He who has a why can bear almost any how – FriedrichNietzsche
Welcome, if you’re new here to the Chefs in 2017 series. Over 24 weeks, I’m helping you lift your inner game to achieve your goals for this year.
Out of everything that’s being covered here (we’re now in week 8), your ‘why’ is usually the game changer. The other aspects will help you get to your goal quicker, with more ease and flow, with less energy, etc. But it’s your underlying purpose for achieving that goal that will override any limitations and shortcomings that you face on your journey.
When you go against everyone else to stand up for a colleague who’s being bullied, your ‘why’ is your sense of fairness. When you battle fatigue to work 9 shifts in a row without a break, your ‘why’ is feeding your family. When your team come in to work early or stay late to support you, their ‘why’ is their belief in your mission.
My why for doing this work is that I ‘see’ chefs. I see what you bring to the world. I believe in your gifts and talents. I believe that you matter. That your wellbeing matters. My own life journey runs in parallel – my whole life has been about learning that I’m good enough and that I matter. It’s what makes me want to show you that you’re good enough and that you really matter. It’s what compels me to carve time for this project amidst holding five part-time jobs.
Your ‘why’ or your purpose is the compass that guides all your actions – so it’s important to know what’s your purpose in reaching for your goal. It keeps you on track. It dictates what you say yes or no to. You’ll very quickly see that you stick to goals with a strong ‘why’. You achieve more lasting results. That girl you feel strongly called to go out of the way to pursue might end up being your wife, but not every waitress you flirt with will!
So, your mission today is to identify the purpose behind your goal. Trust me when I say that this is a powerful exercise. When you a clear about your ‘why’, you begin to choose everything in your life to fit in with that purpose. And you’ll notice that things happen – coincidences, opportunities, chance meetings – all come to you when you have that clarity.
What might also happen is that if your goal is not aligned with your ‘why’, you will struggle to achieve it. If you’ve been stuck in your job for years without a promotion, your actual why might be that you value family life over the responsibility of running a kitchen. And that’s a totally valid ‘why’. Behind my first business was this unconscious purpose of wanting to prove myself, and I struggled to get it off the ground. What do you do when you find that your goal and purpose don’t align? You recalibrate yourself to your why and change your goals to suit. It’s not easy to change direction. But you will find that life will flow when you choose your ‘why’.