How to find your why

Why communicating your why is so important

Why communicating your why is so important

When the ladies attended Media Magic, in Tulum (Mexico) last July, only 33% of them knew their why

I know this because of the results they got from my PR readiness assessment

This means that, at that point, they did not know what kind of impact they wanted to maķe in the world through PR

Which is an issue because not only does knowing your why keep you going when life be life-ing, in general, it helps you to remain steadfast ìn the face of having pitches ignored, rejected or ghosted

By the end of the retreat, though, I had them assess themselves again and the results revealed that 100% of them knew how to do this. What led to this success was…

Why you need a North Star

Why you need a North Star

Years ago, my good sis Michelle told me I have the gift of communication

When she said this, I thought, “Yeah, I have a way of communicating, I can speak to others, teach, write, and use my gifts to convey big ideas”

But what I’ve also come to realise over the years is that my gift of communication fuels my curiosity about language

Hi, I’m Nina, and I’m a word nerd

I get curious when I hear or see a word that I’ve never come across before or suddenly have the urge to know where the origins of a phrase comes from

Even if I’ve heard it lots of times in the past

One such phrase is “North Star”

We often hear people talk about something being their North Star

I’ve always understood what this phrase meant as the thing that gives us purpose or fuels us towards a particular goal

Or our why

But, recently, I’ve been curious about why we say “North Star” in the first place

Here’s what Google told me:

How to build and keep momentum

How to build and keep momentum

Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed on the Melanted and Proud podcast. It was a great experience that allowed me to pause, sit down, and reflect on my journey so far in terms of the challenges I’ve overcome to get to where I am today

From launching The Far Above Rubies Collection in its first iteration as a blog, to then learning PR to get more eyes on it, to coaching people on PR, and, ultimately, turning it into a luxury retreat business

For example, I’ve experienced the death of family and friends, my parents have been sick (sometimes at the same time and sometimes right before a launch). I’ve also experienced health issues, depression, anxiety, and feeling unmotivated. I’ve had to navigate the loss of friendships, money being funny, limiting beliefs, and, at times, family and friends not seeing the vision

Although I didn’t get to go through everything, just talking about and looking back on some of the things I’ve achieved, I realised that I’d accomplished so much while navigating life

A question that stuck out to me was: “What kept you going, and why haven’t you given up?”

To which I answered:

How to find your why and achieve your PR goals

How to find your why and achieve your PR goals

Last week we talked about the fact that despite what we’re commonly told, simply setting your goals or having a clear vision for what you want for 2024 isn’t enough to keep you on track

Remember that,? If not, will you check that post out here?

Which is why as you set your goals or create that vision board, it's important to consider the why behind every goal

Not sure how?

The 5 WHYS Technique is one of my favourite journaling prompts because it has helped me and my clients stay consistent and accountable with achieving our goals - even when motivation runs a little dry

So, whether you want to start or grow your business, get PR success, or travel the world - the 5 WHYS technique can help you identify the core reason behind your aspirations. What’s great is that it’s super simple. Just grab a pen and notebook and ask yourself why you want to achieve a particular goal. Ask yourself this question 5 times to get to the core why.

Here's an example of how that works in practice...

How to do purpose-driven PR

How to do purpose-driven PR

2 weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending Tiwa King’s first in person event since the "panoramic". Even more special, though, is that this was actually the first time that we had met in person full stop.

This, despite the fact that we live in the same city and had spoken virtually and on the phone (for hours at a time) prior to this day.

Tiwa’s event (The Authenticity Checklist) was a full circle moment in a lot of ways because of:

#1 The nature of the event itself

I first encountered Tiwa at TEDx Peckham 2018. I use the word “encounter” because we didn’t meet. She sang “Glory” as I sat there transfixed by the power of her performance.

At the time, I had a vodcast in which I would interview inspiring Christian women in business. I made up my mind, right there and then that I would reach out to her. Then...

She ghosted me...

Or so I thought...

Lessons from Zipporah on why your "why" is important

Lessons from Zipporah on why your "why" is important

So last week, we talked about how to start networking from scratch in order to bring our God-given dreams to fruition. The first (of the five) steps that I gave was to “know your why” because, when it comes to building profitable relationships, you must first establish a firm foundation. This is why in my High Visibility Hexagon, I call this initial step the "Firm Foundation Framework".

When it comes to putting ourselves our there (or our networking and PR efforts), we already talked about the fact that knowing your why will keep you motivated through hard times but it goes even deeper than that for 2 very practical reasons- as detailed in the video below.

Lessons from Rachel and Leah on how to find your why

Lessons from Rachel and Leah on how to find your why

So…I have a confession to make, lovely..

When it comes to new year, I can be a bit of a grinch. To the point that, last year, I wrote an article for TEDx entitled “Looking beyond new year”. To quote from it, here’s why:

I don’t believe in the magic of new year! Do I believe it’s a great time for reflection? Yes, and I do so around this time! Do I believe it’s a great opportunity to set some new intentions and goals? Absolutely, I always set New Year’s resolutions! But, when I say that I don’t believe in the magic of new year, I mean that I do not believe in the myths surrounding it such as that, in and of itself, a new year will:

Wipe the proverbial slate clean, getting rid of all the challenges and issues that people currently face in life

Mean that no new challenges and issues will pop up, thereby allowing them to have a flawless and “successful” year overall.

I also don’t fall into the category of people who believe that, just because they’ve set a goal or intention for the new year, it will automatically come to pass (regardless of the aforementioned challenges and issues).

So what this means is that when people are saying things like:

  • “This is going to be my year”

  • “New year, new me”

And more around this time of year, it absolutely annoys me!

You see things don’t change just because you want them to. At least one, if not all, of the following must take place in order to achieve your goals/new years resolutions:

  • Developing the right mindset

  • Taking consistent action

  • Practicing successful habits

  • Having a strong enough why so that when the going gets tough, you won’t give up

It’s that last point that I’m going to be focusing on today as I discuss how to find the why behind your goals (using Rachel and Leah as an example of what NOT to do) because I truly believe it will be as fundamental to your journey as it has been to me so far.

SOUND GOOD LOVELY?

Great! Do whatever it is that you need to do to get comfortable so you can watch and enjoy the video below.