“Why do you do what you do? And why do you really do it?”
(Richard Seidl)
The other day my wife got me thinking: “Richie, what do you actually want from your blog? Why are you doing it?” Good question. Money? There isn’t any. Fame and glory? Some of the feedback wasn’t exactly kind. Client work? No.
So I looked back over the last few years … Yes, years. That alone floored me. My first post, “An apple a day keeps….Apple hype”, went up in September 2004. The world was a different place back then. Since then I’ve published 38 posts, and I just skimmed through all of them again. Spoiler: when it comes to why we do what we do, there is never just one reason, and the real why usually sits deeper.
My Reasons
If you read my blog now and then, you’ll notice that I like to write about perception, personal development, judgment and shaping the future, and that I tie these topics to the software, agile and IT projects all of us deal with every day.
I also want to inspire and motivate you, dear reader, to become aware of your own self-efficacy, your chances to grow and your room to shape things in your daily work and in your teams. To me, these are key skills for the future of the IT and software industry, and for our society in general.
Nice, right? And the feedback I get from time to time confirms it. So that settles it, doesn’t it?
Why We Do What We Do, Really
But my wife wouldn’t be one of the best coaches I know if she hadn’t followed up with: “Sure. And why really?”
Pfff… (when a question puts a little pressure on your stomach, that’s the moment to take a closer look instead of talking your way out of it). Yeah, uh… hm. So I turned inward to see what really drives me. And more comes up: writing gives me a way to dig into topics with focus. What else? Oh… there’s also the fun of writing. And the wish for recognition, to be seen…
Get Clear on Your Why
You can tell… there’s some energy in that! There is always more than one reason. Some come from outside, some from inside.
In our daily work and in our projects, we often get stuck in routines and habits. Most of what we do happens on autopilot: checking email all the time, visiting the same websites, browsing the intranet, getting distracted by Insta, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. And most of the time we don’t even notice.
So ask yourself why you do what you do.
Got an answer?
Very good.
And why do you really, really do it?
