Understanding your “why” is an essential life hack. It serves as a foundation for pursing your goals, life’s purpose, passions, amongst others.
Understanding your “why” is an essential life hack. It serves as a foundation for pursing your goals, life’s purpose, passions, amongst others. One of my biggest struggles was sticking to a diet if it didn’t show results. What’s worse, I seemed to “diet” more frequently for an upcoming trip or event. This way of thinking was crippling, and I focused more on losing weight, than the reason behind pursing such a task.
This is a familiar story. It’s common to feel so defeated by being overweight, that you’re willing to try just about anything to lose it! However, it’s important to take a step back and revisit your priorities.
Benefits to understanding your “Why”
It offers clarity and transparency in your life.
People who understand their purpose are often known for being persistent. Their burning desire for accomplishing the end goal affords them the ability to shape their life any way they want. Becoming laser focused on why you want to be healthy, will leave no question about whether you should select a fresh salad or McDonalds. You will know exactly what drives you to be consistent towards reaching your goal.
On the contrary, without knowing your purpose in life, you will be unclear as to how or why you should stick to your plan. You will also be prone to wasting your time because you have no purpose behind your actions.
You become passionate about your goals.
When you discover your “why” in health, you are more dedicated to pursuing your ambitions. You will never settle for less than what YOU want in life. What an amazing feeling! The chances are slim that your ultimate goal is to struggle with PCOS or any other health challenge forever. You possibly want to reverse your symptoms or shed unwanted weight. Your goals will be fueled by your desire. Ask yourself,
"how passionate are you about becoming the GREATEST version of yourself?"
You remain focused on your desires
Once you’ve identified your why or your life’s purpose, it’s much easier to focus on what’s really important. You’ll better understand how to avoid distractions and actions that deter you from your vision.
In order to stay laser focused on your goals, they must be important to you. You must have an emotional connection to your goal, to consciously (and subconsciously) see it through. For me, the emotional connection was easy – I wanted children and more confidence.
Your subconscious will try to make you believe that you want one thing, when in reality, that food/task/thought does very little to help you reach the ultimate goal. For example, let’s say you set out a goal to lose weight. However, you really enjoy eating out. It’s easy for your mind (ego) to chat with you about why you should order out instead. I mean, it saves time, right? But doing so will not help you reach your goal. If you are clear on your “why”, you won’t waste time actions that deter you from your mission.
How do you find your WHY?
Create goals that align with your dream
Now that you understand the importance of finding your why, let’s break that dream down into an achievable, tangible goal. The truth of life is that if you want to see results, its essential to work out a plan to achieve them. Countless studies have proven that prior planning always achieves better outcomes. Think about your goals and chart out a path to achieving it.
For instance, take a weight loss goal and break it down into bite size action steps.
It would be something like this.
1. Overhaul your kitchen. Throw out foods that will not help you get to your goal
2. Dedicate time to create a weekly meal plan. Select a day to plan out each meal and snack you will have for the week. My meal planning day is normally on Friday or Saturday morning.
3. Pick a day to grocery shop and pre-cook/pre-cut anything that can be cooked in bulk, and store everything you need in portioned glass containers for easy preparation and eating later.
4. Design a simple exercise routine to do at home or at the gym at 5-7 days every week.
This is a simple plan that you can use to guide the details of your weight loss regimen. One of my favorite books is called “A Dream Is a Goal with A Deadline”. Give yourself a pat on the back or any other reward whenever you reach certain milestones or goals.
Celebrate your achievements, even the small one’s matter.
This could mean reaching your ideal weight, but there are so many more important things than numbers.
How do you want to look?
How do you want to feel?
What do you want to be able to do?
When you close your eyes and picture yourself living your dream, what does your body look like?
Be specific.
Define a clear goal for yourself that will enable your dream to come true.
Whether you say it out loud or not… tell it to yourself with conviction first thing in the morning, and at night before bed.
Trust me, it makes a difference!