A couple of weeks ago I was enjoying a coffee with a good friend of mine. His daughter is a professional sportswoman, who since turning professional has been experiencing some challenges with her game and has been a little disappointed with her performances. As an amateur, she was highly ranked in her field of expertise, however, since turning professional, the ranking has dropped somewhat and her performances have been less consistent. This got me thinking about other professional sportspeople in the world, along with successful business people and successful actors, and how these people were able to make the transition from ‘amateur’ status, to professional, and continue to perform at a high level, and in many cases, lift their performance to world class level. What made the difference? These people were operating in a very highly specialised field of endeavour, they each possessed immense talent, and yet, some managed to achieve a level of sustained success that others only dream of. Whilst many focussed on execution of technique, of ‘doing the do’, of being an outstanding technician, others recognised that execution of technique is not enough – knowing why they are executing the technique is the difference that makes the difference. And so this lead me to contemplate why clearly identifying the why is so important in any endeavour, and how the why can be the difference between being an average performer in any field, and a world class performer.
As an avid football fan, I believe there is no better field of endeavour to articulate the importance of why, than AFL Football. Each year, hundreds of talented young players register themselves for the AFL Draft, in the hope that their dream of playing professional AFL football is realised. For many of them, being selected onto an AFL list is their ultimate dream (their why) and as a consequence, within 1-2 years, they find themselves being de-listed, as they were not able to perform at the level that their identified ‘talent’ indicated. For others, being selected for an AFL team is simply the first step on a long and challenging journey, and these players constantly refine and update their why, and enjoy long and successful careers. In fact, there are many cases in the AFL where players with less identified talent have become extremely successful over a long period of time, with many so called ‘experts’ wondering how they were able to achieve such a high level of sustained success. The common denominator amongst these players is that they each had a very powerful and empowering why.
So whether you are a budding professional sportsperson, a person seeking to make your mark in the world of business, art, science, or in fact in any endeavour, let’s explore why identifying and knowing your why is so important :
Knowing your why creates purpose – many technicians who are good at doing something often believe that focussing on the ‘how’ will lead to success. If they continue to ‘do it’, they will receive the recognition they are looking for and they will enjoy sustained success. Whilst this is possible, it is more often the person who clearly identifies the reason they are doing something, who will enjoy the sustained success and recognition. They have clearly defined their purpose and through this purpose they are able to continually refine their ‘how’, improve their skills and capabilities as a ‘technician’, and more often that not, progress through to ‘mastery’ in their endeavour. It is through their ‘definiteness of purpose’ that creates their sustained success.
Knowing your why creates meaning – when you are really clear on why you are doing what you are doing, it provides you with meaning – you are able to clearly identify the reason for your ongoing actions, which in many instances, will enable you to operate within ‘flow’ and from the outside looking in, it may appear that what you are doing looks effortless. Whilst this may be an illusion (i.e. any worth achieving takes hard work!), because you have a very clearly defined reason for your craft, every movement you make and action you take has meaning, all geared towards your why.
Knowing your why creates desire – Napoleon Hill stated in Think & Grow Rich that ‘desire is the starting point of all achievement’ and that without a burning desire, people can run around in circles, go through the motions, and not achieve the level of success they are capable of, or deserve. However, when you clearly identify your why, it can trigger a burning desire to achieve world class performance, where you will be prepared to do whatever it takes (legally & ethically of course!) to improve and to develop. This could be putting in extra hours after everyone else has stopped for the day, it could be practicing and refining your craft long after others have finished, such is your burning desire to achieve your why.
Knowing your why will arm you – nothing in life worth achieving is not worth fighting for, and being really clear on your why will arm you for the inevitable challenges and hurdles. When you are really clear on your why, there is nothing that will stand between you and your achievement – you will have the strength, the tenacity and the tools to be able to overcome what will be clearly placed in your path to knock you off track, to test whether you are serious about your why, and whether you believe you are worthy of achieving your objectives. During these times, your why will almost be your secret weapon, your internal power source to push through the challenges and realise your potential.
Knowing your why provides clarity – when you are very clear on your why, it can provide you with clarity of direction. Even though you will be challenged along the way, as articulated in the point above, your why will act like a compass, and enable you to follow the path along the journey to achievement. Will this mean that you will always select the right path to follow? Not always, however, by knowing your why, you will be able to quickly re-group and get back onto the right track, and utilise the setback as experience and feedback to propel you forward.
Knowing your why provides energy – there is a old fable about 2 bricklayers who were each asked what they were building. One bricklayer said “I am building a brick wall”. When the other bricklayer was asked the same question, his reply was “I am building a beautiful cathedral”. Which bricklayer do you believe had a bigger why? And which bricklayer do you believe had more energy? The second bricklayer. Being exceptionally clear on your why does provide you with energy – and this energy can often be the difference that makes the difference. When the going gets tough, when it would be easy to stop or give up, the energy generated through knowing your why allows you to push on – this can often be referred to as your ‘second wind’. This is no more evident than in a professional sport like the marathon where 2 people of equal ‘talent’ are battling it out and there comes a point, a moment of truth, when one competitor breaks away, and the other competitor is unable to catch up. It is the ‘second wind’ burst of energy, underpinned by a strong why that enables to competitor to break away and win the race.
Knowing your why provides an antidote to quitting – this one is a biggie. Knowing that success is not easy, that it takes dedication, discipline and hard work, you can often be confronted with challenges and obstacles that force you to make a choice – to push on, or to quit. If you are not crystal clear on your why, it may be easier for you to quit, however, when you are absolutely 100% certain on your why, it does provide you with an antidote to quitting. You will come up against challenges and tests, and you know that these are simply part of the journey that you must take in order to achieve your objective. And through this, you will build your level of confidence and actually look forward to the next challenge!
So no matter what your chosen endeavour is, spend both quality time as well as the necessary amount of time to get 100% crystal clear on why you are doing what you are doing – your why.
Whilst I cannot guarantee 100% that you will be super successful, there is one thing I can guarantee – without a very clearly defined why, you will not be able to achieve the level of success that you are capable of. Get crystal clear on why – then you will be better placed to work out the ‘how’!!
To your continued success.
Darren
Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter or Facebook.
About : Darren is an Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator, Speaker. A passionate and driven individual specialising in personal development, strategic planning, coaching for advocacy & enhanced performance, situational and servant based leadership, executive coaching of people leaders, emerging leaders and ‘high potential’ individual contributors within the Enterprise & Government market, personal change management, and strategic workshop facilitation & training.
