Get Your Why Back

August 27, 2020  •  Marketing Strategy

We all start with good intentions. After all, it takes a strong sense of purpose to put in the work required to build a platform.

But as time passes, even the best of us can lose track of why we do what we do.

How do you recover the motivation that first got you started?

Return to What Feeds You

Thoreau had his Walden. L. M. Montgomery had Green Gables. Teddy Roosevelt had the national parks. Tolkien and Lewis had the Inklings.

From writers to philosophers to politicians, people have a long history of returning to the places and communities that inspire them. The reason is quite simple. As we give our work to the world and spend our energies in the pursuit of our passions, we eventually get depleted. While our physical bodies require rest and care on a daily basis, it is easy to forget that our motivations need tending to as well.

Eventually, the rhythms and routines of your busy life settle into auto-pilot. The excitement that once drove you loses its luster. You need to return to the well that feeds you. And you need to remember what motivated you in the first place.

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How Do You Get Your Why Back?

In Module 1 of Platform University’s Core Curriculum, we have a training video on this very topic. We start out by helping you get crystal clarity on your motivations because those get forgotten along the way.

If it’s been a while since you thought about, take some time today to remember why you are doing this. Ask yourself these 10 questions to help guide your reflection process:

  • Question #1: What inspired you to create a personal platform in the first place? Is there something in particular that draws you to this prospect you can’t find somewhere else?
  • Question #2: How do you want your platform to impact you personally? How about your family and those closest to you in your personal life?
  • Question #3: Do you anticipate that a successful platform could change your job prospects? What are you hoping for?
  • Question #4: Does your desire for influence draw you to the industry you currently work in, one adjacent, or something entirely different?
  • Question #5: If you could snap your fingers and jump ahead to five years from now, what success would you have achieved between now and then?
  • Question #6: In terms of your ability to work where you want, when you want, and on what you want, how do you hope your online platform will affect your independence?
  • Question #7: What about your ability to influence others? How do you want your platform to change the lives of those who follow you online?
  • Question #8: Now consider your financial future. How do you want your income potential to change because of your online platform?
  • Question #9: The last three questions relate to three common motivating factors in platform building: Independence, income, and influence: How would you rank those three factors in importance for yourself from first to last? You’ll have to make choices with tradeoffs, so get crystal-clear on your priorities here.
  • Question #10: Five years from now, how do you want your platform to affect your career? Would you like to quit your job and work for yourself full-time or leverage your platform to pursue promotion within your company or one similar?

Once you’ve got clear on your “why”, keep that front-and-center in your mind and charge forward with renewed energy in the good work ahead.

About John Meese

John Meese is the author of the #1 bestseller Survive and Thrive: How to Build a Profitable Business in Any Economy (Including This One). An entrepreneur himself, John is on a mission to eradicate generational poverty by equipping entrepreneurs with the tools and training they need to build thriving businesses from scratch. He is the founder of Cowork Columbia, co-founder of Notable, and regularly publishes interviews and insight at JohnMeese.com.