Figuring out our 'why'.

[00:00:00] You are listening to The Daily Five, an experimental podcast by Aurooba, where I talk about something for five minutes. So let's get to it. Shall we? Do less, do better, and know why. Cal Newport says that, Angela Duckworth's research on grit says that it says, these people, and lots of other people say this too, like this is the key to living a well-lived life, or as Cal Newport has coined "the deep life", and it's maybe the kind of life that a lot of us want, maybe, I don't know.

[00:00:47] I think that is definitely the kind of life I want. It is relatively easier to do less and to do better. And I find [00:01:00] relatively much harder to figure out why. To know your why. What is your ultimate goal and why is it your ultimate goal?

[00:01:12] I don't know. I guess I am struggling with that a little bit. It's sort of like the chicken and the egg problem. What comes first? It's complicated, you have to do a lot of things and try doing stuff and experiment in order to figure out what your why is. But in order to do things and do them well and have them stick, you have to know why you're doing them.

[00:01:41] I know that, from reading way, way back when, the 7 habits of Highly Effective People, that knowing your values is a big part of it and you don't need to necessarily do a lot of things in order to [00:02:00] understand what your values are. And yet, you know, your values do change over time, but then are they your values?

[00:02:11] Mm. Some people would argue, no, those aren't because your values are immutable. They're unchangeable. They're the deep core of why you do what you do and why you set the goals that you do. But I think that there are the values that we want to value, and then there's the values that we demonstrate we value, right?

[00:02:34] For example, If you say that you value family time and spending time with your loved ones, you know, family is important to you, and yet in your life, if you were to look at your life and what you've been doing for the last, like, I don't know, six months and you haven't been spending a lot of time with your family, then that is the value [00:03:00] you want to value.

[00:03:01] That is not the value that you demonstrate. And I mean obviously we're not perfect and just because you are acting in a certain way does not mean that is how you want to act. But I think that we all should be maybe thinking more about the values we want to value? And what we can do to make sure our life aligns with those values.

[00:03:34] Which is I think, you know, it's a pretty common problem and something sadly we all kind of grapple with, or maybe it's not sad. I mean, living a good, meaningful life that is according to your values is not this goal that you can reach once and be like, [00:04:00] yep, I'm done. Um, I don't know why I did that in a weird voice.

[00:04:07] You know, it's a moving target and it's maybe a more of a state of mind and a way of living that has to constantly evolve with the changing environment and changing situations that we find ourselves in. So maybe it's okay that I'm grappling with my own values and how to live according to them. I'm thinking out loud here a little bit, but you know, I feel like, wow, I should probably do an exercise about values sometime soon again, and then maybe do an episode about doing that exercise.

[00:04:44] That's the thought of the day. Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow.[00:05:00]