How I found my ‘why’

If someone asked me what my ‘why’ is, I’d probably initially say my kids. While that’s true, it goes a bit deeper than that – it’s that my kids represent the greatest potential to leave me feeling fulfilled. If I were to really think about it, it’s the chase of that fulfilment that gives me my purpose.

It’s worth taking a second here to contrast fulfilment with happiness. It’s easy to do something short term that will make you feel happy but leave you feeling unfulfilled. Happiness is fleeting. There are some things that I do for fun – and that’s no problem – but there’s got to be a potential for that fulfilment, as well.

I want to be fulfilled in a broad, macro sense. I want to spend time doing things that have the potential to leave me with that feeling and avoid things that don’t. It almost makes me feel anxious to spend time on things that don’t give me that possibility for fulfilment.

For me, that feeling of purpose comes from taking on something and being able to succeed at it. It needs to be something that’s big enough that it’s a challenge, but not so big that it’s impossible.

Finding something that fits into that basket can be difficult. Part of it is working out what you’re good at. Your goals need to be achievable with a little bit of work. If you’re striving for something and you’re not getting anywhere, you’re going to get frustrated – and you won’t find that fulfilling.

When I was playing footy, the challenge that kept me motivated was physical. That was the foundation piece that allowed me to work on other areas of my life that could provide fulfilment. As you get older, you may not have a physical challenge as your main ‘why’, simply because they can be more difficult to achieve. Having said that, being fit is still really important. Things like work and playing with the kids are much harder if you’re unfit. All those opportunities for fulfilment are made a lot harder if your health isn’t in order.

Your ‘why’ is something that’s constantly going to evolve. That’s the approach that I’ve taken – to try and target new challenges that involve my brain and not my body. There will always be new giants to fight and dragons to slay.

Former Australian Rules footballer Chris Judd is familiar with how to get your heart rate up and push yourself physically. Twice winner of the prestigious Brownlow Medal, Chris is an honoured sportsman and father to four children, Oscar, Billie, Tom and Darcy. The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances.