But, Why?

New year. New goals. New intentions.

Old results?

I tend to take my new years quite seriously. As someone who has often meandered aimlessly in life, it was only recently that I started taking the gift of time quite seriously. I’ve wasted a lot of time in life trying to figure out what to do with the time I’ve been given to live my life.

Through the years I’ve refined my system of getting ready for a new year. I gather the hopes and dreams and wishes, compile lists of things I tell myself I want to do and experience, both personally and professionally. And then I ask myself one question for each of these items.

“Why?”

If I can’t find a good reason why I should commit to a goal I know that I probably shouldn’t. It won’t end well.

Knowing me, I need to understand the motivation behind the desire. If I tell myself I want to run my first marathon, I’ve learned to challenge myself to know the real reason why I would want to do so. Is it ego driven? Do I want/need to put myself in a position to brag about my accomplishments on social media, to impress others? Is it because it’s something that others want me to do? Or is it about embracing a challenge and growing from the experience, pushing myself, about being excited about who I would become in the process of training for such an accomplishment?

There is no right or wrong reason why.

But there is always a reason why.

And why we do things matters. Greatly.

“Why” is the fuel which sustains the commitment needed to accomplish anything meaningful in life. No matter the goal, no matter the intention. “Why” is a great filter which keeps me aligned with what most matters to me.

As you head into this new year with your new list of intentions and resolutions, have you asked yourself why you really want to achieve them?

Photo by Gentrit Sylejmani on Unsplash