28. 3 Questions To Find Your Why
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Hello, hello and welcome back to Pause On The Play. As always, it is amazing to see you here, where you are challenged to examine your beliefs, question your predisposed notions, and consider realities you may be unfamiliar with in order to understand that they too are real. I am your host and conversation emcee for the day, Erica Courdae, here to get the dialogue going.
So, I'm actually going to kind of keep this one short and sweet for you guys. There's been quite a few episodes recently that some have been a little bit longer. They've included myself and my cohost, India Jackson of Flaunt Your Fire, and there's actually going to be a few more coming up soon that are going to have some guests. So, we actually have quite a quite a bit on the horizon coming up. But last week we brought you an episode live from She Podcasts, which was absolutely amazing to be able to do. And so, I actually chose to kind of keep it simple today. We are kind of toward the beginning, getting closer to the middle of Q4 of the year. And a lot of people really start really trying to finish off the year strong and honing in on what it is that their goals are for the beginning of next year, which is going to be 2020.
In doing that, they're kind of doing some re-evaluating, figuring out where they want to put their efforts, what it is that they want to focus on. And in doing that, I want to kind of give you some things that might help. We talk about visibility and mindset over here, which Indie and I have brought you collectively. I talk a lot about imposter syndrome and imperfect allyship, the diversity of diversity, diversity, equity and inclusion, and with all of these kinds of different things. And as you are focusing on your services, your audience, how you want to be visible, your marketing, all of these different places, and you're really trying to hone in on your beliefs, values, and ethics, making sure that things are aligned. Things make sense, things are cohesive.
I want to take you back to the basics. Any of these things that I mentioned, there's kind of no way for you to do them well and to truly have the type of intention that you plan on if you don't have a clear understanding of what your why is.
So, I am going to give you three simple questions.
I would challenge you to use them as journaling prompts, to use them as a jump-off point for possibly creating some new captions for social media, blog posts, things that you can use to take into your next staff meeting, if you want to reconnect with those that are working with you, creating this cohesive vision, or just something that you want to use as a basis for your company culture, even if you're a company of one.
So I'm going to give you three simple why questions. Well, three questions that will give you your whys. One is not a why question, but they're three questions that will help you to reconnect with or re-evaluate and renew what your why is.
Number one, who are you supporting?
Who are you talking to? Who was in your audience? Who was it that you want to add to this audience? And really understanding what you're doing there makes a difference with how you're going to do some of those things. So, having a clear idea of who it is that you're supporting. If you're going into your diversity, equity, and inclusion spaces, you want to know, "Okay, am I really working toward pay equality? Am I really working toward LGBTQIA+ awareness with who I'm speaking with? What is it that really makes... What is it that really connects with that goal?
And not knowing that means you're just kind of talking into the ether. You don't know why you're doing it, you don't know why it matters. So again, number one, who are you supporting?
Number two, why does it matter to you?
Why does it matter that pay equality isn't widespread? Why does it matter to you that any of the marginalized groups or voices that you are looking to support, why does it matter to you that they don't have the same access or things that you take for granted? They may not have that. Why does that matter to you? Knowing why it matters to you is very important when you're deciding to make shifts in your marketing, your imaging, your verbal or visual content. If you don't know why it matters to you, then you run the risk of it coming off as very inauthentic, pandering, or just simply centering yourself to make money. You don't want that. So, knowing why it matters to you and letting that be a part of that basis right behind who you are supporting, that again is going to help with clarifying your why, that roots everything else.
Right next behind those two, why is this work important to you?
These shifts that you're making, these things that you want to be in, like you want this to show up. You want this to be seen. You want it to be obvious. Why is it important? Why is it important to you to have this stance? Why is it important for you to have this message? Why is it important for you to have this be a part of how you show up in the world and operate through your business and your brand to support others?
If you don't know why it's important, if you don't know why it matters to you, if you don't know who it is that you're supporting, again, that basis isn't there. It's a tree without roots. It doesn't make sense, it's not cohesive. You can't come behind and say, "I want to market to X, Y, Z in this way because of this. I want to provide support to this group, but I don't know why. I want to widen my audience to include these types of people," but you don't have a reason. None of the things that you could do to expand your business are going to happen if you don't know your why and you don't have those roots. Who are you supporting? Why does it matter to you? Why is this work important to you? If you know who and why, these things will help. Because this means that you are now tying in why it's important to you, with the group or people that you're doing it for and why it matters.
This is creating that conduit. This means that these things are all tying together, and it makes sense.
Because if you don't know why it's important to you, then it doesn't matter who you're supporting. If you don't know who you're supporting, then that means that you're not able to explain why it's important to you. So, you need these things to go together in order to make sense of what it is that you want to achieve with your goals, coming out of Q4, going into Q1 of 2020. I want you to take these three statements. One more time to wrap it up. Who are you supporting? Why does it matter to you? And why is this work important to you? Take some time, think about it, journal on it, toss it around, talk it out loud if that's what you need to do, but figure out your answers, find those roots, and get your tree planted.
Pause on a Play is one iteration of how we use conversation to create connection. Our one on one calls, is another. This is where you can get support on how your beliefs and values around diversity, equity and inclusion, are showing up for your business. How you vote with your dollars, how you are sharing your message to let people know that you curated a space with them in mind, that you want to talk with them and hold space with them to have a seat at the table.
Hop on over to ericacourdae.com today, and register for a complimentary tea time chat. These are our connection calls, so we can hop on, discuss your needs, and create a plan of action that's personalized for your brand to further it's evolution.
The conversations we have here are to normalize the challenging things and make them a part of your normal exchanges. This is how we remove stigma and create real change and connection, cross lines and recreate boundaries to support, not separate.
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I love being here and creating the bridge for you to walk over to become the change that you want to see. Join us next time, and until then, keep the dialogue going. Bye.