Developing your sense of purpose

Today I have read a great quote from John C. Maxwell which says:

“A person who knows ‘how’ may always have a job, but the person who knows ‘why’ will always be his boss”.

This quote is a great reminder of something I have been talking about for a long time. Knowing ‘why’ is crucial to achieving anything.

And why is knowing “why” so important?

Well, knowing “why” means having a sense of purpose, and purpose is the key element to develop self-motivation and drive.

Do you have problems finding motivation to get something done? Are you having a hard time getting into action? Have you started something and drop it a few days later just “because you do not feel like doing it”?

If the answer to any of these three questions is yes, well I recommend you to ask yourself two simple questions:

1. What do you really want?

What result are you after? What is your real target? Define as clearly as possible what is it that you want to achieve.

2. Why do you want it?

Knowing what is it that you really want is great. But is not enough. Knowing ’why’ is what will unleash the driving force to propel you to go for it, and to keep going.

Bottom line, you need to have a strong enough ’why’ to follow through.

So, next time you start procrastinating or finding excuses not to continue a tough task or assignment, find out if it is connected to what you really want to achieve, and if it is, try to identify ‘why’ you want this. This will help you find the self-motivation and drive you need to keep going forward.