We all have a WHY – an inner voice that drives us and motivates us to make decisions and pursue our dreams. In today’s world, understanding your WHY is critical for personal and professional growth. If you’re reading this my guess is you already knew that. 😉
So let’s get into it.
Step 1: Take the WHY.os Discovery & Talk About Your Results
The best way to get to know your WHY.os is to, you guessed it, take the WHY.os Discovery! 10 minutes of your time and you’ll have your results and can start diving into what your specific WHY.os means and how to live into it.
Before you really start overthinking and making this more complicated than it is, just ask yourself, “How do I feel about these results?” If you’re not sure, the easiest way to really know is to talk to your friends and family about your results. Do they think it sounds like you?
Tip: Before you tell them your results, ask them what they think your WHY.os is and compare it to the results you got.
So you’ve taken the discovery and talked about your results with people in your life, now what? It’s important to remember that living into your WHY.os may not happen instantly. We don’t expect you to have it all figured out right away, but now that you know what your WHY.os is, it’s time to connect the dots.
Step 2: Reflect on Your Childhood and Early Influences
We all know that your childhood experiences have a profound impact on who you become as an adult. When examining your WHY.os, it can be helpful to reflect on these influences to better understand your results.
Ask yourself questions like, “What values did my parents emphasize when I was growing up? What do I remember most about my childhood and what did I learn from that? How have my early influences shaped who I am today? Are there times from my childhood that I saw my WHY play out, my HOW shine bright, or my WHAT take center stage?”
Answering these questions will not only help you gain insight into yourself but also give you more confidence in how to live into your WHY.os. As Coach Danica Trebel put it, “Discovering your WHY.os is like remembering who you were before the world told you who you weren’t.”
Step 3: Identify Your Natural Strengths and Talents
Another great way to understand your WHY.os is to look at your natural strengths and talents. What have you always been naturally good at? What excites you? When do you find yourself in the flow and what activities bring out the best in you?
Take some time to really explore your natural strengths and talents, as this is often an indication of what drives us. If something feels right deep down inside, then chances are that’s where your WHY lies. For example, if you feel a strong sense of ownership and passion when it comes to problem-solving, then you may have the WHY of Make Sense.
Take the time to explore yourself and find out what makes you tick.
Step 4: Analyze Your Life Experiences
Our experiences shape us in countless ways and reflecting on these can help you understand your WHY.os.
Think back to a time when you faced something challenging. What was it? How did you react during the challenging time? What choices did you make that could be reflective of your WHY.os?
For example: A friend of mine, let’s call her Sarah, has the WHY.os of Contribute, Simplify, Right Way. A challenge she is facing is being drained and burnt out by her job. She enjoys the overall work but she works long, grueling hours and always feels there is more to be done. She gets pulled into work on her days off and even when she’s at the dinner table. She is amazing at her job because she has found ways to not only save the company by cutting costs but has found a way to do three jobs at once. Needless to say, the company finds her invaluable but she feels extreme burnout!
Examining Sarah’s WHY.os, can you see where the challenge is coming from?
Being a Contribute, Simplify, Right Way she is always driven to do more, contribute more, make a bigger impact. She has a gift for simplifying the work needed to be done and always finds the right way to do it. But with that, comes more and more work until she can’t work anymore. It’s no wonder she is feeling burnt out!
By reflecting on her WHY.os, Sarah can now see that she is letting her Contribute bog her down. She is always going to want to jump in and help but needs to learn how to say no, delegate tasks, or hire a team member to help take on the workload. This would allow her to focus on her, and only her, work even though she has the talent to take it all on. This makes for a much more manageable work experience.
Step 5: Make An Action Plan
Make a plan, and start small. Take the exercises above and break them down.
- Download the Start Living Your WHY.os Fillable Worksheet
- Review your life experiences through the lens of your WHY.os.
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Observe the challenges you’ve faced and how you saw your WHY.os play out.
Once you’ve worked through those exercises, it’s time to let your WHY.os start working for you and with you. You now know the things that give you energy because those things are in line with your WHY.os and always have been, do you see?
BONUS STEPS:
STEP 6: Find Your Community
Remember when I said that thing about “You’ll know it when you can say it.” Well now is your chance.
The best way to get to know your WHY.os, ask the questions you want, and explore the WHY in depth is to follow us on social and interact with our large network. Joining a group of like-minded individuals will allow you to talk about it more and connect even deeper. We have a large community all across the world and we are all here to help you on your journey.
Plus, it’s always good to have people cheering you on in life!
STEP 7: Take Advantage of Our Resources
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Sign up for the Personal WHY.os Online Course where you can dive even deeper into the WHY.os, learn how we came up with the Discovery, brain biology and more.
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Join our mailing list to receive monthly tips and resources for exploring the intricacies of your WHY, plus a fun “WHYology” report for living more intentionally with your WHY.os!
- Make sure you are subscribed to this blog where we will be writing about life tips, marketing with your WHY, business tips, and more.
By taking the time to explore your WHY.os and making it a part of your everyday life, you can begin to create an intentional life that aligns with what matters most to you. You will have clarity on why certain things give you energy and why others do not, and what you need to do in order to make your life the very best it can be.
Now go forth and start living your WHY.os!
Ready for more? Check out our Personal WHY.os Online Course, sign up for our mailing list, join the conversation on social, or just start exploring today! There is no wrong way to do this – the only thing that matters is that you have the courage to start living intentionally. Good luck! 💪🏼 🌈 🎉 🤩
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step – let’s get started on yours today! 🚀✨
Happy Exploring! 😊☀
