Orthodontic blogging and finding "The Why".

Have you ever tried to understand why sometimes your feelings and actions do not always match?  For example, the other day I was completely motivated to clean up my office but ended up placing some orthodontic supply orders, working on my calendar and surfing Facebook.  At the end of the day my office was as messy as ever. 

For a moment, I felt the frustration of failing to follow through on what started out as good plan.  But was it a good plan, or just a plan that was no more or less important than the one I ended up acting on?  I know a clean office is probably a good thing, but in all honesty, I have never actually had a clean and orderly office.  It just isn't something that rewards me the way other things do.  Placing orders and firming up my calendar were action items that needed to be done.  Surfing Facebook for a limited amount of time provided both enjoyment and also some valuable interaction with colleagues and friends.  Once I recognized that planning, preparing and socializing were bigger motivators for me than cleaning my desk, I could dismiss the feeling of frustration at a continually messy office.  I had found the "why" behind my actions.   I was able to leave at the end of the day happy with what I accomplished instead of frustrated that I didn't complete my original plan.  Besides, I can always clean up my office tomorrow.....

Finding "the why" is key to understanding what drives individual action.  The why helps you to find what inspires you, what drives you, and what causes you to act.  It also helps you to re-frame your thoughts and cut yourself some slack.  As a newish business owner, I need to cut myself lots and lots of slack or I would never reap the rewards that come from being self employed.  Plenty has been written about the importance of finding your why.  If this is a new concept to you, I encourage you to explore the topic on the web.  

This is a basic example of how following the why can help re-frame your thoughts - and one of the big reasons I am committed to more regular blogging.  Blogging helps me find my why.