In the Habits of Health Transformational System, we often talk about your “Why.” Your Why is your motivation for creating health in your life, and it is most powerful when it drives intrinsic motivation, which is to say that your motivation should be internal, not external.
Many people start to pursue change because of emotional conflict, wanting to do something or be something that they think will make others happy or to meet some artificial standard or goal set by someone else. When we look outside of ourselves, we give away any power we have to make real change.
Your Why, on the other hand, is your highest stimulus for change. It drives you into action because it’s what you want to do. It inspires you to grow and be better. And when you’re doing something that inspires, you want to share your desire with others and increase your level of engagement. It creates a “whatever it takes” mindset and becomes a powerful ally in your path to success.
Element 01 in Your LifeBook goes into this topic in greater depth, but I wanted to revisit this topic here in light of the ongoing tension in the world. If you haven’t established your Why, now is an important moment to do that. With so many external pressures and external sources of anxiety and stress, your Why can be a tool for recentering and reframing your perspective.
If you are already on your journey to optimal wellbeing, use this time as an opportunity to open your journal and review what you wrote in the past. You might find that the chaos of life pulled your attention away from the things that are really important to you. At the least, you might be distracted from your goals. At the worst, you might be on your way to sleepwalking through life again.
This is being human. Your journey is rarely a straight line, and all of us need reminders, support, and time to recalibrate.
For me, what matters most is my family. My health gives me the opportunity to create amazing new memories with my girls. The Habits of Health mean that I can not only be there for them but also experience new adventures with them because I have the health to go sailing or to keep up on the ski slopes (or make them keep with me!).
After my family, my Why also includes our mission to change the world, giving more people the tools and support they need to build the healthy lives they deserve. Being an agent for change is deeply rewarding for me. Every photo or post I see on social media where a member of our community celebrates a triumph–whether that’s reaching a healthy weight or simply turning down an unhealthy snack at a gathering–is more fuel for my work and for the choices I make each day.
We can easily lose sight of the things that really matter when the majority of the world is focused on chaos or instant gratification. Pause. Reflect. Remember your Why. And get back to making the choices that bring you intrinsic rewards.