Are you someone with a good sense of direction? I don’t mean going everywhere with Google Maps – I mean do you have your life planned out? Or are you someone who tends to ‘go with the flow’ maybe?
Whether you’re one or the other, I want you to try closing your eyes for a moment, and envisioning your life, let’s say about 5 years in the future. Where do you THINK you’ll be?
Now compare it to where you WANT to be then. Do they look the same, or even similar?
Maybe it’s a bit of a struggle to think of that. People don’t always know what they want from the future, nor how to make it a happy one. Happiness is different for everyone, as are their goals.
But there’s a reason why this is important, or at least why it will be.
The Cheshire Cat
Do you remember Alice In Wonderland? When Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, she asks for directions, in which he responds with, ‘Well that depends on where you want to go’. She replies that she doesn’t know, and do you remember what the Cheshire Cat says next?
‘It doesn’t matter which path you take, if you don’t know where you want to end up.’
Although many of the characters in Alice in Wonderland are described as ‘mad’, I think there’s actually a lot of wisdom in what he’s saying.
Think about it. When you set a goal, you need a strong enough reason behind it. And that reason has to be for you, for your own purpose.
How Your WHY Guides You
When I’m making decisions, I tend to refer to my WHY. If I get that ‘Ready Break Glow’, then I’ll say ‘yes’, or ‘I will do that’. If I don’t get that great feeling, I just say, ‘I’m sorry but this isn’t for me’. And it’s why my own WHY helps guide me – when it comes to making decisions or knowing where I’m going in life.
If you don’t know your WHY, you’ll struggle to make decisions, goals, and knowing where you want to go and what you want to do. That’s why you need directions.
You Have To Want Your Success
For this reason, I encourage people who want to become public speakers to know their WHY. Because in order to succeed, they need know why they want to do it, and how it makes them happy.
Are you doing it to be heard? Are you doing it to help others? And by helping others, does that help you too?
Because at the end of the day, you DO want to help yourself. And you should!
Finding your WHY means putting yourself first for once, and making your own choices.
Yes, it does feel good to help others, and that’s what we’re all striving for, deep down – that feeling you get when you know you’ve done something good for someone else.
It should feel just as good, when you do something good for yourself. When you find your WHY and allow it to help you make choices about what you do or what you don’t do.
Putting yourself first in this way isn’t bad thing, it just means you’ve found your happiness, the thing you’re working towards. And then you can start a new journey, to share your message with even more people.
What do I mean by this?
I’m talking about the many speakers who I’ve helped come out of their shells and participate in public speaking in front of audiences. They’ve found their WHY, made their plans, and set off to make a difference to the world. And you can too.
For tips on how to begin your public speaking career, check out my latest videos on YouTube.
And remember – it’s you who decides where it is you’re going.
Cheryl xx
P. S – If you liked this blog and want to read more blogs surrounding female empowerment, you can find last week’s here: ‘Change Your Story, Then Tell It!‘
“I’m on a global mission to help 10 million disheartened souls, who are at a crossroads, to STOP asking why me? And START saying why not me!”