If You Don’t Have a “What For” You’ll End Up With a “Why Bother”

I recently posted this on my personal Facebook and noticed that it resonated with a lot of my friends. That post inspired this week’s blog. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should add me on my personal page, as it turns out I bring just as much wisdom and cleverness there as I do on my professional pages.

Here was the post:

“If you don’t have a What For, you’ll end up with a Why Bother.”

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But what does it mean?

Think about any goal you’ve ever had in life. Somewhere between the starting line and the finish line, there were blocks – resistance, halts, circumstances. They could be minor details, little bumps in the road, or even seem catastrophic. Regardless, at some point, something got in your way.

The difference between people who consistently reach their goals versus people who don’t is simple. I believe that it’s the consistent folks who have a sufficient “What For” to always move them forward, regardless of the roadblock.

The other folks are in the “Why Bother” camp. Their reasons behind why they want what they want isn’t sufficient when it feels too hard or it’s expensive or the results aren’t coming quickly enough or when something more exciting shows up… etc.

Imagine coming from a place where you are always crystal clear on the reason you do what you do.

I’ll use myself as an example. I started strength coaching about two months ago. It’s been awesome. But to be honest, when I first realized two months had passed, I got into some predictable judgments.

“Am I seeing results fast enough?”

“Is this really worth the money I am spending?”

“Should I be further along?”

“This is still really hard.”

“Does my coach think I’m pathetic?”

My point in sharing these self-judgments openly and honestly is to also share that I am still going back to my next session. And I intend on going to the one after that. And the next.

I am going to carve time in my day despite how busy I am. I am going to accept the sucky feeling of being sore. And I am going to accept feeling like an idiot when I can’t lift something the first time or it feels too heavy or too hard.

Because what matters to me more than all these incremental things that suck is the fact that I took this on as an act of Self Love. I want to continue living a life where I get to prioritize my body, where I get to feel strong and confident as a woman, where I get to feel playful and expressed in my physicality in a way I haven’t since I was a high school athlete.

I want a life where I value my time enough that I would be willing to find time in my schedule, regardless of other projects I am working on. Because to me, this body is my vessel for experiencing the joy of life that I want to have.

My really personal example of “What For” is for my body and my health. It’s pushing beyond the doubts that could creep in and send me to “Why Bother” camp.

Take a look at yourself. Look at the goal or goals you are working on right now and identify which camp you are in: What For or Why Bother?