Listen to the UpgradeU Podcast | Ep. 3 Why > Everything for details on the mindset for defining your why. Click here to listen!
The simple fact that you are working on an upgrade to your business means you’ve likely found work that you’re deeply passionate about. Empire-building women entrepreneurs get up early and stay up late and that type of work ethic is most commonly fueled by our passion. However, before we go further, I want you to ask yourself 3 key questions to ensure your work is in sync with your passion.
1. When emersed in my work, I often lose track of time.
2. I would do my work for nothing, if I didn’t have to worry about money (hypothetically speaking) this is exactly what I’d be doing.
3.When I talk about my work, I light up about it.
If you can answer yes to each of these questions, you’re on the right track and your work is in sync with your passion. That’s a great start, but the homework doesn’t end there. Now, let’s dig deeper into why you’re passionate about it.
For most, it’s not hard to articulate what you’re deeply passionate about. Social media posts are littered with people sharing their strong opinions on what should and should not be happening on a long list of topics. Those same threads tend to get much shorter when someone raises the question, “why should I care?” Addressing that question usually is restricted to a few people who are truly passionate about the matter. Those people remain engaged in the thread way beyond it being the day’s hot topic and they are typically the ones who can engage in meaningful dialogue. This phenomenon on social media is present in business leadership as well. In fact, it’s a foundational mindset that is important for all business leaders. Understanding your why, being able to present your why to others, and compel them to care about it is the key to developing long-term relationships with the people you will rely on as customers, referral partners and raving fans. That is why the WHY is greater than everything.
The 7 levels deep exercise will help you with discovering the true why behind your passion. There are seven levels of “WHY”. If you keep asking yourself, you can get to the bottom of it & find out what REALLY is keeping you going.
A great approach to discovering your why is found in the article “How to Consistently Act From Your Deepest ‘Why’ and Optimize Your Time” by Benjamin Hardy. In it, he says, “Think about what it is you want to accomplish in your work, and ask yourself this simple question: What about your work is important to you? ” Just answer the first thing that comes to mind. Don’t over complicate it. Next, drill down into why that is important to you by asking why seven times. Each time you’re asking the why related the answer just given.
Here’s an example:
- Why is propelling empire-building women into the millionaires’ club is important to me?
- I want the faces of millionaires in this country to include more faces of women than ever before.
- Why do I want to see the faces of more women in the millionaire’s club?
- Because it’s hard to dream of being a millionaire when the people who have achieved that status look differently than you.
- Why do you dream of being a millionaire?
- Because millionaires have financial independence.
- Why do you want financial independence?
- Because financial independence gives me the options to take care of my needs now and plan for the future.
- Why do you want to plan for the future?
- Because I want to make sure my kids and eventually grandkids are set up to reap the rewards of my hard work.
- Why do you want to make sure your kids and grandkids are set up to reap the rewards of your hard work?
- Because I want my work to outlive me and leave a legacy that spans many generations.
- Why do you want your work to outlive you and leave a legacy that spans many generations?
- Because in the future, I want my kids and grandkids to be the face of successful entrepreneurs so that their kids and grandkids will have role model that look like them when they start dreaming of the future.
Now it’s your turn. Find some quiet space where you’ll be uninterrupted to ask yourself the seven levels of WHY questions. Answering the why on seven levels gets to the true inspiration for your work. That is the motivating factor that will keep you going despite whatever challenges you will face. Futher, it is what will cause people to seek you and your empire as the solution for their needs.
Using these questions, you can hone in on your why which lays the foundation for everything you’ll do on the path to building your empire. Drop us a mention on IG @theupgrade.u to let us know you’ve completed your homework. Contact us at info@theupgradeu.com with questions about getting clarity on your why.
Contributing source: https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-to-make-the-best-possible-use-of-your-time-335f15ecbefd