The Power of Why: How Purpose and Necessity Fuel Success
In today’s upheaval, those on the front lines get out there time and time again because they have to. We need them to. What can we learn from them to up our game? I see two ideas emerge: determination, which can come from having a clear “why” that leverages action, and the notion of necessity, which gets us off our bums.
Snug in my home, I feel a deep sense of gratitude for those who are out there everyday on the front lines, caring for the ill and dying, cleaning public spaces, ensuring our safety, keeping the food and necessity supply lines flowing, showing up at the stores, doing what it takes. I nourish this sense of gratitude so that once this lockdown is over, it stays front of mind, strong and present. And, I contemplate what I can learn from the dedication they show.
Consistent Results
Outside of the day-to-day context of shelter in place, I look back at my life path and pinpoint a few key elements, necessarily personal, that have led me to consistent results. Before I turned ten, I had been thrown into the world without a framework, orphaned by my mother, the only child of seven to be literally forgotten by my father. Passed from family to family, I learned to blossom whatever the circumstances, cultivating a rather annoying eternal optimism. By the time I was a teenager, I already knew I could forge my own future, being master of my decisions—being in a place of choice—and advancing with determination, which meant focusing my energy on reaching a goal. It was imperative for me to do so, to control something. I felt the necessity.
Having a purpose, a “why,” an object for which one strives or exists, evokes concepts such as determination, intention, and resolve. It can give meaning. Necessity, on the other hand, is a physical or moral compulsion, it holds urgency and desire, an impossibility of doing the contrary. When the need for something becomes imperative, you find ways of getting or achieving it.
So what if we hone our purpose and bump up necessity as a tool to reach our goals?
On Purpose
If you dip into the research, purpose proves to be really powerful. When you are connected with yours, you not only are more focused, you control your impulses better, are more relaxed, feel less fear and anxiety, experience better emotional recovery, and dope your ability to cope with adversity.
For all you high-achievers, purpose is part of what gets you into flow, into the zone, which can make you 500% more productive.
Not convinced? According to studies detailed on the site the Science of Purpose, people with a clear purpose:
Sleep better
Experience increased leadership effectiveness (+63%)
Feel more fulfillment (+64%)
Learn more (2x)
Are more engaged (4x)
Are more content (+42%)
Have stronger cells and DNA
Live longer (+7 years)
Organizations that connect to their purpose have:
Higher profits
Higher margins (55% of global customers will pay more for a product that has a higher purpose)
Greater customer loyalty (73% of global consumers will switch to higher-purpose brands)
How Do You Find Your Purpose?
The topic is too vast for this blog post. A purpose arises from getting clear about your values, your passions, and what you really care about and have always really cared about. From my experience, looking for a lofty purpose can be overwhelming. It can be very clear for some, may emerge over time for others, and can stem from smaller, everyday why-searching—regularly asking, “Why am I doing this? What is important to me?” It’s a quest.
Here is a starting point: Identify a core value word that gives you a sense of meaning. Write it down and reflect on it once every hour. You can yawn and stretch while you do that, as it will lower stress and turns off the worry centers in your brain. Write down what comes up.
Of Necessity
High-performance expert Brendon Burchard writes a whole chapter on raising necessity in his High Performance Habits, and states that “Necessity inspires a higher sense of motivation than usual because personal identity is engaged, creating a sense of urgency to act.” After years of studying high-performers, he found “two specific internal forces—personal standards of excellence and obsession with a topic—are particularly powerful in determining your ability to succeed over the long term… They make their dream a necessity. Their future identity is tied to it, and they expect themselves to make it happen. And so they do.”
This intersects with habit-forming specialist James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, who states “Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.”
So, in the end, if you can raise the necessity, you’ll stick with the action longer, which is what really brings results.
The Why Hack
Several “why” questions provide a fantastic hack for, first of all, optimizing your time, and secondly, getting things done.
Why am I adding this to my to-do list? If you find a why, follow up with: Will I really do it?
Why do I need to do this? Could someone else be better suited?
Why is this important to me? How does this connect with my identity and my sense of obligation?
Why must I do this? When must I do it?