What drives you matters
Y’all know I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” (ps affiliate link). His philosophy states that people don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy based on WHY you do what you do. That WHY is what creates brand evangelists, followers, groupies – they drank the proverbial Kool-Aid of you and your brand. It’s kind of magical on so many levels. #gamechanger
Here’s the thing, what motivates you to act matters. When your WHY motivates you, you have a sense of thrill, a sense of pride, and a sense of calm about your actions even about the unknown. I’m not suggesting it isn’t scary at times, but your deep seeded emotional motivations will carry you in an amazing way IF you remember WHY you started on the course you did. Kind of sounds like marriage therapy – doesn’t it? When couples are at a rough patch, therapists will often ask them to remember WHY they were drawn to each other in the beginning? Why did they fall in love? What do they love about each other? The WHY motivation is no different. What drives you should not only inspire you, it should inspire others.
It’s the same thing when it comes to everything else in life – business, friendships, marriages, hobbies – it doesn’t matter. What drives you DOES matter.
Compare the WHY scenario to a fight or flight motivation. You do something, you take action because you have to, because you are afraid of the consequences or perhaps because you are being forced. There is no positive emotional connection to the action, it doesn’t bring you joy – the end result, nor the journey
When it comes to being an entrepreneur, I can promise you this is by far one of the most important things to grasp. You MUST be emotionally and deeply connected to what you are doing if you want long term success. You must believe in your WHY, so that others will believe it and more importantly so that passion will carry you through the rough patches.
When you don’t love Mondays ( beyond Simon this is my other favorite topic to rant on and on about) – you are in the wrong career, in the wrong space. If you own a business and dread Mondays you are not driven by your WHY you are driven by a fight or flight. I’m not talking one bad Monday, I’m talking “Sunday 2pm OMG tomorrow it all starts over type of I hate Mondays”.
What drives you to succeed matters, and it should never be about money. #gamechanger (TWEET THIS)
Money is a fight or flight motivator. You fear not having enough. You take actions based on how much you will earn or how much it will cost. You aren’t driven by your WHY. Think about that for a minute, I mean really think it through. How are you motivated?
Sit down and make a list of 10 things that bring you joy, 10 things that you are really great at and 10 things that you want to accomplish in the next 5 years. If less than 50% of them align with what you are doing right now career wise – consider the possibility that you are not in the right space and that you are driven by some motivations that aren’t aligning with your WHY.
If money is on the joy list – think about why and consider a rethink. What about money brings you joy? Is it the security? If so – change the word to security 🙂 just a little mindfulness tip.
This stuff matters, don’t brush it off. When you grasp this and practice it – it’s a big time #gamechanger