Why do we do things?

"Why do you do what you do? And why do you really do it?" - Richard Seidl

My wife got me thinking the other day: "Richie, what is the purpose of your blog? Why are you doing this?". Good question. Money? Not really. Fame and honor? Some of the feedback wasn't so nice. Customer orders? No. So I took a look back over the last few years … Yes, exactly, years. I was flabbergasted. My first post "An apple a day keeps….Apple hype" appeared in September 2004, when the world was a different place. Since then, 38 posts have appeared on my blog, which I have just read through again.

My reasons

If you read my blog from time to time, you will notice that I like to deal with topics such as perception, personal development, evaluation or shaping the future in my posts and put them into context with all of our daily software/agile/IT projects.
And I would like to inspire and motivate you, the valued reader, to become aware of your own self-efficacy, personal development opportunities and creative possibilities in your day-to-day work and in your teams. In my opinion, these are very important skills for the future in the IT/software industry and in our society in general.
That's great, and the feedback I occasionally receive confirms this time and again. It fits, doesn't it?

And why really?

But my wife wouldn't be one of the best coaches I know if she didn't add: "Yes, and why really?".
Pfff… (when questions trigger a slight pressure in the stomach area, it's time to look and not talk your way out of it). Yes, uh…hm. And so I went on an introspective journey to find out what really motivates me. And then even more emerges: It gives me the opportunity to deal with issues in a focused way. And what else? Oh…there's also the fun of writing, the desire for recognition and to be noticed…

Get clarity

As you can see… there's energy there! There is always more than one reason, some are external - some are internal.
We often get caught up in our routines and habits in our day-to-day work and projects. We usually do things completely unconsciously: constantly checking emails, visiting the same websites, reading around on the intranet, distracting ourselves with Insta, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. And most of the time we don't even realize it.
But ask yourself why you do what you do.

Do you have an answer?

Very good.

And why are you really doing it?