHY you do what you do – read “Find Your WHY” today!
Discovering Your Why Can Lead To Clarity And Success
When you know your WHY, it gives you confidence and direction in life.
Take Simon Sinek, for example – when he discovered his WHY of inspiring others, he began to see his life with a newfound optimism.
This sense of purpose wasn’t lost on people around him either – they were drawn to it.
The same applies to businesses as well – a company that knows its WHY is far more appealing than one that doesn’t.
An example of this is Apple, whose customers are loyal due to their famous ‘Think Different’ motto.
Compare this with a generic company who offers cheaper products with more features – the first company has an identity and strong purpose behind it, which leads to greater appeal from customers.
It’s even applicable in situations such as job interviews – when Emily was asked what made her unique at hers, she shared her WHY of helping people become the best version of themselves – no surprise that she got the job!
Knowing your WHY means having a clear purpose and intention, and this makes you and your business more appealing.
Discover Your Why By Looking To The Past And Doing A Discovery Exercise
If you’re trying to unlock your WHY, then looking back on your past experiences is key.
This was something that the authors of ‘Find Your Why’ demonstrated when helping a young woman identify her WHY.
Through recounting stories from her childhood with her abusive father and how she tried to protect her younger sister, the woman was able to uncover a deep motivation – protection of vulnerable people who can’t protect themselves.
This demonstration showcases just how effective delving back into your personal history can be to finding yourself and unlocking your WHY.
Often times our deepest motivations stem from moments in our lives where we were challenged or felt helpless, even if those memories are painful.
Looking back on these moments can help you get closer to discovering why you do what you do – and what it is that you’re truly passionate about.
The Power Of An Objective Eye: How An Outside Perspective Can Help Identify Your Why
It can be difficult to find your WHY if you don’t know where to start looking.
In this case, an outside perspective can be invaluable in helping you uncover your true purpose.
Having someone who knows you well but isn’t overly familiar with your background and will ask thoughtful questions and take notes is the ideal person to talk to.
They should also have the skill of being able to draw parallels between stories that may seem unrelated.
For example, a person might tell three very different stories about their life experiences, such as losing a basketball scholarship due to addictive behaviors, feeling useless as a bartender, and giving all his tips at work for a lemonade stand, which made him feel useful.
By taking detailed notes and really listening actively and engagingly, it quickly emerges that there’s a common theme – helping others do more with their life – that points the way to his WHY.
All it takes is someone else who is willing to listen and ask probing questions, so that deeper meanings can come out of seemingly disparate stories.
An outside perspective can therefore be incredibly helpful when trying to identify your WHY.
Discovering Your Company’S Why: Finding Purpose And Inspiration With A Workshop
A WHY Discovery Workshop can be a great tool for businesses looking to reflect and clarify their WHY.
Through this workshop, you can re-identify your mission statement and find direction for the future that aligns with it.
Take La Marzocco’s espresso machine company, for example.
When they held their WHY Discovery Workshop, employees were encouraged to share stories that captured their working experience.
From that, La Marzocco was able to get a clear focus on the purpose of their business: to bring people together over coffee through convivial conversation.
The same goes for Cuestamoras Self-Service Supermarket in Costa Rica.
The owners felt that their business had drifted away from its original values, so they turned to a WHY Discovery Workshop which allowed them to reconnect with the purpose of their store and inspire new innovations along the way.
And Enrique Uribe will always be able to share his initial vision of WHY Cuestamoras started, even as he is getting older and busier.
Know Your Hows To Bring Your Why To Life
Understanding the HOWs is essential when trying to bring a WHY to life.
Taking the time to get to know how a coworker works can be extremely helpful in achieving success.
The authors at “Start with WHY” have perfected this art form, as they have a shared WHY of helping others unlock their potential but still need to collaborate effectively in order to make it happen.
At an event, for example, one person could be innovative and come up with a way to fit 150 people into a workshop intended for 40.
At the same time, another person can use their skills of simplifying things and making sure everyone is on board with instructions.
Together these two individuals use their respective HOWs to bring the collective WHY of unlocking potential into fruition.
Teamwork is only effective when you understand the HOWs of your colleagues, and by using that knowledge, you can divide tasks among teammates efficiently.
This will ensure that every challenge presented can be turned into success by capitalizing on each other’s individual strengths.
Understanding Your Hows Helps You Make The Right Choices For You
When it comes to everyday decision-making, having a good understanding of your HOWs can be invaluable.
They can help you avoid disasters and make sure that your decisions align with your long-term goals.
Simon Sinek is an example of someone who truly understands the importance of his HOWs.
He focuses on creating products and services that will last long after he’s gone, and is less interested in ways to make a quick profit.
With this knowledge, he was able to recognize when opportunities weren’t aligned with his WHY or his HOWs.
Recently, he had an executive ask him to start a new company that would “put people first.” But upon further examination of his potential partner’s motivations, he realized the executive was more interested in making money quickly which doesn’t jibe with Simon’s overall goals.
The takeaway here is that recognizing your own understanding of your HOWs is critical for making sure you make the best decisions everyday – both big and small – and stay true to yourself in the process!
Sharing Your Why Can Help Make Your Mission In Life A Reality
Once you have discovered your WHY, it’s important to share it with the world.
After all, how else will people know what drives you in life? Start by offering your WHY statement when someone asks the question “What do you do?”.
However, this can be intimidating at first so why not start with some strangers that you’ll never see again? This could be a fellow passenger on a plane or someone in a waiting room.
You may even feel uncomfortable but it helps to practice and be able to express your mission in life confidently.
In addition, sharing your WHY with others encourages accountability; you are more likely to back up your words with actions and fulfill what you say since there is an expectation of follow-through now.
The same goes for businesses; referring back to its mission statement as often as possible reminds everyone about what’s expected from them.
Moreover, by getting to know each person’s WHY, one can make sure that the company is always achieving its goals as well as utilizing each employee’s skills optimally.
So while launching a journey to discover our own WHYS can be daunting enough, making sure others are familiar with them is the next step towards success!
Wrap Up
Find Your WHY suggests that when individuals, businesses and teams are struggling to discover the deeper purpose and meaning in their lives, they can start looking within.
By examining personal stories and formative moments, a true understanding of one’s individual purpose can be realized.
With this empowerment comes greater motivation to pursue goals that fuel an inner sense of passion and productivity.
The book concludes with an actionable plan of how to find one’s WHY – look to your formative stories.
It emphasizes how those moments in life hold key elements to unlocking the hidden motivation within us all, whether they are remembered good times or bad ones.
For anyone searching for great life satisfaction, Find Your WHY provides valuable information on discovering just what it takes get there.
