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Previously, we spoke about how to ‘Find your Why.’ After an influx of feedback today, we want to dive deeper and discuss how to Find your How; if you haven’t gone through the guide to finding your why (for yourself and your team), we encourage you to start there.

However, if you have gone through the why and are ready for the how here we go!

Think of it like a recipe. You know you want to eat; this is your what. Then, your why are your ingredients, but now what? You have to know how to cook it, right? (hence the tacos!)

The Process of the How

By uncovering your why and peeling back the pieces, you successfully created your why statement. It gave you the necessary tools to develop the idea where the (two) reflects a contribution and the (so that) is the impact or effect it has on others.

But, chances are, you had many other words that described your purpose. Ultimately, we want to show you how to turn those into your how. So, we have adopted three steps from the ‘Find your Why’ book by Simon Sinek.

Filtering the Themes 

Go back to your list you created (as a reminder)

• engage
• enrich
• empower
• connect
• inspire
• trust

Which of these words didn’t make it to your why statement? Hopefully, you created a lengthy list with plenty to choose from. If you had a day or two to sit on them, that would be a good idea. Uncovering your why is a deep process (or at least it should be), right? And sometimes, we need some time and space to digest the things we are most passionate about and put them into action.

At this time, you should narrow the list down to 5 words.

Then, take your list of verbs and find ones that might overlap—words like protected or creating a safe space. To be distinct from your messaging (how), eliminate these – go with the ones that feel great to you.

After narrowing the list down to 5, you are ready for the next part.

Find your How | A How Statement

So what we know is the how is the action, right? The how are things that you do — whereas the why helps you bring it to life. A great example from the book ‘Find your How’ you will find below is how to turn verbs and adjectives into hows. This puts them into action.

Here’s the example we mentioned above;

Let’s take the word optimistic – how can you turn this into something actionable? Take a moment to brainstorm it if you want.

In the meantime, here are a few examples – were any of the ones you came up with the same?

1. Find the positive in everything
2. See the glass as half full
3. Look forward, not backward
4. Find the silver lining

After reviewing that list, which one fits right for you regarding the original word optimistic?

Find your How | Giving it Shape

Once you have created your actions from the adjectives, it is time to give it all some shape – a narrative even. Here’s an example using the ‘find the positive in everything above;

Find the positive in everything – When things look like they’re going wrong, look for what is going right.

This makes the how statement direct and easy to understand, but adding the latter part of the sentence helps fill it with passion, purpose and, more importantly — ACTION.

Don’t hesitate to spend a bit of time working through this. You may have several sentences to draft through before you find the ‘one.’

Find your How | In Summary

You made it! When you look back to the beginning of your entrepreneurial process the what is the easy part. You know what you want, but knowing the why you’re doing it and how you’re going to achieve it becomes another story.

These activities are ones you can go back to at anytime. Whether you choose to do them individually or in groups is acceptable. Switch it up occasionally – see what works best for you!

Imagine for a moment what your business would look like if you had a clear picture of the what, why and how. Your messaging, posture and confidence would improve, for starters. Although some of these activities will come easier to some and prove more challenging for others, the results are the same. The action you put into why you are doing something is powerful stuff.

It is a huge accomplishment, and we’re hopeful you found value in this condensed version. Who do you know who could benefit from these activities? Did you? Let us know in the comments, and we can’t wait to hear how things progress in the coming weeks and months for you!