Why Use a Why List for Motivation
Welcome to the second week of January! By Friday of this week, many people will celebrate Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day by (you guessed it) ditching their New Year’s resolutions. One big reason for this tends to be that our routines during the week are different than our routines over the weekend. For most people, their view of the weekend lines up with the cultures, which views the weekend as a time to relax and unwind. So, the weekend is a time when many people experience more temptations to their vices that they may be hoping to give up this year such as overeating, drinking more than they planned, overspending, or just plain being unproductive.
What is a “why”
With that being said, If you made it through the first weekend without giving up on your New Year’s resolutions, then congratulations! If you want to continue making it through the weekends successfully (understanding that perfection is not possible), then sometimes we need an extra boost of motivation. One very simple way to boost motivation that can be done in a matter of seconds to a minute is utilizing a “why list”. An “ultimate why” is a powerful motivator behind why you want to make the change that you are working towards. For some people, it is one very specific goal (for example, if someone is going to be getting married soon, they may choose to change their spending habits to accommodate buying a new house when they get married). For most people, the list of reasons tend to be longer. Some are more silly or trivial, and others are more central to values (and therefore, more motivating).
For example, one common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. The reason for why someone wants to lose weight may vary from the more trivial things, such as wanting to fit back into a certain pair of jeans to more dominant reasons, such as being able to actively play with their children or grandchildren. While all of these reasons are good, some of them will just be more impactful when having to make a decision that will either line up with or differ from their goal.
How to Make Your “Why List”
In order to lean into the skill of utilizing the “why list”, I strongly recommend that you make a list of the reasons why you want to accomplish your goal. When writing this, I encourage you to place the more important reasons towards the top of the list. They do not have to be in importance order necessarily (because that could be hard), but the ones that really drive your motivation should be at the top because these are the ones that your eyes are going to see the most often.
How to Use the “Why List”
In terms of actually using the list, experts suggested that you read the list at least once per day. Additionally, they recommend that you should have the list ready for moments when you may need it. This helps you review your list prior to making a decision that may impact whether or not you achieve your goal in your desired timeframe. So, we strongly recommend having it in some sort of a digital format. For me, I have three separate copies of my list of whys. One of them is the one that I read every day in my daily planner. I make this part of my routine as I schedule the events for the next day. Then for the other two, I have a condensed version and the long version. I have these placed in different locations where I find I need to review my lists the most often. I also have pictures of them saved in my Photos app. These pictures are favorited so I can easily access them when needed.
How a “Why List” Will Help
When we regularly review this list on a daily basis, as well as when we are struggling with temptation, we are more likely to think of the reasons why we are wanting to achieve the goal rather than the reasons for why we want to deviate from our goal in moments. It takes time and repetition to build up this new way of thinking, but it will start to flip how your brain views opportunities to deviate from your goal. It will strengthen your motivation and also your will. Plus, after you write the initial list, it requires very little time to do it each day and is a very simple and achievable task to help boost motivation.
If you need help with identifying your list of whys, or are interested in counseling, we want to help! Reach out today for your free 15 minute consultation by either calling us or scheduling through our contact page.