Why, start with Why? Part four

Why, start with Why?

Colin J. Campbell

Part Four – Some Tools for success – these are simple ideas that can be incorporated into daily routines that will make the job of success easier.

Me, Inc.  -  This idea comes from Col. Rolf Smith and was introduced in Part two.  If you are not incorporated as a business entity you may want to consider doing that soon, but also you want to think of yourself as an incorporated entity, (whether you are incorporated or not) Use this mental concept to your advantage to find solutions and help set goals.

SWOT Analysis – Determining your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, another of the concepts that was emphasized by Jim Collins in his books Good to Great and Great by Choice that can be applied to just about every situation and will help determine what the plan of action will be. If you are not sure about your strengths you can take an online quiz for free that will help.

Creating a procedure to solve a problem - Peter Drucker, the father of modern business management, said that if you have a problem, create a procedure to deal with it and you no longer have a problem.   That is a good lesson to keep in mind regardless of what you do.  If you grasped the concept of Me Inc.  you are going to treat  yourself like a business and when you do that you can see how the lessons learned from men such as Drucker can be applied to your life regardless of what  you do from a career standpoint, whether you work for someone else or if you are the entrepreneur that creates the business model and sees it to success.

Develop your business plan -  The biggest hurdle for Me Inc. is going to be financing the idea. You can turn to friends and family to help and you can go to institutions such as Community Futures, BDC, Credit Unions and Chartered Banks. 

The first thing they will ask you for is your business plan.  This is your pro-forma of what you think your business will generate in income and what expenses you will incur and of course how you are going to pay them back for loaning you money. There are templates you can use to create these, both Community Futures and BDC have them just Google those two and they will be readily available.

Several organizations such as Community Futures provide courses for little or no cost on business management techniques and how to secure financing for projects.

Become a student of great management books -  You can download for free many of Peter Drucker’s textbooks from the Drucker institute. Others you should be reading are Jim Collins, Amanda Lang, Arianna Huffington, Chade-Meng Tan, Simon Sinek and Malcolm Gladwell to name a few.  You can take free courses or sign up for free newsletters from Stanford School of Business, and other major business schools. Many top universities offer free on line courses that help develop the skills you will need, take advantage. Subscribe to Inc Magazine, you can get it in the print format or on line, another great source of material on developing business skills.  Subscribe to Ted Talks, its free and you can get an amazing education at no cost.

It’s not what you earn but what you keep that is important -  If you can grasp this one concept your success will be assured. Unfortunately you didn’t learn this in school.  Ten percent of everything you earn is yours to keep.  This should be a rule that is never broken.  If you receive a paycheque, or if you are self employed it doesn’t matter, take 10% of every dollar earned and invest it. Start with a savings account and from there move to other investments. Put it somewhere where you can’t touch it.  This is not an account to accumulate your Vegas holiday money, this is accumulating the wealth that you hope will allow you to not work in the future.

Ninety five percent never learn this one skill and they always work for the five percent who did. It doesn’t matter what your source of income is, you have to save the first 10% and invest it in something that will generate income for the rainy day or for your old age.  Get a good advisor, advice will cost, but it is worth it, if you pay an advisor 1% and he or she makes you 7% and helps you survive the inevitable rough patches along the way then that is money well spent. 

Your banker is not your financial advisor - This is important, the banker is the financier of your business, their job is to make money for their employer.  They do not have your best interest in mind when you borrow money from them so why would you ask them for advice?

Learn the rule of 72 -  Another one of the secret formulas that you didn’t learn in school.  The rule of 72 says that whatever the interest rate is, divided into 72 determines how long it takes for a dollar to double.  Or conversely how long it takes to pay back one dollar borrowed.  It is the principle of compound interest, what Einstein described as the eighth wonder of the world.  If Einstein thought it was that important don’t you think it might be a good idea to pay attention to it as well?

Here’s an example of the impact of compound interest on Me inc.  Let’s assume for a moment you have taken my advice, you are saving 10% of everything your earn and you are earning 6% on your investment.  Therefore when we apply the rule of 72 that means that for every invested dollar to double to two dollars takes 12 years. (72/6= 12)  However it only takes six years to add another dollar and three  to add another dollar and 18 months to add another dollar. That is the magic of compound interest, if you have patience, stay invested, never touch the investment, reinvest the earnings and consistently save the 10% every month,  it won’t be long before your investment income will equal your earned income.

The problem and why you need an advisor is that the process is boring and  you will be tempted to go looking for a greater rate of return which means you have to start over and instead of a  nice steady growth it is more like skiing in a mogul field up and down, up and down.  Having an advisor protects yourself from your own boredom.

Manage risk -  Me Inc. is a money machine, you will generate income by some means. You insure your house and your car against loss, you need to also insure your money machine, i.e. You,  against living too long, dying too soon or becoming disabled. This doesn’t have to be expensive but it is necessary, it provides the means for those who depend on Me Inc. to carry on.  It can also means that all you have worked to achieve will remain in place even if you can’t be there.

The five list - This simple idea can make a difference, it is not a to do list.  Charles Schwab, the President of US Steel paid $5,000 for this idea in 1900.  Toyoda taught it to all his executives.  What works for them will be invaluable to  you.  At the end of the day before you leave the office, or if all else fails before you go to bed, write down the five things you are going to do tomorrow.  No more than five, you can’t handle more and you don’t want to confuse your subconscious mind.  It’s that simple, you will be amazed how much you get done and how many will already be solved when you wake up.

A good example of this is my own personal experience. I like to set aside a morning a week to work on my business not in my business.  It doesn’t always happen but I do try to schedule it.  Before the end of the previous day I always try to write down the five things that need doing the next day.  One evening I wrote down that I needed to write three letters, they were important letters to be mailed to clients.  I set aside the next morning to get this done, knowing I had an appointment that I had to attend at noon. 

The next morning I was awake at 5:30 AM, the letters were written by 6:00 AM! It was amazing, the words and ideas just flowed, in no time at all the drafts were done and forwarded to my two associates for comment and input. That left me with six hours free for other pursuits. 

The Five Why Questions -  Eiji Toyoda the founder of Toyota Industries which is the parent company of Toyota Motors developed a concept that he maintained would find the solution to every problem, simply by asking the question why, five times.  He taught all his executives to use this problem solving method, you may want to incorporate it into your own procedures.  It will have amazing results.

Asking the question “How to…..”   This simple idea allows you to define the relevant word in the problem and that will lead to more effective solutions.  For example, “How to come up with a solution?”  The “a” is the relevant word, it blocks the solution by implying that there is only one solution when in fact there may be many solutions. 

Take time to smell the roses -  If you are working more than 60 hours a week on Me Inc.  you are sacrificing either your family time, recreation or sleep.  You cannot sustain that pace without something coming apart, your health, your family or your sanity.  You have to maintain a balance, it is essential and you will be more successful if you will not sacrifice these other important facets of your life.  Arianna Huffington, the founder of the Huffington report talks about her own experience in the book Thrive, you can also find an interview with Arianna at Inc magazine where she talks about her own experience and the impact of overwork on her life.

Sharpen the saw -  Take time to attend seminars, study , take courses, or just to read a good book.  Staying sharp is essential to your success.  The analogy is to a lumberjack, he will cut more trees in a day with a sharp saw than he will with one that is dull.  The only way that he can maintain optimum performance is to take the time to sharpen the tools.  This same principle applies to you regardless of   what you are doing. 

Be patient with yourself - There are no unrealistic goals there are only unrealistic expectations.  It doesn’t matter what we decide to achieve in life the road to success will be long, filled with twists and turns and expectations will often be that more can be accomplished with the time allotted than is possible.  That does not mean that the goal is not worthy it is just takes more time to achieve.  The example of the Wright brothers and their determination to make absolutely sure that when they finally did demonstrate to the public their ability to fly there was no chance of failure. Despite the fact that politicians and the press were constantly maligning them as frauds and cheats for not being willing to provide proof of their achievement. The best antidote is to start with realistic expectations in the first place and to be very happy with the results.

Mindfulness- Learn to meditate, you can find a number of website’s on the subject by searching Mindfulness and by reading Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan.  It is simple as sitting quietly and focusing on how your breath for a few minutes every day.

Take the step, Start with Why and enjoy the journey. 

Colin J. Campbell, CFP, CLU, Ch.F.C. is Managing Partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd. in Cranbrook BC  he can be reached at colin.campbell@gpsbc.ca

Why, start with Why? Part Three

Why, start with Why?

Colin J. Campbell

Part three – How – Achieving Success

Asking yourself the question “Why” is a novel approach; for most of us we haven’t done that since we were little children.  If you have followed the first two parts of this article, defined your why and begun to set down your goals you are now ready to take the next step, “How”.  How is the implementation phase.  Taking action, it is an essential requirement.  Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to see their dreams become reality. The dreams of childhood get shelved by the reality of life. Trying to earn a living, raising a family and educating children consumes  most of our days and leaves little time to dream or to make a dream reality.

Finding your why, setting goals and becoming more innovative are keys to all facets of life.  Seeking to find happiness in a career and lifestyle are part of our makeup, we expect to achieve these goals. We are all burdened by the baggage of our upbringing and education.  To move forward we have to get out of the  present circumstance, the only way to do that is to step forward and take a risk.  That does raise the possibility of failure, however failure is not the enemy, failure proves what doesn’t work.  It is not a stigma it is a stepping stone.  Not being afraid to fail is self compassion. You have to like yourself and what you are trying to achieve.  We are often our own worst critic, we expect perfection when perfection is an elusive dream.  Be willing to accept who you are and what you have achieved.

For many the biggest fear is fear of failure, it leads to inertia.  It is a trait that was learned, our education system with its rewards and punishment taught us to fear failure, fortunately it can be unlearned.  The best way to deal with this fear is to face, it move towards it until it loses its hold.  Many entrepreneurs will say that the fear of failure held them back but when they faced up to it, quit the comfortable job and stepped out on their own the fear disappeared and the act of taking action empowered their success.  When there is no fallback position and the only direction you can take is forward it is amazing what you can achieve.

Action is delayed by fear and learning how to identify what is causing the fear and how to deal with it is very important to success.  Fear is an acronym for False, Evidence, Appearing, Real.  Dealing with this unreality can be a simple as taking the first step forward, and the false evidence will lose its hold.  A good analogy is the efforts of a mother eagle to get the eaglets to fly. Some of them will be eager to leave the nest and with a bit of encouragement from Mom will take the leap and fly right away, but often there is one who just doesn’t get the message and will not leave the nest. Mom will encourage and cajole until finally she will solve the problem with a good kick in the rear. Once the eaglet realizes that its fly or sink the problem is solved. Similarly sometimes we need a good kick to  overcome the fear. Often those with the skills and the talent never succeed because of the fear of failure, while those with lesser skills but the determination to face the fear and move forward succeed. 

If you study the lives of the great achievers in history men such as Edison, Einstein or Bill Gates, the one commonality is a very active minds as children, they dreamed big and they were encouraged by a parent to try to achieve their dreams. Their parents were not inclined to step on their butterflies no matter how outrageous they may have sounded.  What these men accomplished in life and the impact they have had on our society is immense, they literally changed the world.

Nothing is impossible.  Whatever your why and your what you can accomplish if you are willing to do what is necessary. You may have to develop new skills to achieve your goal. It is estimated it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, such as playing the piano.  If you were to chronicle the time that Bill Gates put into becoming a very proficient programmer you would probably find that the time invested was about 10,000 hours.  He chose to start early and give up a lot of other activities to achieve the goal, such as sleep. It is estimated that Thomas Edison tried over 5,000 experiments that did not work before he succeeded in developing a light bulb that would work for any length of time.  In terms of time, about 10,000 hours.

Can anyone become an expert at anything by investing 10,000 hours? No, it requires some talent and aptitude for the task.  Which emphasises the importance of Why, until you know your Why it is hard to decide where to put the effort.  At the same time that does not mean you should not take the first step, every great achievement began with feeble forward steps, just like when you learned to walk.  Getting started sometimes is the hardest part, it takes more energy to get the airplane in the air than it does to cruise at 30,000 feet.  The same principle applies, much of the skills you are going to need will be learned by doing not by taking courses or attending seminars,  the doing leads to learning.

How you achieve your goals and fulfill you why is taking action to make it reality and it does not have to be daunting task. Success requires courage, you may have to sever the ties with the old ideas and with the safety net that will catch you if you fail.  If you goal is to be self employed, you will need to develop business skills to develop the business plan and find the financing. Part four has a number of tools you can tap into and of course you can find just about anything on the internet.  Developing a business may not be your goal it may be that your goal is to find a better career path.  Post secondary education is expensive however with careful research you can find a number of opportunities to reduce the cost, the online universities already mentioned, scholarships that never get paid out for lack of applicants, grants, work share programs and many more.  It may be possible to find a company in your field that will hire you and pay you while you get more education. 

Thomas Edison once said that the Universe was the source of all his ideas, it was there waiting for him to get in tune.  That applies to all of us, we can all tune into the universe and it will supply all your needs. Getting in tune requires giving up some of the fallacies that have been foisted upon you over the years, the how instead of the why.  Learning to embrace failure as a step to success. Learning to listen to your inner self and allow yourself to dream.  Taking on the idea that you are Me Inc. and treat yourself in a manner that success becomes common place, all because you know what your why is and you have mapped out your plan.

Finally remember the golden rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you  and be grateful for all that you have,  gratitude is the antidote for lack, for if you are grateful for what you have you will be rewarded with more, even if all you can find to be grateful for is the air that you breath.

Always remember, “ You don’t get a prize for finishing first in Life.” Rod Osiowy

Colin J. Campbell, CFP, CLU, Ch.F.C. is Managing Partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd. in Cranbrook BC  he can be reached at colin.campbell@gpsbc.ca

Why Start with Why Part two

Why, start with Why?

Colin J. Campbell

Part two - What -  Determining Goals

Armed with the information on your why, now you need to begin to establish your goals, you’re what.  In the golden circle concept what is the product, however when you are apply these principles to personal life, what is more than just a product or outcome it is the motivator, the reason for the why. It is the goals and dreams that we often keep hidden out of fear.

There are definite steps to take in determining your goals.  It is important to write them down in the present tense as if they have already been achieved. Use pictures and graphics to create a goal poster which can be viewed every day.  Write your goals as a positive affirmation which you read daily.  Goals need to be specific they need to be measurable.  You should plan to set short term; one year, mid- term; five year and long term; 10 year and 20 year goals.

The average person spends more time planning their next vacation than planning their career path.  Vacations are fun, planning a career or setting business goals is hard work and something we would rather avoid.  However success does not come without effort and effort needs to be focused, career and life goals do not need to be left to chance, proper planning and setting goals help to make success possible. Finding the right career path can be influenced by having a clearly defined goal.

When our son went off to school my wife found herself looking for something meaningful to do while he was at school. She had spent most of her working career in an architect firm designing schools and houses. She loved her career but had been away for seven or eight years. Rather than just putting out a resume she decided to research the various firms in the area that did home design and pick the three that she thought had the same approach as she did and where she would be able to express her creativity and enjoy the work.  Armed with that information she then applied to all three and was immediately offered positions at two of the firms. She got to choose the one she felt would be the best fit.  Over the next three or four years she enjoyed the challenges of her work and was well rewarded for what she accomplished. Simply by defining what her why was, focusing on the goal and approaching the firms, not with cap in hand, but with a resume that emphasized how she could contribute to the firm led to a career choice that was rewarding and beneficial to all parties.

We learned a lot from that experience and have applied those same principles to every business decision we have made in the last 25 years.  Peter Drucker once said that if you have a problem create a procedure to deal with the problem and it is no longer a problem.  Using the procedure of starting with why, setting achievable and measurable goals and defining how to achieve them will lead to success and the problems will no longer be overwhelming.

A significant amount has been written about goal setting and the value of writing down your goals, there is something magical about the process of putting thoughts on paper and the effects that this has on achieving the goal.   You will be amazed how many of your goals will be achieved when you go back to review the list in six months or a year. It is almost as if the act of writing down the goals ignites an unseen force that will make them reality.  Some authors define it as your subconscious mind, others suggest it is the forces of the Universe that will turn a dream into a reality.  Whatever it is it you have the freedom to tap in to this unseen force, all you need to do is define clearly, in writing what you wish to achieve.

Many of the men who have made significant contributions to business management, such as Peter Drucker and Jim Collins put a lot of emphasis on the value of goal setting from a business perspective. Much of what they have written can be used to develop personal goals and researching what they have had to say on the subject is worthwhile.

 Jim Collins in his books Good to Great and Great by Choice puts a lot of emphasis on how important it is for a company to have the right people on the bus and in the right seats on the bus. In Great by Choice, Collins identifies one of the key character traits of successful businesses to be the fact that their growth was a consistent 20% a year, rather than huge bursts of grow followed by equal retreats.  This is a concept that is worthwhile keeping in mind as you set goals, better to have steady consistent progress over a period of years, steady progress towards the goal helps to reaffirm the correctness of the goal.

Collins emphasizes the need to do a SWOT analysis of a business in the process of setting goals.  A SWOT analysis is identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the company.  The same principle can be applied to setting personal goals, knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are allows you to identify areas that need work to make the goals achievable. 

In her book The Power of Why, Amanda Lang sites the work of Rolf Smith a retired air force Colonel who now helps people and businesses come to grips with strategic planning.  Smith recommends that you mentally imagine yourself as Me, Inc.  With the mental picture of Me, Inc.  you compile a list of your SWOT’s and begin to analyze what you really love to do.  Smith recommends that you form a board of directors with three individuals who you are comfortable with and talk about what you really love to do.  This exercise tends to get you to think beyond the cliché and really drill down to find that which excites you to action.  Smith believes that this exercise will help you to recognize your innovation. 

Smith requires every seminar participant to write down 101 goals and wishes, at the beginning of the seminar.  Everyone is expected to sit down and write the 101 goals and wishes before they go to sleep the first night of his three day workshop.  This is a useful exercise to undertake as you start to work on your goal planning. Writing down 101 goals and wishes opens your mind to possibilities; it starts you thinking about how to innovate.  Take the attitude that you cannot fail, nothing that you can imagine and verbalize is impossible.  The first 25 or 30 will be easy, then it becomes a bit more difficult and some of them will be wild and crazy ideas.  It means you are getting out of your comfort zone and allowing your subconscious mind to think of the possibilities. Don't get discouraged, keep at it until you have 101 goals and wishes, they don't need to be long they can be even one word.  You will be surprised when you surpass 101 goals, it gets hard to stop.

Smith asks his seminar participants to then discuss the goals and wishes with the three person board of directors of Me, Inc. .  He encourages the use of blue post it notes to record good ideas as the discussion progresses. The mind map with post it notes.  Similarly you could use your lab notebook to keep a record of your thoughts and ideas.

Smith also poses this question at the beginning of the discussion, “Who am I?”  How would you answer that question? You may want to take time to think about that before you move on, remember be patient, you don’t get a prize for finishing first in life and today is the first day of the rest of your life.

When we approach issues and problems, whether they are career issues, business concerns or life style concerns what we are really trying to do is to become more innovative in our solutions.  Not accepting the status quo, not following the herd simply because we are afraid is to step out of our comfort zone.  Asking questions of ourselves such as Who am I? Seeking to identify our why are all excellent ways to begin to nurture our ability to innovate and find inspiring answers.

Lang also mentions the work of Claude Legrande the co author of Innovative Intelligence.  Legrande teaches seminar participants to find innovative solutions to problems.  Legrande points out that it is wrong to assume that the problem as initially presented or as we perceive it, is the real problem.   He suggests you must state the problem in the form of a question, and it must begin with How to….  Once the question is stated the task is to figure out the relevant word.  For example, “How to come up with a solution?”  The “a” is the relevant word, it blocks the solution by implying that there is only one solution when in fact there may be many solutions. 

This is an approach that once again conflicts with what we are taught. We are trained to solve problems ---it is part of our upbringing and schooling, solve the problem and get a good mark. However that may not be the real problem and we have not learned to probe for the real solution.  Learning how to do that is essential to innovation and determining what our goals are.  Many of the great discoveries of the past 150 years have come from men and women who might not have been the best educated, but as a result they were not hindered by tradition and were able to recognize the possibility of a solution that did not conform to convention. Learn to write down the problem using Legrande’s opening phrase, use the “what if” phrase to focus in the power of why.

Having clearly defined goals is essential. There are no unrealistic goals just unrealistic time frames. Once you recognize that  becoming comfortable with setting big goals is much easier.  Jim Collins suggests that  you need to have a big wild bodacious goal as one of your long term 20 year goals, you may even want to consider a 100 year goal.   Why not?  Consider the January 2015 issue of National Geographic which points out that it took 4,000 years to get from the Abacus to the iPad,  in the next 20 years technology will allow us to gain an equal amount of knowledge and innovation.   Technology could solve the problem of mortality in the next  20 years,  you may live forever.  In addition, every great family in history began with the dreams and goals of one individual,  Walt Disney comes to mind, his vision was greater than his own lifetime.

Setting goals takes effort, it is worth it, be patient with yourself, write down what you are dreaming about, think like you did as a child. Nothing is impossible and there is nothing wrong with failing along the way.  Impatience with ourselves can sometimes have the most debilitating effect on what we achieve, not allowing an idea to formulate and take root often leads to making snap decisions that accomplish nothing.  Learning to be patient and to take the time to allow an idea to develop and grow is essential to your success.  It is part of learning to have balance in your life, to keep your work separate from your family and your leisure. To live a healthy lifestyle you need at least eight hours sleep a day and you need to spend at least eight hours with your family and relaxing, that leaves eight hours for work. 

Colin J. Campbell, CFP, CLU, Ch.F.C. is Managing Partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd. in Cranbrook BC  he can be reached at colin.campbell@gpsbc.ca

Why, start with Why? Part One

Why, start with Why?

A four part series on how defining your why can make significant changes to career paths and business decisions.

Colin J. Campbell

Part one – Why

Simon Sinek’s 18 minute Ted talk “Start with Why” has had more than 1.7 million viewers since it was first posted on You Tube in September 2013.  His simple message has struck a chord with individuals around the world.  Individuals searching for better ways to solve problems make better career and business decisions and bring more happiness to their lives.  Sinek outlines how the traditional method of problem solving begins with How, What and finally Why.  He proposes that a better way is to begin with Why, then How and finally What.   He calls this concept the Golden Circle. 

Several examples support his claims, the Wright Brothers and the invention of the airplane being one, he points out that their goal was not fame and fortune but the improvement of the lives of all mankind by the ability to fly.  Another good example is Steve Wozniak the co-founder of Apple and the guy who created the Mac. Steve will tell you that his burning desire was to build a computer that everyone could afford.  He would have willingly given them away for free; he did not do it for the money it was his Why that drove him to succeed. 

Sinek's simple change in thinking can be applied to every facet of our lives. It is particularly valuable when trying to choose a career path or settle on future education or deciding what business path to take.   Success at any endeavor depends on what the Why is, learning how to find that Why is key.   I would encourage everyone to take the 18 minutes needed to watch the Ted talk video.

To apply Simon’s concepts we first need to consider how we developed our current perception of How, What and Why and how to reverse our thinking.  Parents can relate to why, the first question every child asks shortly after they learn to talk is “Why?”   And the standard parent reply in exasperation is, “Ask your Father” or “Ask your Mother!"   It is the natural child curiosity about everything, that drives us to ask the question why.  We needed to know, it didn’t matter if we understood it was just our natural curiosity about everything.

As we grow older our concepts change, we not only want to know Why but also How. By the time we enter pre-school we are generally over the why phase, and ready for the how stage, how to read, write, add and subtract.  We also learn how to play games or the piano or other musical instrument. 

Our years of growing up and getting educated are all about How and What. Graduation from high school was an achievement, it is testament to our ability to learn and develop a basic knowledge of a number of subjects.  It is only natural to assume after spending so much time learning how, that when career or profession choices are needed we follow the same path with the focus on How and What.  In fact we really never give it a lot of thought; we have some idea of what career path we want to take and go to college or university to learn how.  We are again victims of how we have been taught to learn.  For the most part a public school education is about knowing.   We are taught that if we know the right answer we will get a better than average grade, better grades more recognition.  We learn quickly that failing to get good grades are painful, C’s and D’s on a report card  leads to interesting dinner conversation, for the most part conversations we would rather not have.

This is quite contrary to the real world, where most successes come from many failures, not being afraid to fail leads to experimentation and it is experimentation that creates innovation.  Ironically the really successful innovators such as Edison and the Wright brothers were not great students, they did not succeed in the education system and in fact in Edison’s case his mother removed him from the school at an early age and home schooled him instead. 
The Wright brothers although both graduated from high school and were well read they did not go to university and were not engineers. Their success may be because they had no preconceived ideas about how to solve the problem and were willing to try anything.  From the time of their first flight at Kitty Hawk until their first public demonstration of flight at Le Mans France, they had countless crashes and numerous failures.  It would have been very easy for the brothers to give up, but rather they persevered. Often when asked by reporters why they kept on, their reply was simply that progress takes patience and that failure was to be expected. They were very careful never to fly together; if one was killed the other could carry on.  This approach paid off, when Orville suffered a near fatal crash at Fort Meyer and spent a year recovering Wilbur was able to carry on and demonstrate their flying machine all over Europe.

When it comes to making career decisions and setting life goals, our fear of failure becomes a hindrance, we suppress our desires because they don’t fit the picture we have of what success in life should look like and out of fear we often don’t take the risk necessary to achieve real satisfaction.  Our natural curiosity has been stifled by the system.  Asking the Why question is part of the process of reversing what we have been taught. Why is the exact opposite of knowing. There is no right answer and you cannot fail the exam, it is all about uncovering what you want to achieve, what will make you excel.

You may have seen the Lexus advertisement with Steve Wozniak, if you haven’t Google it, although it is a commercial plug for Lexus it is an excellent example of how one man was driven by his Why to achieve outstanding results.  You may not decide to create the next evolution of the computer but your why could make a difference in the lives of others if you have defined it clearly. 

Unfortunately a university education today has become too expensive to spend time trying to figure out what one’s life goal is.  Taking courses with the hopes that something will tweak ones interest really isn’t an option. That approach most often leads to a mountain of student debt that may never get paid back and to add insult to injury the graduate often ends up in the same go nowhere job they had before they started. Sadly this leads to really bright people who have something to contribute never ever achieving their full potential.

Admittedly things are changing you can now go online and find free courses or courses with a very small tuition, that will give you credits and allow you to see if that is the direction you want to take without investing a small fortune.  A good example is MOOC, massive open online course. When you Google MOOC you will find lists of courses you can enroll in for free.  If you Google any major university you will find lists of free or very cheap courses.  This is just another example how education is beginning to change, technology has changed how we approach most everything in life and gradually the education system is moving away from the traditional methods of teaching out of pure necessity to keep up with the times.

Taking the time to think about Why is the beginning of the journey to a more fulfilling career and life.   It isn't an easy task and it does require concentration.  We have to start to ask the question Why again, not of our parents but of ourselves, what will motivate you to begin the journey? What is your why?  Take the time to think about this question, it doesn’t cost anything just time and contemplation.  Thanks to Simon Sinek and his simple method of reversing how we look at Why, there is a solution.

Turn off the cell phone, get up from the video game and find a quiet place to think. In the early stages it will take some discipline to stay focused, that is only natural we all have a tendency to let our minds wander off to what seems to be more important.   Stay focused, try to empty your mind of all the noise and just think about your inner self.  Once you get to that place of mental solitude you will begin to develop the ideas that form your why.

You may want to consider learning to meditate, it is not difficult and it can help you achieve your objective. One simple method is to sit in a comfortable position in a chair or on the floor relax and focus only on your breathing.  This allows you to empty your mind and not think of anything except the natural act of breathing in and out.  It takes time to learn how to do this, but it is progressive, if you only manage a minute today you may get to five minutes by the end of the week.  Each attempt will build on the past attempts until it becomes a natural occurrence.

Plan to mind map.  Mind mapping is writing down using symbols, pictures and words what you are thinking.  Get a large blank sheet of paper and  tape it to a wall use colored pens to separate your thoughts.  Start by putting “WHY” in big bold letters in the middle.  Write down everything that comes to mind, stick to the original question of; “What is my Why?” It is important  to get your thoughts and ideas on paper.

When you start with why you will begin to define what is really important to you. What you want to achieve is all that matters, no one else can determine what you want; you have to mentally challenge yourself to answer your why.  Is it worth your time?  Are you happy in your present circumstance? If not then you have no choice, you have to change, and that takes action. It has nothing to do with society in general, other people in your life or the past; it is all up to you.  It is all about your attitude and your why. You may find your why in a short span of time, it has been lurking in your subconscious waiting for you to drag it out, or it could take some time.  Either way it is important to write down what you are thinking all the time, use your mind map as a guide. Begin keeping a journal, you want a record of what you are achieving. Purchase a lined note book, spiral bound lab notebooks are inexpensive and quite satisfactory.  The lab notebook is the most important tool of every researcher, PHD student, or writer and as you are now researching your why you need to treat your efforts the same way, keep an accurate record of everything you think about.

One of the most difficult things to learn is that keeping an accurate record of what you are thinking and working on is essential to your success. Most of us are reluctant to put what we think on paper, we feel we have the ability to recall, however that is not the case. Clearing the mind by getting what you are thinking on paper means more capacity to think. Nature is not in a hurry, you need to take a lesson from nature and not be in too big a hurry, allow time to think things out.  Don’t make to do lists, they stifle your creativity and pressure you to do things in a hurry. The journal records your thoughts throughout the day as you have them and also allows you to clear your mind before retiring at night. This is essential, it allows you to sleep better but it also allows your subconscious mind to work on the problems while you are asleep.  You will be amazed at how many effective solutions you come up with early in the morning.

Make keeping a journal a habit you will not regret it. To prove the point; as researchers began working on building the first computers in the 40's and 50's there were several separate groups working on the problem at the same time. Later when these groups of researchers attempted to file for patents the similarity in the patent applications led to a number of very spectacular law suits.  The deciding factor in these law suits was the original lab notes of the researchers.  That is how essential a notebook of your thoughts can be, you can't remember everything so write it down.

The Wright brothers went to court over patent infringements nine times and won every case.  When they first began their quest to fly they did not keep lab notes however they soon learned how important their journals would become and began to keep detailed notes of every event.  When others made claims they had flown prior to the Wright brothers every claim was refuted by the evidence compiled in their notes.

Nothing comes without a cost; you have to invest time and effort to achieve great results.  A good example of how a huge effort over a relatively short period of time could make a significant impact on society is Bill Gates and Paul Allan’s work to produce the first operating system for the IBM PC. When IBM contracted their fledgling company Microsoft to write MS-DOS, Bill and Steve spent days writing the code, often they never slept. In the span of less than a year they created a program that launched the PC and launched Microsoft as the most successful software companies in history.  Their Why was clearly defined, they realized that if they could achieve the objective they would change the world and they set out to achieve that through dedicated effort over a short time span. 

Hopefully you have begun the exercise and you are beginning to identify your why.  You’re burning desire, how you want to serve your fellow man and what you want to achieve in life.  Thomas Edison once said when asked where all his good ideas came from, “They were in the Universe just waiting for him to tune himself in.”  Your purpose is waiting for you too; you just need to get tuned in to your why.

Starting with why is a very important exercise, figuring out your why, is the ground work on which you  build your career goals, business goals and your life goals.  As your why becomes clear in your mind all the other issues that are hindering your progress will begin to disappear.  Figuring out your why is defining what your real purpose in life is, what excites you and that gives you satisfaction. It will become your life purpose. Keep your why clearly in front of you as you consider the next phase.

Part two will talk about the what, that is what your goals are and how to define them based on your why.

Colin J. Campbell, CFP, CLU, Ch.F.C. is Managing Partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd. in Cranbrook BC  he can be reached at colin.campbell@gpsbc.ca