Have you learned how-to yet? There are thousands of opportunities out there for you to learn how to do just about anything you can imagine. So why aren't you doing the thing you really want to do? I mean, if it's as simple as 7 steps to the life of your dreams or 3 sure-fire ways to get rich quick, WHY haven't you done it yet? Or if you have, WHY aren't you happy? The why is actually the reason. If you haven't done it yet, it's probably because you don't know the why of it.
Why is much more likely to move you to do something than how to do it. Usually you go back to college, change your eating habits, or learn a new skill because of why you need the change. The how enters the process from the energy you invest in analyzing the why. Even if you know the exact steps that tell you how to do something, are you more inclined to do them without the added incentive of why you need to do them? I don't think so! You can see that why you need to do something happens before you're committed to the how-to. In other words you have the why — the reason this goal has value for you — first. Then you become interested in the steps involved in how to achieve that goal second.
So, why do you sometimes achieve a goal without feeling like you've accomplished anything? Easy! You forced yourself to follow the "how-tos" because you were pressured by expectations of yourself —from you and from others. This is common. It's human nature to want to do what is expected in order to be accepted. That's the reason you'll take a good-paying job rather than take a chance on the thing you really want to do. Sometimes we're afraid that examining the "why" will take us out of our comfort zones.
It might mean risking, and I don't mean financially. I'm talking about risking your perception of yourself and the perception you think others have of you. That's why, for most people, the decision of why to do something is founded in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
It is only when you decide why you should do something regardless of whether it brings you pleasure or pain that you are able to truly change your life. There is another important distinction between the how and the why of things. Determining how to proceed toward a goal is primarily an act of your intellect. Figuring out why you want to proceed is an act of your emotional nature. Your creative power is accessed through your emotional nature.
So figuring out why connects you with your creative power! It will take the "how-tos" and tweak them until they fit you like a glove! People are sincere when they share with you the path they followed to success. But remember — that was their path, shaped by their creative power. It was their efforts in figuring out why that helped them discover the power that was within them! So, their how-to may or may not give you the ideas you need to express yourself — at least not until you unleash your own creative power by figuring out the why. Beneath the surface of every one of us is a call to become something greater, stronger and more creative. As that call is filtered through your everyday mind, it is usually misdirected toward the outer world.
So the driving force in your life becomes the intellect — the how-to — rather than the why. Consequently, your creative power never has the opportunity to help you carve out your own unique path. Instead, you wind up trying to mimic the actions of others. If you're ready to step out of your comfort zone and take a chance on yourself, the best way to do this is find a source that's more interested in helping you discover all about the WHY than in teaching you the how-to! Copyright 2008.
John Williamsen is co-author of It's Your Move! Transform Your Dreams from Wishful Thinking to Reality. He is host of How To Enjoy Your Life In Spite Of It All! - Creating Choice Through Change. Get your IGGIE at DiscoverThePowerWithinYou.
