Start With Why

(Simon Sinek wrote an entire book on this one topic and has done an exceptional job. I added my two cents but I would encourage reading Simon's book to get a full picture)

Being an entrepreneur and since the nature of my business is scalable; when my wife and I have the bandwidth to open doors for people and approach them, I get this question - Tell me WHAT is it? 

Let’s see where does this WHAT question comes from. Walk with me on this journey over the next few lines.

Have you seen small kids ask a lot of questions? Most often their questions start with word WHY?

Something happens as kids ask more and more questions. Parents are tired of answering and kids hear the inevitable - STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND DO WHAT WE ASK/SAY/TELL

1. You start going to school. Do you really know why you were there? If you ever dare asking your teacher, why am I here, then you will have to listen to the class standing out. You will follow teachers instructions and do WHAT your teacher asks you to do. Remember it's all about grades.(sad, but its true)
2. There is a group of people(friends) you want to be a part of. Remember that you have to do WHAT they are doing for you to be a part of that. Else good luck to you in forming your own group.
3. You enter Senior High. Comes your way a question - WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO (OR BECOME) AS YOU GROW UP?

• Wait ! Wait ! Wait ! Are you kidding me to ask that question when I am 16/17/18? For most of the boys -- (if they can be real and voice their answers, they want) enough money, beer and girls.If you are a girl - money, beer and shopping(My wife added this last point)

4. Choose our profession?

• If you are from Indian origin(like I am) - You don’t have too many options my friend - Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer. If you say anything else you will be killed(not really, but almost)
• If you are from USA(or some other countries) - You change your degrees couple of times since we don’t even know what we want to become. We are easily influenced by media, friends etc.

Then Associate, Bachelors, Masters, Training camps(this has been a very helpful one for many who were not able to get proper degrees during college) etc.

All through this, there is a constant bombardment of what do you want?

5. You go for an interview and ask questions like

• What is my role?
• What is salary package?
• What are my roles and responsibilities?
• What are the working hours?

Hence, it’s not a SURPRISE when people ask me “WHAT IS IT” question since we all have been trained to ask WHAT over the years.

If only we can get that curious kid in us back again, that kid who asked why questions, then it all makes sense.

Here is what my wife and I have been doing over the last few years(We certainly want to attribute this mindset to our mentors who challenged our thinking from the time they opened doors to coach and mentor us)

1. Having a clear WHY? (Most of them who are successful have a strong Why)
2. HOW do you want to live your life? (5/10/15 years from now)
3. Then comes WHAT do you need to do in order to get that life you wanted.

My question to you: Doing what you are doing, will it give the life you envision 5/10/15 years from now? Yes, then you are on right track. No, can you seek out someone who has the life that you wanted and see if they are willing to spare sometime to coach/mentor you.

Last thought - When someone is willing to open the door(like we had someone do it for us), keep that skepticism aside and be open to receive. Stop asking ‘What’ questions and ask your self ‘Why do I want to do something else?’, ‘Why am I doing what I am doing?’, ‘Am I able to give/spend that quality(spelled as QUANTITY) time with my family?’, ‘Why am I chasing what I am chasing?’

PS: I do understand that not everyone has think the same and if everyone thinks the same it will be a boring place to live, So, please don’t take it to heart if you are not aligned with my thoughts. No wonder Success is always a minority.