“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein
Answering the question of why we do something, should take precedence over how it should be done. Having a clear understanding of why we take a particular job, build a business, get in shape, move to a new place, go to school, write a book, develop a website, plant a garden, or do anything else will save us time and effort as we decide how to accomplish a task or achieve a goal.
Understanding our purpose, our why, gives us the necessary motivation and stamina to persist when our endurance begins to diminish. Generally speaking our motivation for doing something is a metaphysical concern that depends on the intuitive and the intangible.
Then there is the how, the process of accomplishing a task. The how is based in the material and rational world of cause and effect; it is left brain function, a repeatable process that produces results we can see and touch. It’s my impression that most of us are more comfortable with the how than the why. What do you think?
While the reason for doing something depends on the goal and to a large extent the urgency of accomplishing that goal, here are some thoughts that might help when clarifying the reasons, the why, for doing something.
• Study and Understand All Relevant Factors.
• Relax and give yourself time.
• List the short and long term benefits.
• Understand that there are many unknowns.
• Look forward to surprises.
• Cultivate optimism.
• Consider that the why might be found in the doing.
• Accept the presence of risk.
• Try not to control everything; let things happen.
• Let go of preconceived ideas.
