Finding Your Why
February 17th, 2016 by Morna
Have you ever thought about what your why is? You know, why you do what you do? Why you are in the business you are? Why art or creativity chose you? And why you chose to make it important enough that it is your business?
Frederick Nietzsche said, “He who has a why can endure any how.” I believe that when you know your why, it helps you figure out meaningful goals that lead to creating a meaningful life. It acts as an anchor when you need to find the courage to keep going or even just to take the next step. It helps you stay motivated and can lead to a life you can only imagine. It even helps you get out of bed in the morning.
That sounds good, but how do you really find your why? Your why may just come to you easily or it may take lots of thought. (I was in the lots of thought category.) It may also change over time as your life circumstances change.
For years I never really gave it much thought. I was working to add income to our family coffers. When I first started my business, it was actually at my accountant’s suggestion. He saw I loved quilting and thought I could turn it into a business on the side. That was great, and I never really gave it much more thought. As the years went by, the business grew and changed. I earned a graduate degree in journalism and thought how wonderful it would be to combine the quilting and journalism together, which I did. Again, not really giving it a huge amount of thought as to why beyond I enjoyed it.
The past couple of years, I decided to actually put real thought into the process. I can now articulate what I do and why. I believe it is so important to start to do the work of our why that we spend time working on this individually at the Creative Arts Business Summit. And knowing this absolutely makes a difference. Once you figure our your “big why,” you complete your tasks, reach your goals, make a difference in the lives of those you serve, and live your own life with so much more ease.
Here are some ideas to get you started figuring out your why along with some good resources.
- If you are having a hard time answering yourself why. Complete the sentence: “I am doing this because ….” or “I’m doing this so that….”
- Take a look at your top passions and try to see what they have in common. That can lead you to your why.
- What are your innate strengths? What are things you are naturally good at? Sometimes you dismiss these thinking everyone is good at this thing. And how do these connect with your passions?
- What gets you out of bed in the morning. What is it that drives you to take inspired action?
- What was your youthful joy? Ask people who knew you as a child what they remember about your strengths and passions.
- Remember that the why is the driving force behind our actions. We need strong, or Big, Whys to keep going.
- Our Big Why can change over time. It is a good exercise to revisit yours occasionally.
Some resources to check out:
How Great Leaders Inspire Action, a TEDx talk by Simon Sinek.
The Element and Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson, PhD, with Lou Aronica
What is your why? I know you have one and I would love to hear what it is. Please share it below or on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages?
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Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.
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