Why You Need to Uncover Your Why-b

Why You Need to Uncover Your Why

Learn from the Past

If you’re taking this course, we can assume that you're not comfortable where you are in your life at present. You may not know exactly where you want to go but you have a vague feeling that it isn't here.

If you aren’t where you want to be today, why do you think that is?

Let’s do some self-exploration now:

Write down everything that you think is holding you back. Part of this could be your lack of a clear ‘why’ but there are probably other reasons too, such as not wanting to let your partner down, fear of failure, being trapped by economic necessity, fear of success, lack of information, etc. Get all these ideas out on paper. Be honest and don’t censor your thoughts or fall into a trap of blaming others for holding you back.

For now, the point of this exercise is to clear your head and get your thoughts and feelings on paper because once they’re out, you can address them. We’ll return to this list later.

The path to discovering your ‘why’ can be a long one. You need to give yourself the time you need to allow your thoughts and feelings to mature and changes in your life circumstances to play a part. The experiences you have as you try and test out ideas will inform and guide you.

But you don’t have to wait to have specific experiences to start uncovering your ‘why.’ You can use what’s happened to you already as a source of information.

Your life’s story is continuously unfolding, and each major event, decision, relationship, success, and mishap has an influence on which direction it takes. Do you ever have moments where you look back on past events and marvel at how far you’ve come? Do you ever stop to think about the most pivotal milestones in your life so far?

Looking at your past experiences can reveal defining moments in your life and uncover themes or patterns. If you’re like most people, you’ll think of the disasters and the crises but won’t necessarily see the positives.

To help you reflect, draw a personal timeline from your birth to the present.

A personal timeline is a graph or diagram that visualizes significant moments in someone’s life. It highlights the events, both positive and negative, that have led to who the person is today.

Mark off the line in 5- or 10-year sections.

Step 1:

Write out all the significant events, both positive and negative, that you can remember from your earliest memory.

The birth or death of a family member or friend
The beginning or end of a romantic relationship
Graduation from high school or college
A job change
A move to a new location
An illness or injury
An award or achievement
An important friendship
A personal loss