One of the most sabotaging questions to our progress is: What's the point?

A lot of you will notice a pattern. You'll be getting into something new, enjoying it, making progress, and then suddenly some voice in your head asks, What's the point of this?

You’ll feel defeated by the question. You immediately start to lose your interest in the activity. Your motivation takes a big hit. Or pressure builds up, and you start to treat the activity like a chore rather than fun, striving to make progress and “succeed” without really knowing why.

This “What’s the point?” question is like a sniper - as one of my clients called it- something that shoots at you from a distance to stop you going further with an activity. Just as you were starting to get into it, you get hit with this nihilistic question to take you down.

And it’s not really a question at all. It’s a statement: there is no point, or this better have a “point” or otherwise it’s not worth doing.

Notice how this question almost never comes up when you’re doing something unhealthy, like drinking alcohol or binge-watching Netflix. Why does it only come up when you’re engaged in meaningful activities?

Like most manipulative inquiries, this question is a bluff. The voice in your head doesn't want you to actually answer it. If you did, you would find there is an answer.

For example, let’s say you're playing around with art and your brain goes, What's the point? If you didn’t allow the question to bum you out, you could reply, “Well, I'm practicing art. I'm enjoying my life. I'm developing my motor skills. And all of these benefits will serve me well in the long term, beyond just art”.

There's lots of answers to the question, but your fear doesn't want you to answer it. Your mind just wants to put you off making too much progress, because it hates change and unfamiliarity.

Next time the question comes up, call the bluff and treat it like a genuine inquiry. Come up with as many benefits and developmental gains as you can. Write them down. Remind yourself of why this is enjoyable.

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To find purpose and meaning in your life, check out my 3X Confidence Course