Living in the Why

In one of my classes this month, my professor touched on a subject that had a profound effect on me. She drew three circles inside of each other (visualize a dart board). On the outside circle, she wrote "what"; on the middle circle, she wrote "how"; on the inside-most circle, she wrote "why." Each circle represents a different level of depth and significance that we use to approach experiences and people. Sadly, most people never make it into the smallest circle. In fact, we rarely scratch the surface of the most interesting parts of life.

Question: What did you do today? Answer: I went trail running. Question: What do you do for a living? Answer: I work in publishing. Interesting conversation? Maybe. Question: How did you go trail running? Answer: I drove to Millcreek canyon and started running down the Pipeline trail with two girlfriends. Question: How do you publish books? Answer: Our authors write in a proprietary software that allows us to do many things with their content, like make eBooks. Better? A little. Question: Why do you trail run? Answer: I run on trails because, when I'm outside, I feel like my mind starts breathing. I feel calm, and I empty out the clutter and white noise I was carrying with me. Question: Why do you work in publishing? Answer: Because I love to see other people's ideas formulate. I enjoy seeing the books I help create on someone's book shelf, worn and being used. More interesting?

I am starting to discover that the depth of our experiences and the richness of people is found in the why. It's the question and the answers that really matter. They are the questions we should ask life itself (Why is what I'm doing meaningful to me? Why am I spending my time on x, y, and z?) and the questions we should regularly ask ourselves (Why do I want the things I want? Why do I think the way I do?). Here we find purpose. Here we come to know ourselves. Because, in the end, the people around us don't buy what we do, they buy why we do it. To live with passion, to make others around us passionate about us, we need to push past the what and past the how. We need to start with the why.

Here's to living in the why. It's a much more interesting place.