Award winning business coach Andrew Priestley specialises in helping manager/leaders to become more successful through being more authentic. This richly rewarding 20-minute activity taps into why you do what you do. Its inspired by Simon Sinek's book Start With Why.

1. “Can’t recommend this enough!”
“Why do you do
what you do?”
Explore you ‘big why’.
Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why
suggests that your customers actually
buy why you do what you do, more than
what you do. And yet we rarely take the
time to express that clearly.
Business people who take the time to
why report immense
In this richly rewarding tutorial,
award-winning business coach
Andrew Priestley gives you a
fabulous 20-minute activity that will
start to tap into why you do what you do.

2. !
“Why do you do what you do” Activity
Andrew Priestley is an award-winning
business coach, mentor, speaker and author
and head trainer for the Key Person of
Influence Programme in the UK.
When Andrew starts working with coaching
clients he often recommends they complete
this activity. Invariably, it provides invaluable
context for achieving high performance.
This is a profound tutorial that will help you
tap into your mountain of value both
personally and professionally. Enjoy!
_________________
Start here
I recently worked with a client who was in the
fire protection industry. Specifically, he
supplies fire suppression kits for very large
vehicles. This is a highly specialised, very
fiddly, detailed mechanical engineering field
that is quite hard to explain to nonengineers.
But I asked, “Why do you do what you do?”
The technical answer was very important but
the personal reasons were totally fascinating
and made compelling listening. None of that
information up till that point had seen the
light of day. And yet it ticks away in the
background steering and shaping every
installation project.
Not even my client’s staff knew the ‘back
story’. I asked him to share this with his team
and the changes at work have been
immense.
“I didn’t think this information was that
special.”
My client is lucky because he does know why
he does what he does. He just hadn’t shared
it.
Another client did this activity and realised
that once he started exploring why he did
what he did he realised that the business he
had did not reflect his reasons for doing that
work. It took over a year to make the changes
he wanted, but the business now has a heart
and soul that resonates with more of the
right customers.
© 2014 The Coaching Experience Ltd
Leadership genius Warren Bennis1 said,
“You are your own raw material. Only when
you know what you’re made of and what you
want can you really live your life. The best
way of learning from yourself is to reflect on
who you are ... and what you believe.”
And only you know why you do what you do.
Simon Sinek2 suggests in his book Start With
Why that your customers actually buy why
you do what you do rather than what you do.
What you do is important – of course – but
his research suggests that why you do what
you do builds long-term relationships and
connection as well as loyalty.
As he says, “From now on, start with Why.”
I discovered that most of the clients I work
with who feel unfulfilled or feel they haven’t
realised their potential and even have
suffered a crisis of meaning have overly
focused on the What and How without fully
exploring the Why.
Taking the time to explore and create context
is what makes your life a deeper, richer and
more fulfilling experience. So …
… this is the exercise gets you thinking about
your big why. So let’s go …
_________________
1. Schedule 20 minutes
It’s important to schedule 20 uninterrupted
minutes with yourself. Find somewhere
quiet, turn off the phone and hold all
interruptions.
2. Grab a coffee
Essentially, get comfortable.
3. Get your smart phone and find the Voice
Recorder app.
OK, find the app turn it on, press record.
4. Answer the question, “Why do I do what I
do?”
Just start talking.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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2
Bennis. W. (2009) On Becoming a Leader. Basic Books.
Sinek. S. (2009) Start with why. Portfolio Penguin.
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Clearly, you have several reasons for doing
what you do. Park answers like, “Because it
pays well.” At your level I wouldn’t expect
that anyway as the key reason for doing what
you do.
The temptation here is to give you more
examples but I have found it you just press
record and start talking … even if it is slow to
start … keep talking.
Initially you might find you are talking in
bullet points, but eventually you should find
that you open up and become more
conversational and explain more.
If you were being interviewed on air a good
interviewer would ask you to clarify or say
more. So you do the same.
i) Some people keep repeating the statement
and include different endings.
“I do what I do because ... I‘m I studied that at
university.” (Say why you chose that degree).
“I do what I do because ... I started working in
this industry when I was a teenager and
loved it.” (Say why.)
Get the idea?
ii) Other people expand more on each point.
“I’m a wine merchant because my dad was a
cattle farmer who lived just above broke.
When I was holidaying in California on my
gap year I visited a vineyard that was
originally a dairy farm and realized the
conditions were almost identical. As a hobby
I grew a few cab-sav grapes and they
flourished. It just went from there. Eventually
dad and I converted the whole farm to
grapes. I guess dad and I were always close
and I loved working with my dad but the
difference was I didn’t want to be a dairy man
and dad didn’t want me to continue this way
either …”
See how easily you can find the origins of
your current work in the past?
Again, I am sorely tempted to give you some
examples, but you have to trust yourself. You
actually do know why you’re doing what
you’re doing.
© 2014 The Coaching Experience Ltd
One tip only: dig deep. You may choose to
not use any of what is recorded. I encourage
clients to convert these recording to
collateral that can be used to help promote
your business but you may decide to use only
some or none of what gets recorded.
As an example, one key reason why my fire
safety client does what he does is because he
witnessed a fire on a mining site that ended
tragically. Without going into any more
detail saving lives is probably the biggest
reason he does what he does.
But having said that it is very hard – still – for
him to talk about. And something he will not
use in his marketing.
You are 100% in control of how this is used later – but for now talk it out. Record it. Say
what ever is true for you. No one else has to
hear this recording ever. This activity is for
you most of all.
A bonus is you can and will use what you’ve
recorded.
5. Keep going for about 20-minutes then
stop.
For now, don’t do more much than
20-minutes. You can always come back and
do Part 2.
6. Listen back to the recording with a pen and
paper (at this session or a subsequent
session).
Right! Listen to your own voice. Allow it to
sink in. Listen back and make notes. Stop the
recording if you need to reflect further or get
inspired. (You will get inspired!)
Most of my clients actually gain new insights
from the playback. Sometimes they are really
important distinctions. Other times you will
have new insights. This is your time to reflect.
Many clients arrive at decision or action
points as well. So list any ‘to-dos’ that come
from this session.
_________________
OK. Next steps?
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4. !
Repeat and Rinse – (as my nana would say).
Do the activity again.
saying stuff you think others want you to say.
You might start to spin things. I
Archive – You will end up with an MP3 file.
I recommend you archive these MP3
recordings. They make fascinating listening a
year from today or five years from today.
Transcribe – I recommend you get onto
Elance and get the MP3 transcribed because
…
Collateral/IP – Turn it into collateral. There is a
whole content management argument that
goes hand in hand with social media and the
need to be relational and create digital
downloadable relational content.
Simon Sinek’s argument is that people by
why you sell more than what you sell. You
can edit and top and tail your authentic
‘I believe’ transcript and make it available as a
digital downloadable PDF relational piece on
your website, for example. Most people have
an About page. This is a great About page
piece!
If you sense that you are spinning, then stop,
get another cupper and start again or do it
later. This is a hand on heart exercise.
Warren Bennis again on reflecting:
“Faced with your own mortality you may
realize that what you’ve been doing, what
you’re invested in is not an accurate
reflection of your real needs and desires.”
So you should perhaps occasionally alter the
statement to read, ‘Why I really do what I do
…’
(This is also a great Lunch and Learn activity
to do with your staff, by the way. Ask them,
“Why do we do what we do?” And record it!
You might be amazed at what your team say.
But again, a great activity for another day.
Start with you first.) Hope this helps
As an example I did this activity and it shows
up as Why I Coach on my website. Here’s the
link.
http://www.andrewpriestley.com/201401_AP
_WHY.pdf
Repurpose – This is a big discussion for
perhaps another tutorial but once you’ve got
it you can repurpose this content into
reports, tutorials, downloadable PDFs,
embedded email links, YouTube videos,
SlideShare uploads, Tweets, Facebook Posts,
MP3 interviews and so on.
(For your benefit, most online content can be
repurposed into things people can watch,
read, listen to and do.)
Repackage – Again a big discussion for
another tutorial but the big idea here is to
use packaging and pricing structures to
bundle or unbundle your IP.
There is always a but …
…but for now, do this just for you.
The big danger in doing this activity is talking
as if there was a wider audience listening in.
You can easily cease to be authentic and start
© 2014 The Coaching Experience Ltd
Andrew Priestley
Testimonials and Feedback
I would love to add some testimonials or
feedback to the next revision so please email
me at info@andrewpriestley.com
Contact Andrew Priestley
Web: www.andrewpriestley.com or
www.the-coaching-experience.com
Email: info@andrewpriestley.com
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TCE.HQ
Twitter @arpriestley
Skype: priestley1
Phone: +44 (0) 7879 33006
Note: Why the robot? To remind you that a life lived on
auto is not as fulfilling.
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