Day 6 - A Deeper Why

If we want to be more productive and to experience fuller living our greatest ally is intentionality.

Living intentionally does not mean being rigid. Living intentionally does not mean every moment of every day is planned out and set in stone. Living intentionally simply means that your action is always supported with a deeper why. If you choose something, you have a reason for that choice. The deeper your awareness - the deeper your reason and intentionality.

Living intentionally means if you working on a project it’s because you’ve decided it’s what you need to be working on. Living intentionally means if you are grabbing coffee with a friend - it’s because you’ve decided this particular get together aligns with what is most important.

It’s actually much easier said than done. That’s because everything we do in our life ultimately has a reason. If someone spends 12 hours a day playing internet poker - there is a reason they are doing that. Bad habits and bad choices all have reasons. To quote Mary Wollstonecraft, “No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”

We do things all the time that aren’t in our own best interest. We choose things all the time that we don’t actually want. This is part of the human condition. But in spite of our tendency to waiver from the most important things, taking time to reflect can bring our focus back.

Action Step:

Click here to open today’s spreadsheet and download it or copy it to your Google drive. Listed are six categories of your everyday living experience. For each of these categories write down all the activities you do in a month within this space, starting with the activities you have already identified on your table. Do not overthink it. What is important is that you take the time to review your average day/week and list out the reoccurring habits and activities. 

For this exercise the more specific you can be the better. Rather than saying exercise 4x a week - write run 2 days a week, and lift weight 2 days a week. Break things down so you can get a good view of the activities that make up your week and routine.

Then to the right of each of the activities listed…

WRITE DOWN WHY YOU DO THIS ACTIVITY (in parenthesis).

You may be surprised by your answer. So much of what we do is because we are either on autopilot or we are just living out the life someone else has told us we should be living (and the voices are varied and many), even if it isn't good for us.

If you want deeper insight - ask why more than once. For example if you write run 2x a week, and then write your reason as to stay in shape, ask yourself why you want to stay in shape.

A few reflection question to ask…

- Is this activity motivated by fear or love?

- Is this activity motivated by guilt or desire?

- Did you choose this activity or did someone else?

This will take some time - but this exercise can lead to extremely deep eureka like insight. For some - it is life changing.

If you are not able to complete it today - we highly recommend you mark it as something important to follow up on later.