Struggling with finding my "WHY"

[MrProductive]

In Unscripted MJ wrote:

"Don't confuse WHY with a DESIRE. DESIRES are often superficial and transient, whereas WHYS are firm and transcendent through time.

This made the wheels in my head turn. 2 years ago, I had drive, because I had a strong WHY: Become location independent, leave Germany and move to Thailand.

I worked all day, almost every day, until I reached that goal.

Now I live pretty comfortably, location independent and most of my income is passive and I just not have much drive anymore.

When I thought about that quote: I thought about what I want:
Earn a lot more money. Become a multi-millionaire.

But, I could not come up with a why, at least not a strong one. My life is already pretty comfortable and I am not someone who spends a lot of money, so earning a lot of money would not impact my lifestyle that much.

I also thought about other motivators like helping others, especially my family. The thought ist "nice" but it does not give me drive.
More money would essentially mean more security for me, but I consider myself not someone who needs a lot of that.

So, long story short: Any advice on how to find or create strong WHYs?

 

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[PureA]

I got some great advice recently...

The exact same thoughts were passing through my mind.

The advice was this:

"You aren't excited about what that money will bring you. So what WOULD excite you? What could you do that truly excites you? WHY MUST you hit that goal?"

For example, money is never going to be enough (imo) to drive you through the HARD times. But that is not to say that money can't be a byproduct via your success for another parameter (thus, you still get to meet your multi-millionaire goals, but driven through a higher purpose).

What really drives you may be changing the lives of others. So OK, you set a goal of positively effecting 10,000 people, the thought of the impact you can make really gets you up in the morning. But as a byproduct you are likely to generate substantial incomes, or at least be on the right path...

 

[Olimac21]

What would you do if you had all the money and time in the world? Those kind of questions can drive interesting answers. I have seen a lot of people focus on external rewards (extrinsic) and do not know or identify intrinsic motivators (autonomy, mastery, sense of belonging) the right combination of both can have very powerful drivers.

It seems you covered your survival motivators: have enough money to live in a good way, what about other people? or interesting skills you would like to develop? You mentioned family, you could choose perhaps helping young people in Thailand to develop businesses or invest money on non profit organizations, taking a leadership role in those organizations.

At the end of the day I believe a powerful "why" should come from within and ideally not dictated by someone external.

 

[MrProductive]

Thanks for the fast responses guys.

"You aren't excited about what that money will bring you. So what WOULD excite you? What could you do that truly excites you? WHY MUST you hit that goal?"

That is the thing. I do not know. I tried different techniques (Questionaires, meditations etc), but I cannot come up with something that excites me.

What would you do if you had all the money and time in the world?

Well, one thing that I would really like would be an investor, like in shark tank. Looks fun and interesting.
Produce my own tv show or movie.

Again, the thought of that is more like "nice" or "cool", not "hell yeah, I want THAT!"

You mentioned family, you could choose perhaps helping young people in Thailand to develop businesses or invest money on non profit organizations, taking a leadership role in those organizations

I was thinking of that, and the same happens again: "Nice" idea, but it does not get me exited.

To be brutally honest: There is not much that exites me anymore. The most exitement I get at the moment is from either discovering a really good new place to eat or watching the a new episode of Game of Thrones.

I have been traveling through Europe the last 6 weeks to get some new stimuli, and maybe get ecited. Instead, I get tired from traveling and "start from new": Where to get good coffee, where to work from, where to drop my laundry, etc".

This might all sound like excuses or like I am not trying, but I do. I am just not exited anymore. I feel like I am missing the passion gene. I even get annoyed over "high-energy" people.

At the end of the day I believe a powerful "why" should come from within and ideally not dictated by someone external.

Do you mean discovering an intrinsic motivator or change my thinking and kind of create exitement where none is at the moment?

 

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[Olimac21]

Do you mean discovering an intrinsic motivator or change my thinking and kind of create exitement where none is at the moment?[/QUOTE]

Yep from intrinsic motivator and also not imposed by another person or institution (i.e parents, friends, religion,etc). Another method I just thought about was think about the things that excited you as a child, some passions or activities you like/used to like that you could pay attention to it again.