"Why are we friends?" | A Quick Way to #StartWithWHY

4 Apr 2024 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:54

A short YouTube explainer by Simon Sinek (uploaded Apr 4, 2024) describing the "friends exercise" to discover your personal "why": ask close friends "Why are we friends?", resist helping them answer, listen as they describe the value you bring, and watch for an emotional response (goosebumps or tears) — that emotional reaction signals your "why".

Chapters

I can teach you a fun way to find your why right now. It's called the friends exercise. Ask them the simple question, why are we friends? And they're going to look at you like you're insane, and they'll start describing you. I don't know. You're always there for me. I trust you.
Like, you're good to me. And you play devil's advocate. That's just the definition of a friend. What specifically is it about me that I know you'd be there for me no matter what. And they'll go through this a few times. They're going to hate you. It's going to hurt sometimes. Don't help them. Don't let anybody help them. And eventually they will give up and they will start describing themselves. And I got goosebumps. In fact, I'm getting them right now. What they will do is they will put into words the value you have in their life, and you will have an emotional response. You will either well up with tears or you will get goosebumps. And that's how you know you found your why.