Your ‘Why’ Matters — in Life and in Business
If I asked you to summarize in one sentence your deep personal motivation for life — which is often called our ‘why’ — what would you say?
This ‘why’ is what makes our everyday existence more alive, awake and energized. It also gives us the commitment to stretch ourselves into new areas of growth: mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. If we’re not growing, we’re likely either taking a break to assimilate what we’ve learned or we might be avoiding growth because we’re in a state of stagnation due to uncertainty of our life motivation.
In our lives, this ‘why’ is our personal brand — the motivation, values and day to day intentions that are the fuel for our creative endeavours.
It also fuels our business or career and when it’s clear, and connected to our soul, then our decisions are easier, and the challenges worthwhile and easier to navigate.
The secret to knowing your ‘why’ is being able to touch and connect with a key ‘wound’ in your psyche. Notice how the word ‘brand’ is indicative of a ‘wound.’
This wound can be described as a powerful response from our psychological and spiritual self to strong events that often occur in our early life.
An example for myself is that my personal ‘why’ is to “empower sensitive people to reclaim their whole and vulnerable self so they are fully seen — and enjoy being seen — in the world.’
This why was deeply embedded as a wound in my psyche while I was a young child. At that time, I was not allowed by my parents to show my authentic and vulnerable self. Their needs superseded mine due to their own suffering and because I was a very sensitive and compassionate child. This reinforced hiding my own vulnerability and needs that were not being met. So I grew up with a mask on — being good and in service, but without knowing or showing my whole and intimate self — even to myself! This was tremendously painful and it has taken me many years to reclaim my whole and beautiful self and to allow it to be seen by others. I even wrote a book about my journey called ‘Be Authentic’.
This ‘why’ is important to me both personally and in my business — as I deeply desire that my clients show their full and vulnerable parts. This is not always easy for sensitive leaders, but doing so makes them more easily identified and appreciated by their ideal clients.
Finding and living from our personal ‘why’ means stripping back aspects of ourselves that were reinforced by others, and that have hidden the more intimate aspects that yearn to be seen. We often only want to show a couple of ‘facets’ of ourself yet we have other ‘hidden’ facets that are equally brilliant and if allowed to shine will then create more depth and light in our personal brand.
When we do show our full self and live from our ‘why’ , we are allowing more intimacy and trust, and this creates more energy and ease in our personal and business life (after releasing our initial fears about it)!
