Why do you do what you do?

How your motivations can help you reach success

Recently I have been quite focused— you might even say obsessively so—on the why behind the things that I do. I know that most of the things I do have a reason behind them, but unless I take the time to think about them, those reasons can slip into the periphery.

I believe that this can be true for anything in our lives. All of these whys are there, regardless if we think about them or not.

What happens when you lose sight of why you do what you do?

Because this was on my mind, I asked one of our customers who was visiting the office, “In your opinion, why do you think we make PowerDMS?”

His answer was simple: “To make money.”

I understand this answer, and that perhaps it was an unfair question, but for me that is not why I do the work I do. Money is an absolutely essential side effect, but I can make money doing any multitude of things. There is a reason why I choose to spend so many hours of my life at this particular company working on this particular product. There is also a reason why my company makes this product and not some other.

I began to wonder if it was clear even to us, because of course it wouldn’t be clear to a customer if we weren’t certain of it ourselves. So I decided to take my inquisition to my colleagues. There were two questions that I asked:

1. Why do you do what you do?
2. Why do we do what we do?

I got a lot of really incredible, well thought out answers to both questions, and as I looked through them I began to see some interesting patterns of motivation that I believe are universal.

Our motivations are influenced by chains of why ending on either side at “why I exist” and “why this thing I invest my time in exists.”

My “why,” the one that lies closer to me than any other, helps to guide the broad strokes of the decisions in my life. By broad strokes I mean to say that it guides things such as not what job I have, but that I should have one at all.

Everyone’s “core why” is different. I believe these differences are how we can become something so incredible when we come together. And if you don’t know what yours is, don’t worry. I would recommend seeking it out, but just because you aren’t aware of it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. You might find it already prominent in shaping the decisions you make every day.

From this core why a chain of them begins to form. In fact many chains form, but staying focused on career, a simplified version of that chain might look like:

Why do I have a job? Why this job or this role? Why this company?

Following this career chain we will eventually arrive at another core why. If a company was a person, it would be their “why do I do what I do?”

Is it important for a company to have a single core why?

I believe that it is. And though this why can certainly change over time, it is out there right now regardless if you know it or not.

I also believe this is different from what you might typically find in a mission statement. Your organization’s core why could be represented in your mission statement, but it probably isn’t. I don’t think that it needs to be. If you research mission statements, there is a lot of “purpose,” “who,” and “what.” And knowing your company exists to make this thing for these people is incredibly important.

Where I would argue is your company will never achieve greatness if why it is important to make this thing for these people isn’t understood. If you do have a mission statement, try asking “Why?” after reading it and see if your answer is clear and universal for everyone in your organization.

Perhaps a better question would be: is it important for everyone to know it?

Different people at your organization will have different goals and objectives. Different departments will as well. But, if all of the whys don’t connect to a single core why, even under the flag of the same mission statement, some unfortunate things can happen.

If you and your colleagues have different core reasons for what you do while operating together as a single organization, it is very likely that, at best, you will not be working in the same direction and, at worst, you will be working against each other. But once you can find what your why is, you will be able to find clarity in the motivations behind not just what you do as an organization, but why you do it.

Knowing what we want to do and having the clarity of why we want to do it will give us certainty and confidence when we have to face tough decisions. With both of these components we can begin to move faster and farther, with fewer moments of backpedaling and course correction.

You never want to accomplish what you set out to do and, having lost sight of why you set out to do it, not have a result that served your needs in the end. This is exactly the reason why I believe it is so important for there to be a single core why for your company and for it to be known by everyone.

Knowing what you want to do and understanding why you want to do it will motivate you and accelerate you towards your goals.

So I will leave you with this: If you want yourself and your company to be powerfully motivated and move quickly in a focused direction, find your core why and keep it in mind with everything you do. And, if you think you’ve found it, try asking “Why?” again until you don’t get a different answer.