Your Why Helps Your Way-Part 2
Knowing your why helps your way. I trust this makes sense from last week's part one blog. I know I had to say it out loud a few times for it to sink in.
The key to making a life that matters is getting intentional. If you possess the desire to make a difference, place a high value on people, and are willing to team up with others, significance is within your reach.
The remaining 3 ideas how why helps your way:
From Dr John C Maxwell's book, Intentional Living:
3—The more you live your why, the more you layer it
People’s strengths and their individual purposes are always connected. I embrace that truth because I believe God has gifted everyone with the ability to be great at what they are supposed to do. But you don’t have to be a person of faith to make the connection between talent and purpose.
Your why is fuel for your strengths. And your strengths are the way to fulfill your why.
Every time you use your strengths to live out your why, you build on your strength and increase your why.
Living this way adds layers of ability, purpose, credibility, and significance to your life. The more you do, the more you learn, because you are layering each experience into your life.
Think about it like this.
When you start off doing something, you're usually not very good. But with time and practice, you get better. After a while, you create layers of success that you can build on, and you also build up tremendous confidence as a result.
That’s what great athletes do. They don’t start off playing their sport at a professional level. It takes years of practice to get to the highest level.
How do they do it? They layer wins, losses, pain, and gain.
4—The more you layer your why, the more impact it has on others
Purpose is like a snowball rolling downhill—it builds over time. It compounds.
Doing the right thing for the right reason with the right people—over time—gives you a huge significance return, and ultimately a giant significance reputation.
Most people want to see a high return on their efforts right away. They want to be given reputation credit in advance. That’s not how life works.
You have to earn credibility.
5—Knowing your why keeps you in the game longer
Have you ever known someone who died soon after retiring? My grandparents are the classic case.
Why does it happen?
Because people have a harder time living without a why to live for. What incentive do people have to keep living when there is no purpose for their actions, no reason to get out of bed each morning?
I want to keep living and giving until I’ve got nothing left. I want to stay in the game.
Do you know your why helps your way?
Finding it is usually a process. You probably won’t do it overnight, and you won’t get the whole thing at once. It comes bit by bit as you take steps forward. That’s why it’s so important to start small—and it’s why the idea of starting small, but believing big, before introducing the idea of finding your why.
To find your why, you need to take steps forward while believing. But to take steps forward and believe, you need to find your why.
So which do you do first?
Whichever one you can. Do the thing you’re best positioned to do.