Today is Tuesday, which means that I should technically be sharing a new podcast episode this morning. But I don’t have one to share today, because I didn’t record one this week. Without having consciously decided to, I have clearly decided that my podcast needs to be an every-other-week type of affair. That’s the rhythm that I’m being drawn towards, and the one that I’m naturally falling into as the weeks go by. It’s not the rhythm that I had planned for or “committed to” in my mind, but it’s what I have already been actually doing. Whenever I’m taking action without conscious choice, it’s usually a clear sign that my intuition knows something I don’t.
The reason that I am okay with this pace changing is because I’m taking my own advice and letting my “Why” cast the deciding vote. Your “Why” is always the truest, deepest reason that you started doing something in the first place. It’s answering Seth Godin’s favourite questions: Who is it for? What is it for? and committing to the answers.
Nobody is buying anything on my podcast, but my Why is super clear: to explore new ideas for myself, to expand on conversations and concepts I’ve been encountering in my life, and less importantly, to share my thoughts with others.
Letting your Why decide means that when you’re faced with making a decision about how to move forward with any project or new idea, you make your core Why the most important factor. So even though I could tell you hundreds of reasons to keep my podcast to a weekly schedule – It will look more professional! People expect it! That’s what the big-time podcasters do! – in actuality the only reason that should carry any heft for me is my Why. As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy WHAT you do. They buy WHY you do it.”
So in this case, changing my podcast schedule doesn’t have any negative impact on my Why. I’ll still be exploring and expanding on ideas and sharing them with others – and in fact, I’m doing much more of that through this new week-daily blogging. When I let my Why be in the driver’s seat, decisions are clearer and easier and less overwhelming. There are always going to be tons of reasons “to be or not to be”, to do or not to do something, but I find that when my Why is my guide, it never steers me wrong.
