Chapter 1

1. Motivation

The TED Talk That Shook the World

Maybe we’re being a little dramatic. It didn’t shake the world, but it sure made an impact.

Simon Sinek’s talk “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action” went viral and became the latest way to sound smart around other people. Sinek’s talk asserted that great leaders and organizations focus on why they do what they do instead of what they do and how they do it.

At the bar: “You know, I’m really in a season right now where I’m trying to determine my why. If I can unlock that, I know I’ll have a successful and rewarding career. I know that sounds deep, but I really feel strongly that I need to make this connection between my career and my why.”

In a team meeting: “Honestly, I think the problem with your growth plan is that we haven’t told our customers why we exist. People care about why we exist. We don’t exist just to make glow-in-the-dark dog toys. There’s a bigger reason for our existence, and we need to make that clear. If we do that, we can become the Apple of dog toys.”

For years, it was all anyone seemed to talk about. Keynote messages, blog posts, Fast Company articles, leadership books, podcasts—everyone was referencing Mr. Sinek’s start with why principle.

I thought it would be a phase. I thought sooner or later, everyone would get over it and laugh about our brief obsession with why.

Here I am over a decade later, and that day hasn’t come. Why? (No pun intended.) Because this principle is so helpful and applicable to so many different areas of life.

The Principle and Your Career

If you haven’t watched the TED Talk or read Sinek’s book, the message can be summarized with five bullet points:

1. Your why is your purpose, cause, or belief.
2. Every inspiring leader and organization, regardless of size or industry, starts with why.
3. People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
4. Knowing our why is essential for lasting success and to avoid being lumped in with others.
5. When your why goes fuzzy, it becomes much more difficult to maintain the growth, loyalty, and inspiration that helped drive your original success.6

I know you probably already see the connection between Sinek’s principle and your career, but I’ll say it anyway. What’s true for organizations is true for you. If you understand your why, your career will be more sustainable, more fulfilling, and more successful.

However, this is where I’m going to say goodbye to Mr. Sinek and 2009. I’m not going to tell you to camp at your local coffee shop and journal until you discover your why. I’m not going to give you a series of exercises that makes finding your why easy.

Why? (Again, no pun intended.) Because finding your why is not easy! You can’t figure out your purpose, cause, or belief in a few hours, scribbling in a journal. This is not the way real life works.

In my experience, discovering your personal why is a journey. Of course, there will be exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking, I’ve never met anyone who figured out their why through anything other than experience.

Why Leads to Motivation; Motivation Leads to Energy

When you know your why, you tap into something powerful as it relates to your career: motivation. I’ve never met a motivated person who wasn’t also energetic. If you are not motivated to do what you do, it will be very difficult to consistently bring the energy of a positive attitude.

If you want to stand out by showing you’re all in, then you need to first and foremost know and understand what motivates you—in other words, your why.

Chances Are, You’ve Already Tried to Find Your Why

Most people choose a career based on their interests and motivation. For example, I chose to study accounting in college. Did I do this because my dad and grandfather were both accountants? It’s true, they were, but that’s not why. Did I do this because I was born on April 16 (the day after Tax Day)? Again, this is true, but no. Did I do this because I wanted to endure a life of jokes about pocket protectors and assumptions that I’m socially awkward? No! (And, sadly, also true.)

I chose that career path because, for some reason, it was my favorite class in high school, and I was motivated to learn more about the subject. I followed my motivation, which provided me with energy and kept me focused.

Motivation is essential to a fulfilling career. This is both good news and bad news. The good news: it’s possible for everyone to have a satisfying career. The bad news: you have to figure out what motivates you.

Again, in my experience, I haven’t met many emerging leaders who are able to clearly articulate what motivates them. This lack of clarity causes all kinds of issues. The primary issue is you end up choosing a career path for unsustainable reasons.

Money, title, cool office space, a short commute. These may seem like great reasons to take a job or choose a career; however, the luster will fade. There are greater factors that will lead to more sustainable motivation. To that end, here are three ideas we think will help you on your motivation journey—three ideas that might help you begin to discover your why.

Idea #1: Study the Puzzle Pieces

We like to think finding your motivation is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but with a twist. Unlike a normal jigsaw puzzle where every piece in the box fits together, the motivation puzzle is one that comes with one hundred pieces, but only a few pieces need to combine to complete the puzzle. The other pieces look like they might fit, but they don’t. That’s the twist.

Figuring out your why—what motivates you—is the strangest puzzle you’ll ever solve. The hard work isn’t so much finding your few pieces. The hard work is eliminating all the pieces that don’t fit. Most people don’t get through the sorting process. They give up and just float through life and hop around from one unfulfilling job to another.

As you attempt to put together your puzzle of motivation, consider some of the most common pieces, many of which are likely to fit you.7

What are you supposed to do with all of those words? As a simple guide, ask yourself these questions:

1. Which puzzle pieces best describe me?
2. Which puzzle pieces feel like they are missing from my career?
3. Which puzzle pieces de-motivate me?
4. Which puzzle pieces would my current team leader say motivate me the most?
5. What do I believe are my top two motivators?

These are not easy questions to answer, but taking some time to think through the motivators listed above is helpful as you ponder your why.

The list above can be helpful, especially if you are struggling to find motivation with your current job. Everyone goes through what our friend Chris Shelton calls “a work valley” from time to time. But if the valley persists for more than a few months, it might point...