Support Your Why By Aligning Your What

Entrepreneur Clarity Focus And Action

Can you be an effective entrepreneur in only 60 minutes? YES!

What is this post? When I started coaching entrepreneurs the conflicting priorities they had around starting, building and running a business caused me to come up with one question to unblock them. “If you only had 60 minutes this week to focus on your business. What would you do?”

It may seem unusual to think of building a successful business in only 60 minutes. But, when you have limited time and resources this question is a powerful technique to identify the immediate and actionable steps to take on your goals.

Aligning Your Why And What

When I look at the strategies of successful entrepreneurs the common thread amongst them is they know the difference between Clarity and Focus. In my earlier post about Entrepreneurial Clarity I define Clarity as the Why and Focus as the What of your journey.

Speaking from personal experience and from coaching entrepreneurs we are an action-oriented group. Action feels good and provides us with a sense of progress towards our goals. Often, when entrepreneurs feel stuck and overwhelmed we jump into action and fail to realize if our actions (i.e. What we are Focusing on) is supporting our Why.

At its simplest our Why and our What are misaligned costing us time, energy, money, etc. I know we have all felt this and I developed these questions to address the problem.

Three Questions For Focus

In the post on Entrepreneurial Clarity I gave you a set of steps to gain Clarity on your Why. If you are struggling with Clarity take a moment to go back and read the article now. The questions here will help you identify if your Focus (the What) is in support of your Why.

Let’s walk through the actual exercise.

Think of a scenario where you are feeling stuck and unsure on the next steps for Focus. Next, imagine instead of jumping into action you stop and ask yourself these three questions. Now, take a few moments and explore each question answering them in order. (For the action-oriented entrepreneurs, don’t race through the questions.)

  • What outcome would you get out of taking this action right now?

  • If you achieved this outcome how will it advance your Why?

  • Imagine you’re talking with a trusted coach who has your best interests at heart. What does this coach advise you to do?

Now, immediately set the intention you discovered by writing it down. I have also found it equally powerful to text the insights to myself.

For me, I continue to work on the challenges of focusing on the right things. The process of honing your Focus is not a one and done, and it will get faster by using these questions. What I can tell you is that when your Focus is in support of your Why then progress will be made and when this does not happen then stagnation occurs.

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Mark Hutchins