“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”
- Cecli Beaton
When you have found your why the above quote seems to make more sense.
I recently had lunch with a woman who always gets me thinking…always. We spoke about our voices of doubt that still pop up. Her’s is mastering a particularly challenging landing in her plane. Mine when I am thinking of a particularly arduous walk.
As I contemplated our challenging lunch conversation that evening I realised how connected the voices of doubt are to our ability to function effectively on our purpose – to be in our Why – to work where we are most passionate and with all our gifts. I also realised that when we are firmly working in our Why space that the voices of doubt/ the sense of “I can’t” are silent.
Why Your Why?
Your purpose is important.
January Connections provided a starting point about the idea of why and and we continue to delve further about “why” in this edition.
Some of you will know that we, at Affectus, are pretty keen on the concept of purpose. Simon Sinek calls it “why”. Simon explains that people connect with us because they understand and connect with our why and to know our why is a valuable addition at any level. Simon talks specifically about how useful this is for businesses, here.
At Affectus, our purpose – our Why - is all of the above and more.
“Why” is a deep understanding of what drives us and this invariably is connected to our values and passions and gifts.
These three elements underpin our current reading and research. Affectus’ current work has helped both us and our clients deeply connect with why we are all driven to do things. Or, in some instances why some continue to gaze over the fence and look at the greener pastures.
Affectus' Why is about transforming leaders.
Taking people through:
- processes of values identification
- visualising their passions
- visualising their motivators
- understanding the gifts and skills they possess
This ensures they are able to step into leadership with a sense of “this is my space, my leadership space”.
This takes great courage but if you are clear about your Why then your thinking will be less clouded by those “voices of doubt”.
At Affectus, we work hard at verbalising and therefore maximising the “Can” so that we are ALL able to work with others and shape the future.
But what does all of that actually mean?
What is your why and how can you find it?
It sometimes comes with a thud…
- "I want to take people wandering through villages in the ancestral homeland”
- “I see that I have been avoiding this really important and challenging and life-saving work now I have named it I must do something about it”.
These were two "thuds" from attendees at our recent Exploring Your Why Workshops.
Or perhaps you already fully understand your why and you are already in your leadership space because of that. Or because, even though it has never been named as your “Why”, it is what you love doing and you are pretty good at it.
Or perhaps you need to think through the three areas to consider:
- Values
- Passions
- Gifts
So why is your why so important?
Well, simply, because it requires less effort to be spending your time there.
For me, when I am working on my purpose, it is not always easy. Actually most of the time it is really hard but I am focused on my Why, something that I see as important, and I am pouring my passion and skills into something that is valuable. So while it is hard being there it required less effort because I feel alive when I'm there.
"Oh come on"…the voices are deafening…"OH COME ON!" But, actually, I think I am right.
If you think about your last 5 days what made you:
- Light-up
- Feel alive
- Make you hum
Was it something you love doing? Pretty likely.
You can actually hear people whistling, humming - there they are!