Friday, September 2, 2011

The Why

Exploring ways to increase readership of this blog, I joined StumbleUpon today (this is also one of the icons in the "Share" box to the right).  If you've never checked out StumbleUpon, it is essentially a website recommendation service.  I checked a few boxes for my interests and entered the site.

It automatically took me to a video posted on a website named Ted.com.  The video started and it is a short talk given by a gentleman named Simon Sinek.  Now, I don't know anything about Ted or Simon Sinek, but listening to this talk was like a smack in the head.  It is titled "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" and describes among other things something called The Golden Circle, which is represented graphically below:



The essence of the idea is that the truly great leaders and companies tend to start with the "Why", then go to How and only then describe and figure out What it is that they do.  Everyone else goes the opposite way.  This makes more sense when you listen to this short talk, but it all boils down to attracting people to you who believe what you believe - the Why of what you do.

While I think I'll be checking out Ted.com and applying the Golden Circle more to my life in all areas, what is the relevance to this blog?  Well, if you had asked me yesterday what the purpose of this blog was, I probably would have said something about informing others (What) using my blog (How) about trying to create enough passive income to cover my expenses (Why).

What would I say now?  I know I need to further define it, but I'm starting with the Why.  Something along the lines of:  I want to spend more time with my family, embrace my own fitness/health and be less beholden to my boss and my job (Why).  I am going to do that by creating passive income through real estate investments (How). More passive income will create financial freedom and additional time (What).

I'll find a better, more concise way to describe my Why.  What is your Why?  What do you believe?

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