The “why” of my life

January is a “delicious” time of year to take stock of life. The New Year is a blank slate, a fresh start, a transition often from a “rocky” past year. And so we enter the New Year with expectations that things will be different, that we will get better at this thing we call “living.” But before making those resolutions, it’s important to answer one question, WHY am I here?

This is as true for businesses as for individuals. Businesses forecast their earnings, make a business plan to grow, innovate and upgrade, just as we make resolutions and plans for our year ahead. In 2009, Simon Sinek published a book for businesses called “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.” Sinek’s premise is that if we start by answering the question “why” we do what we do, we will be more inspired to stay the course, more focused in our efforts.

“Our visions are the world we imagine, the tangible results of what the world would look like if we spent every day in pursuit of our WHY,” Sinek wrote.

This is as true for our personal lives as it is for business. And so as we look at our list of resolutions for 2016, we should also try to answer the question WHY we want to do these things. Why do we want to reduce debt, get a new job, end a relationship, find a relationship, lose weight, exercise more, travel to a new place, volunteer to help an organization, attend church more regularly, help others, live life to the fullest, quit procrastinating?

Beneath the clutter of our thoughts and our activities, there is a persistent vision for life that drives us. We clutter our lives with debt, overeating, dysfunctional relationships, lack of motivation to accomplish what we want, because we are not clearly aligned with the WHY of our own lives.

You can toss out the resolutions. They are not needed. What is needed is to sit quietly every day – let me repeat that – EVERY DAY – with our inner, spiritual purpose, guide and wisdom. If we align ourselves with the ultimate WHY of our lives every day, everything else we desire will fall into place without any effort whatsoever.   Syndie Eardly