In a lot of the training I do, I focus strongly on the WHY – driving people to discover their PURPOSE in life.  Sometimes, this can lead them to think that the How and What of their lives are not important – and nothing could be further from the truth.

The How and What of your life are both important – very important.  You just can’t start with How or What.  Unless you start with Why, everything else in life becomes disjointed and incongruent.

So – you might ask – how do the How and What play into the overall process?  I’m so glad you asked!

Here’s the process:

  • Your WHY defines your overall purpose in life – what you want your life to stand for and the impact you want to have.
  • Your Hows are the values underlying your Why.  They are generally action verbs that indicate the foundation of what is important in the achievement of your Why.
  • Your Whats are where the rubber meets the road.  They define the goals you plan to pursue – boiled down to specific actions you plan to take – in order to realize your Why – your life’s Purpose.

So – you start with your Purpose – back it up with your action-oriented value system (your Hows) – and the top it off with your goal system (your Whats).  Taking it in this order is what will carry you forward to a successful life.