🌿 Finding Your Why
At some point, we all hit moments when life or work feels heavier than we can handle. The goals blur, the motivation fades, and we start to question why we’re even doing it all.
That’s when understanding your why becomes your anchor.
In both career and life coaching, I often talk about the difference between achievement and alignment. You can achieve all kinds of things — promotions, awards, milestones — but without alignment to your purpose, they can feel hollow.
Alignment is what connects achievement to meaning.
🧭 When Life Feels Off Course
When things get difficult, the resilience to sustain previously achieved success often comes down to what we believe in.
We all have a choice: we can adopt the “woe is me” mindset — decorate the space down there, stay stuck, and wonder why the world keeps coming at us — or we can accept that life isn’t always fair and focus instead on what still matters.
That’s where purpose and values come in.
💼 A Career Example
There have been moments in my career when I’ve worked for difficult leaders — situations that tested my patience and almost pushed me to quit. I came close more than once.
But here’s the thing: when people ask me what I do for a living, I don’t tell them I work for a toxic leader. I tell them the foundational truth — I help make it easier and safer for people to use their money.
That’s my why.
My passion is helping others. My purpose is creating systems that make life simpler and safer for others. My mission is the series of small goals that get me there.
The rest? That’s just noise.
❤️ A Personal Example
The same is true in life. I’ve faced loss and tragedy that left me breathless. There were times when I had to sit in the pain — to cry, to grieve, to feel the anger and doubt. That’s part of being human.
But after those moments, I remind myself of a simple truth: I have one life, and I don’t know how long it will be. So I better get living.
Being focused on your passion and purpose doesn’t shield you from bad things happening — it just means you understand yourself well enough to find your way through.
🪞 Knowing Your Values
If you’re not sure where to start, an easy way to begin understanding your why is through your values.
Here’s a simple exercise I recommend:
- Visit this list of values: Berkeley Wellbeing Printable List of Values
- Take 5 minutes to scan through the list and write down every word that jumps out at you. Don’t overthink it.
- Then, narrow your list down to your top 15 — the ones that feel most important to you.
Those values are your foundation.
Once you know them, you’ll start to notice patterns: what feels right, what feels off, what fills your energy, and what drains it. When something frustrates or excites you, it’s often because it’s brushing up against one of your values — for better or for worse.
Having that awareness helps you make better decisions and understand your reactions.
🌱 Alignment as the Path to Achievement
Everyone’s version of wealth, success, and achievement looks different.
For one person, success might mean climbing the corporate ladder. For another, it’s having the freedom to spend afternoons with family or creating something that helps others.
When your mission, passion, and purpose are aligned with your values, you’ll find achievement that actually feels fulfilling. And when life gets hard — because it will — that alignment gives you resilience to sustain your success.
✨ Final Thought
Knowing your why doesn’t mean life becomes easy. It means you have a compass when it gets hard.
Alignment leads to achievement, not the other way around.
So take time to reflect, rediscover what drives you, and make sure your next steps lead you closer to who you truly are. Because authenticity isn’t something we find once — it’s something we live, refine, and return to every single day.
Authentic Evolution Journey 