How To Find Your Why

Despite what many people think, there’s no one way to live a high performance life.

That’s why you’ll find all different kinds of people doing it, from speakers to entrepreneurs to athletes to musicians to working mums.

But there is one thing that I’ve found in common among all the high achievers I’ve worked with: a deep, unshakeable understanding of the reason that they do what they do — their deep why.

Why Find Your Why?

Knowing your ultimate reason for doing anything is hugely important for two reasons: first, it gives you a clear point to work backwards from in your planning.

Most people plan forwards based on how they feel on the given day that they’re planning.

The problem with this is that you often end up working towards goals that you don’t actually want.

Sounds crazy, but it’s true!

And there’s nothing more frustrating than pouring a lot of time and energy into something, getting it, and realising that you didn’t even want it to begin with.

But when you get down to your deep why, you’re able to set goals that actually get you to end results that you want.

The other really important thing that’s really good about knowing your deep why is that it keeps you on track, no matter what.

Whenever you’re facing obstacles, criticism, or setbacks, you keep coming back to that "why". It keeps you focused, and it keeps you moving forwards.

How To Find Your Deep Why

So how do you actually find this why? You have to go deep — seven layers deep, actually.

You can’t just ask yourself what your why is, write something down and be done with it because there’s no way that you’ll really get to the heart of things.

Instead, you need to use one of my favourite exercises from Dean Graziosi, the 7 Levels Deep process.

Here’s how it works.

You start out by asking yourself why you do what you do, and you write down your answer.

For example, you might ask yourself what your why is and come up with the answer “Because I want to live my best life every day.”

Then you ask yourself, “Why is that important?”

And write down your answer.

Then again, you ask yourself why that answer is important.

And so on and so on, until you’ve gotten seven layers deep.

Is that it?

It sounds simple, but it’s hugely powerful if you do it properly.

It won’t work if you stick with surface level answers; you have to be prepared to be very honest with yourself and to look into the beliefs and values underlying your answers.

This is especially important when you get down to the last three questions or so, because that’s why you start to really home in on your why.

An invitation…

Find some time today to give this exercise a try.

Finding your why really is one of the most powerful things you can do, so don’t put it off, and don’t be afraid if you get uncomfortable, especially as you drill down to the last few answers, because the end result is more than worth it.

And after you’ve done it, share your why with me at [email protected] to celebrate!