What's Your Why? Six Steps to Getting R.E.A.L About What You Want

A good friend has asked me to take her on as a PR client. She worked for many years, very successfully, for a large, very well known company where her work was regularly recognized and appreciated by the top management. When she left, she thought she was moving on to "the next big thing".

Unfortunately, her next employer didn't appreciate the value she brought to the company. Not only didn't appreciate it, but came right out and told her how much they didn't
appreciate it. It wasn't long before she left because it was
starting to affect her health.

The tanking economy made jobs hard to come by, so after being unemployed for awhile, she found a job writing policies and procedures for a non profit. It's a pretty important gig since this agency has to comply with HIPPA privacy laws and Medicaid  not to mention a million other compliance issues. But, the agency's senior management is mean-spirited and the job itself is about as much fun as watching paint dry.

So, she called me, almost in desperation, to help chart a path to her true destiny. I'm a PR specialist, not a career coach, I reminded her. I'm used to working with clients who already know what they're passion is and then letting the rest of the world in on the secret. I couldn't start doing PR for her until I knew what the heck we were promoting her to do.

I had her do a couple of exercises that, I think, can benefit any creative entrepreneur.  The first is based on one I learned from PJ McClure of The Mindset Maven. 

I call it "What's Your Why?"and it embodies my Get R.E.A.LTM principles that every entrepreneur should have: Realistic, Engaging, Authentic, Longlasting.   In six steps, this exercise will help you Get R.E.A.L about what you want to do.

Here's how to do the exercise:

1. Write down your goal. It should be clearly defined in 1-2 sentences. So, if your goal is to quit your job, win the lottery, and travel the world, you need to rewrite these as three separate goals.
    
2. Look at your goal and ask yourself "why is this important to me?"  Write down your answer.
   
3. Look at your answer and ask yourself "why is that important to me?" Write down your answer.
   
4. Look at that answer and ask yourself "why is that important to me?" Write down your answer.
   
5. Look at that answer and ask yourself "why is that important to me?" Write down your answer.
   
6. Look at that answer and ask yourself "why is that important to me?" Write down your answer.
   

The final answer is like a tiny kernel, but it's also the most important. Even though, it may seem to be world's apart from your goal, don't dismiss it. This is what your heart wants and your head is afraid to admit.

I'd love to hear what you discovered when you got R.E.A.L. Please feel free to post in the comments section and share this post if you found it useful. 

Thank you for being in this space.

Robin

P.S. If you're ready to Get R.E.A.L and want to help support a great cause, click here to learn more.