A statement of your philosophy can build your motivation

This is the third of four blog postings directed at helping you discover your vision. The first two strategies I wrote of were indirect ways of discovering your vision. In this strategy we approach the issue head on. We contemplate the question, “Why am I here?”

This strategy is called my philosophy statement. This strategy consists of two steps. Both of them involve paper and a pen or pencil.

Step One: Sit down in a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for a while. Write on the top of a clean piece of paper the following words, “I was put here on this earth so that I could …” Then take some time to get quiet and still. Think about all the possible reasons you are here. You may come up with many reasons. Think about all the different roles you play. Write down all your thoughts. This is brainstorming, so do not be critical of what you write down. After you have worked awhile and are out of ideas, stop for the day. Come back another day and pick up where you left off.

Step Two: After you have taken at least two sessions working on Step One, it’s time to move to Step Two. In Step Two, just as we did in Step One, we start with a clean sheet of paper. We write down on the paper the following words, “The things that are important to me are …” Think about the principles that guide your life, or have guided it in the past. Think about difficult decisions you faced, and the choices you ended up making. Think about why you decided the way you did. What was there about that choice that made it the right choice for you? Write down all your thoughts. After you have worked awhile and are out of ideas, stop for the day. Again, come back another day and pick up where you left off.

These are not easy exercises. Don’t be surprised if you have difficulty with them. And even if you are in touch with the answers, you may find they make you uncomfortable. Getting in touch with who you are can be disturbing. But finding that person is worth the work it takes, and worth the discomfort that may come. Finding your vision is the most important work you do in motivating yourself, because it sets the tone for all the other work you do.

Why not take some time now, it doesn’t have to be a lot of time, to get in touch with this powerful motivator.