Eric Barker creates fantastic Blog posts every other Monday on some immensely interesting topics. His post from October 2, 2023 (see here) said that the first step in successfully finishing a big project on time (and under budget) is to have the answer to why. Then write the why big and clear and even post it on a wall, if needed. In other words, a clear sense of why you’re doing the project, what you want out of it, and what that entails. And then you need to remember it (so it helps to post it on the wall, lest we forget the why). This is excellent advice and also gives us the necessary motivation to go at it without getting distracted.
Numerous authors have discussed the importance of why. Richard Weylman’s book titled Power of Why talks about how to promote products and services by understanding consumer preferences. Simon Sinek’s book “Start With Why” talks about how leaders can influence, motivate, and inspire people in organizations. While those books are mainly about inter-personal communications, there are also numerous articles on the topic of purpose which are toward self-motivation. In fact, many times we scratch our heads wondering why we agreed to do something. So, even before selecting a project or task, it would be important to understand why we are taking it up, then while working on it put the WHY up on the wall.
This is all fine and dandy if there is a single why which is powerful enough. However, there could be many whys to projects. For example, you may have signed up with a publisher to write a book because: (a) you love to write; (b) you want to make your mother proud; (c) you have written so many blog articles on medium, that creating a book is easy; (d) there aren’t books on the topic you are writing; (e) you hope that it will bring you fortune and fame; (f) you did a Eulogy Exercise and writing a book was in it; (g) you feel the readers of your book might find it insightful thereby significantly improving the quality of their lives.
Before we start judging the above multiple whys and throwing some of them out, the point of making them is to illustrate something. Note that some whys are self-fulfilling while others are for the greater good. Some whys bring short term joy while others bring long-term happiness. Generally the self-fulfilling ones bring short term joy while the greater-good ones bring long-term happiness. Then the greater good one wins and we should always find a why that is so? Well, here is the catch. The self-fulfilling short terms goals are more certain while the impact of long-term societal benefits are highly uncertain (otherwise it is easy to pick).
On a day-to-day basis you might have a long list of projects and tasks. You may add new ones, complete some, cancel some, and throw some into the proverbial back burner while working on the urgent and important ones. There may be multiple whys for each of the projects and tasks. Taking the time to not only write all the whys but also highlight the ones that would come in handy while trying to get motivated, would be useful. Note that it is perfectly human to have some self-fulfilling whys, after all at the end of the day we need to pay the bills and put food on the table! Nonetheless, here are a few aspects to consider which include specific examples.
Aligning with Values
While writing down the whys for a project, it helps to make sure they align with our values (if you have not found your values, a good place to start is here). Say you are committed to building a deck in your yard to store outdoor items during snowy winter months as you do not have space in your garage for that. Also, say that your values are family, adventure, and efficiency. Then while writing the whys, try to align with your values. As an example: to spend quality time with my child doing an adventurous task that would result in an efficient garage!
Approaching with a Purpose
Repeating what is stated in the Greater Good Magazine (see here) “To psychologists, purpose is an abiding intention to achieve a long-term goal that is both personally meaningful and makes a positive mark on the world”. Say that your long-term project is to learn a language spoken in your ancestral village which is in another country. Just writing the project would just feed the proverbial back burner, but putting down the purpose of going back every summer to teach the children of the village in their native tongue will stand a better chance of getting completed.
Getting into a Habit
Projects with a hard deadline end up becoming urgent while the ones without (even if they are important) get side-tracked. Having a strong why for important projects certainly helps but can easily get overwhelmed by the urgent ones. So getting into a habit may be necessary. For example, say you want to create a YouTube channel with videos of vegan low-carb cooking. Then pick a consistent day of the week each week and a time that day to create videos, just one per week. Getting into a routine by deciding what to make, creating a grocery list, and picking out the clothes to wear, all are included in the habit.