I remember an advertisement on TV by Nescafe when I was still in the Philippines. The main question in the ad is “Who do you wake up for in the morning?” and that’s what we will try to answer today.

The question “Who do you wake up for in the morning?” is almost synonymous to “What are you living for?” or “What’s your reason for being”, only your reason for being is geared towards what rather than who but I think we are missing the important question, why?

I guess the question depends on where we are currently at in our lives. Our answers to these questions will be different when we are children, student, employee, have our own family or when we actually find our reason for being.

When we were children, we probably wake up to play, study, make our parents proud, mad or happy. Our reasons are so “childish” that we don’t really care what our reason for being is, as long as whatever we do at those moments will make us happy. It could be silly, adventurous, boring, dangerous but we do it so that we can be happy. I remember looking forward to afternoons wherein I just get to play tag with friends after school. As simple as it is, that was for many childhood years my reason for being.

When we were students, most of our reason for being is to get good grades, still make our parents proud, mad or happy, go on dates, graduate on time or for some like me, graduate as soon as we can and get a job. During this period, we somehow develop our own values other than what our parents and society dictated. We also have some freedom to choose what courses to take, friends to let in in our lives, who to date, who to look up to other than our parents. So in a way, we now have a little bit of control what our reason for being is.

When we became employees, probably our reason for being is to climb the corporate ladder, have our own business, get a huge increase, get better pay, move from one company to another, give back to our family, support younger brothers and sisters, get promotions, continue studying, find partners who will stay for good. Whatever our reason for being we had previously changed because we now have more responsibilities, we are now looking at how we want to live life the way we want it to, we want stability, purpose and a passion to pour our energy on. At this point, we almost know what we want, or at least we thought we knew what we really want.

When we start building our family, our reason for being shifts. When we start our family, clearly our lives are not our own anymore. We dedicate our time, love, attention to our partner and our children. Every decision we make is also not ours alone anymore. Our reason for being is now about the family we are building. We may still think of our career, our passion, our friends, our self-development but the focus is always the family.

What’s my point? Our reason for being is influenced by a lot of things. Our parents, society, relationships and a lot more. Sometimes, we develop “false” reason for being because we think that’s how our reason for being should be as per the standards of society. We should focus on family, passion, health, love, relationships because society especially the media says so. But what I want you to really think about is this question, Why do you wake up every morning? not what, how, where nor who but why.

Is it because of your family, your wife, your relationships, your career, your business? Dig really deep and stop copying someone else’s why. You are the expert in your life, not me, not your family, not your wife, definitely not society and the media. Do not let somebody else dictate the reason why you are waking up everyday.

If you know your why, you’ll know your what you are living for, you’ll know your who you are living for and you’ll know how you should live your life. As per Simon Sinek, start with your why, then you’ll figure out your how and your what.

So, why do you wake up every morning?

P.S. If you want to help in figuring out your most authentic reason for being, I will be doing a 5-day challenge wherein I will walk you through on how to determine your reason for being so that you can live your life with clarity, confidence, challenging status quo and taking actions. Vote YES!!! here http://bit.ly/reason-for-being-challenge and I’ll send you the details. Challenge starts November 5.

P.P.S. If this blog was helpful, feel free to forward it to your friends or colleagues! You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter at http://bit.ly/mfau-subscribe

Share