What is your “why”?

I have always struggled with “self help” stuff.  At various times in my life I have had tastes of it – team building weekends as a lawyer where we were prompted to do self reflective exercises, school retreats, aspects of training to become a telephone counsellor, even sessions during my personal training course.  I have trouble coming up with “goals” and putting a time frame on them – I prefer to just go through life trying to get things done as they come along.  How do you even decide on a goal? Which goal should you go after in any event?  I guess this type of attitude means that there is a risk of becoming someone who reacts to things rather than someone who is proactive in making stuff happen but I am relaxed about that.

Recently I was prompted by a professional performance coach to move away from “goals” and to focus on “why” I was doing the things I was doing.  When I design a training program for one of my clients or for a group there is always a “why” – it is not just a random series of exercises.  There has to be a reason for making someone do a particular exercise in a particular way.  Maybe the same philosophy would work well for life – try to answer the “why” question and this will help you to steer in the right direction.  The big picture answer to “why” is the way you want to be – your vision for yourself.  Whoa this is getting way too “self helpy”.

It made me think that the “why” might be a good thing to come back to for motivation.  When you are lying in your warm bed contemplating emerging into the park in the early morning darkness and warming up for a workout – never forget the “why”.  When you get home from work and feel tired and the last thing you feel like doing is heading off to the gym remember the “why”.  You are someone who trains on a consistent basis for your mental health, your physical well being and because the flow on effects to other areas of your life are awesome.