they do not have a big enough “why”. Napoelon Hill referred to this as your “burning desire”, and I speak a lot about this concept in my training and speaking. Some people call this their ‘passion’, but in the end, it doesn’t matter what you call it — what matters that is you have a consuming, burning-in-your-gut, one-minded focus on why you are doing what you are doing. Some people will tell you their burning desire is to ‘get rich’. Or be ‘financially free’. But I know that anyone telling me that likely will not achieve it, unless they change their thinking. Wanting to be rich for the sake of being rich or having lots of money will never be enough motivation to carry you through all of the obstacles and challenges that you’ll inevitably run into. This is why having a compelling “why” is so important, whether you’re talking about making money or getting into better shape, or having better relationships. So in thinking about this concept of your “why” and what motivates people, I came up with a great little saying that I think explains the importance of having a strong and compelling “why”.
The Stronger Your ‘Why’ .. The Harder You Try.
The more you focus on developing a powerful, compelling, exciting, vivid REASON for doing what you want to do, the more likely it is you’ll create the results you’re looking for.
If your “why” is ‘I want to lose weight so I can be more healthy,’ chances are you’re never going to stick to a workout routine or proper eating habits. That’s a terrible why — because it’s so weak, an doesn’t tie any emotions or true benefits to it! It’s hard to get excited about it.
When things get tough, you’ll immediately cave in and tell yourself “I deserve it” when you look at that chocolate cake, or you’ll promise yourself, “Oh, I will get back on the program tomorrow“.
Yea, sure you will.
However, if you have children, and you watched your father die prematurely and you never got the chance to spend your childhood playing with your dad in the backyard .. well that could be a pretty emotional hook for you to use.
If your ‘why’ is that you want to get in shape because you want to play with your children and give them life-long memories of playing with you in the yard .. and you visualize what that looks like, and the feelings you get from that vision ..
And then feel the emotions of what it would be like if you can’t experience that — maybe you see yourself sitting on a porch in a wheelchair, watching your children play .. THAT may be a powerful enough feeling to make you realize WHY it is so critical to get into shape!
Hopefully you can see why having such a compelling “why” — tied to emotion and tangible benefits for you — is critical to achieving the results that you want to achieve. With a powerful why, you’ll push through, and without one .. you’ll give up easily, because subconsciously, your brain will say “well why would I put up with all that hassle and pain? It’s not worth it“.
You have to make your why so compelling that it’s worth doing anything to achieve it.
So remember this simple phrase, because it will focus you on making sure you’re working on a powerful and compelling reason to do what you’re doing:
]]>The stronger your ‘why’, the harder you try.