If we pause to connect with our "why" we can infuse that into our intention. If I forget to write down why I am doing this or that then I am still creating, but without an intention. With intention there is a message in what you do, both to yourself, and to others. It doesn't matter what task is at hand, you are clear about why you are doing it and this makes everything worthwhile.
Imagine it was possible to know what a particular outcome would be, would this change what you are doing? This question poses the "why", since we never know any outcome, even in a probability like an 80% favorited hand in poker which is very high, you can still loose everything you have -boiled down- no outcome assured. Even things we are told when were young, take this class, go to this school, get this grade and you can be a ___ and make ____, these actions may make it more probable but we really never know what is going to happen.
Inside not knowing there is great freedom, and in that freedom there is even greater joy.
So if we cannot know an outcome we can: do things we don't want to (result oriented only, outcome focused only) and not know the result, or we can do things we do want to do (focused on the "why" we are doing them) and not know the result.
I mean the only reason we do things we don't want to is because we are certain they will yield a result that we do want right?
I have never done something I loathed because I thought it would get me a result I wasn't interested in, but I have definitely chose to do things that I was not interested in because somewhere there was a story that doing it was the only way to yield the result I wanted.
This week I talked to another entrepreneur about how we can sometimes look around and go "how did I end up in this situation, this is not in line with who I am?" or the guy I handed my goodwill drop-off to who told me "I am 68 and I have never liked any job I had my whole life (except this one), I never had a passion, I never enjoyed anything, and now I just don't want to sit on a park bench and feed ducks", I even saw this theme with my students this week as we talked about how to get rid of anxiety before a big show.
After this I realized we loose our way, and we forget how to enjoy, when we are not in touch with our why. I have certainly found myself in trouble when I look around and realize I made a decision based off of a hope for a result only, and did not check in with my why, or more simply, asked myself if I even wanted to do it. So what does this all mean Basel?
Inside of the why there is an air of responsibility, if I know what my why is then I can choose to be responsible for acknowledging this little guy, or he doesn't stand a chance of being recognized.
If your why is to have a healthy family then the cost of organic groceries seems like a bargain, if your why is to make a difference in the world then suddenly money is no object when you see an opportunity to help someone, If helping the environment is your why, then separating everything to recycle and compost, suddenly growing worms or quitting milk or meat looks really fun.
My why is: I want to inspire the world around me to see that every aspect of life can be transformed into a work of art, from the mundane traffic march, to cooking, to the grand scale things like creating the life you want to have.
Because I imagine what a world it would be to live in if everyone was creating things they wanted to, and loving every minute of their day, how much joy and peace every living soul could have. How much understanding we would have for each other.
Because of my why I can barely keep up with all the goodness, time passes so fast, but somehow at the same time the good moments are slowed down, like a beautiful piece of music where the speed travels and builds up only to give you a nice silent pause or genius solo line, and I just..enjoy it. It's ok that I don't know the outcome.
The why ultimately expands your gratefulness, and reduces our anxiety, like artists who step on stage thinking of their why, they transform their listeners as they transform themselves, the anxiety is gone.
So this week maybe ask what your why is & get some joy for free.