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.
