Danny Flood at Mount Merapi

Climbing two mountains in two days. Mid-way through my attack on the summit of Mt Merapi, Central Java.

“Intensify your desire over time.” — Napoleon Hill, from Think and Grow Rich

Whenever you face an important decision, you can choose to either follow through on it or not.

The secret is to have a compelling reason for what you do decide to do. If you haven’t developed a compelling reason for why you’re doing what you seek to do in the first place, your will is based on a weak foundation. If your enthusiasm going in is low, your will will not manifest itself through  action.

In my book, “Buy Your Own Island,” I talk about the “Five Why’s” principle and how useful it can be in business. But this concept is also extremely valuable for managing our own thoughts and actions.

Let me give you an example.

Looking around online, I see a lot of podcasters and coaches talking about “morning rituals.” If someone were to suggest to me that I should incorporate a morning ritual, it’s a nice suggestion – but not very compelling.

I probably won’t do it just because someone told me to. 

On the other hand, if I simply ask “WHY?” whenever I make a decision to do or not do something (such as a morning ritual), I can uncover a much more compelling reason to follow through.

When I ask, “Why?” I can uncover some sort of problem at the root of the issue, and leverage my action as an opportunity to fix that problem. So, imagine that someone tells me: “You should incorporate a morning ritual in to your daily routine.”

Next, I ask myself: “Why should I do a morning ritual?”

The answer comes to me and unveils itself:

“Because every morning when I wake up, it’s hard to boot up my mind and body. Two or three hours can pass in the morning spent unproductively. My mind is notoriously slow to start, and finding a simple morning ritual to activate my mind is very valuable. I can get back 2 or 3 hours of my day if I include a morning ritual.”

Do you see how much more powerful our reasons for acting become when we simply ask ourselves “Why?”

Here’s another example.

“It’s a new year. You should get to the gym and work out more.”

Not very compelling.

Let’s try again.

“It’s a new year. I should go to the gym and work out more.”

Why? Because…

“I want to have more energy and feel great.”

“I want to get into shape, and look great.”

“I want to have a six pack, and be the envy of all my friends.”

When you simply ask “Why?” you come up with compelling reasons to follow-through towards the things you want.

Here’s another.

“I want to learn how to make money online.”

Why?

“Because I want to have the freedom to do the things I like.”

“Because I want to have the freedom to make an impact in the world.”

“Because I really want to be my own boss.”

Robert Cialdini, in the book “Influence” says that the word “Because” is the most persuasive in the English language! Imagine what we can do if we use this to influence ourselves!

Here’s one more:

“I want to climb a mountain.”

Why?

“Because I want to experience that feeling of sublime bliss and accomplishment when I stand on top of that mountain and look down at the world below.”

When you link the actions you take to these reasons – and to your overall vision, your success becomes all but inevitable.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked why he was so confident in all of his bodybuilding competitions, he answered as though it was obvious:

“My confidence comes from my vision. I imagined myself on the podium, holding the trophy, with all the other guys looking up to me.”

Schwarzenegger is a psychological master. His successes in life came because he created compelling reasons for doing what he wanted to do. We – you and I – can do this too. If we ask ourselves “Why?” we can do or not do something, we can create compelling reasons to do anything. When we have a very compelling reason – or vision – that’s driving us on, it’s very hard not to follow through and see the things we want made manifest.

If there’s something you want to start doing – whether it’s learning a language, starting a podcast, or joining a fitness program, start here.

If you simply ask yourself “Why?” and create strong enough reasons, you’ll soon have everything you’ve ever wanted.

Hope you enjoyed this post…

Stay tuned because I’m going to have some exciting updates about my new book! Be sure to join our newsletter if you haven’t yet, because I’m going to be sending some great perks to our subscribers next week 🙂

Danny 

2 Responses

  1. Leo Tat

    So the way to motivate ourselves to take action is to find the reason, which is asking ourselves ‘why’ do it.

    Action is the most crucial step. A few years back I planned to start a blog, but procrastinated as I wanted to learn everything about starting a blog. I understood why I should start blogging but I still didn’t take action. If I had started it earlier rather than two years later, I’d be much further than I am now. I believe in most cases, in addition to the why, we should just take action before perfection; just learn and adjust during the journey.
    Leo Tat recently posted…5 Best Vitamin D Supplements, When and How to Take with DosagesMy Profile