Recently I have seen this chart multiple times:
I saw this chart recently in a YouTube video. I came across this chart while participating in an internship. As a member of the Team, we are tasked with answering the question “Why?” For example, “Why are we working on certain tasks?” and “Why is this our goal?” Simon Sinek talked about starting with Why in his TedTalk (click here). He said multiple times, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” (The number of times I have seen this pop up must be more than a coincidence!)
So, I am going to answer these questions for myself today. As an “entrepreneur,” I think it is very important and grounding to know this for yourself--If I don’t know why I do something, why would anyone want what I do? This “golden circle” is a very simple idea, but many people, myself included, aren’t answering them in the most effective order. Instead of asking “What? How? Why?” I will answer with “Why? How? What?”
Why: It shocks me to look at our Earth knowing that humans have the potential to live here thousands of more years until you look at the condition of our planet. We live unsustainably and life will not last if we continue the practices we are doing. Why need to live eco-mindedly if we want to sustain life on Earth.
How: I type out my thoughts or talk to a camera while spreading my message, experience, or strategies to overcome this challenge.
What I do: I spread my concerns about our environmental crisis.
Simon Sinek then continues to explain the importance of doing business with the people who believe what you believe, not just people who need what you have. And he proves how this is how our brain works too. This excites me because currently the people that are drawn to what I do, the people that read my posts and watch my videos, are really the people that are like-minded. Someone who ignorantly litters, smokes, and works in the meat production industry is not going to watch my videos. And if they do, their life is going to change quickly. But to the people reading this blog or watching my videos, you likely work at living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle or want to improve yours to be more so. Especially if you are following my journey so early on. This is currently my business and for the most part, I work alone. But being conscious about these ideas will mean that in the future, I will only hire people who believe what I believe and sell products or services to people or companies with a similar mission. What I do is specifically because I want to help the Earth. And I am loving this life. But in reality, I am earning zero money from this “job” and it doesn’t look very hopeful yet with my seven subscribers. (Another coincidence: I gained two subscribers while writing this!) So how does this tie into sustainability? Well, sorry to break it to you, but it doesn’t. At least, not directly. You see this “golden circle” idea is going to help me grow as a YouTuber and Environmental Influencer. By spreading a message, it will help me do my one percent for the planet and help others do theirs too. And hopefully, I can help others be aware of these concepts so that we can improve our planet as a team. Also, the idea that I want to give to the people who believe the same things as I, or us, simply means more people need to share our goals. And if we can accomplish that, we can solve a lot. I also mentioned that this chart was shown in my internship which has been a great way for me to learn more about energy and the environment. I am a strong believer in education being a substantial part of understanding our problem and our solution. So not only should this be applied to certain organizations, but it should be used when doing anything. I focus on being intentional with what I do, so asking “why?” is very important to me. I hope you all take some time to ask “why?” for yourselves. Thank you all for reading. See you all next week. And don’t forget to go head over to my YouTube channel I upload twice a week there. Subscribe while you’re there. And for now, peace. Resources: Image TedTalk