What’s In It For Me?
What’s in it for me? or WIIFM is an idea first popularized about a decade ago. From business journals to blogs, marketers were proclaiming the way to win over audiences was by explaining your product, service, or idea in the context of the individual benefit the recipient would experience.
Looking at WIIFM from a different perspective, the question can also be a useful tool in personal reflection, self motivation, and drawing meaning from what we do. Instead of asking WIIFM about a future option, we reframe it to evaluate our present circumstances. Asking ourselves why we do what we do can help us connect, or reconnect, with the reasons for our choice. Like a mathematical shortcut, we can identify our purpose by backing into the answer.
Much has been written about being our authentic selves and leading with authenticity. The premise being that first we need to identify our authentic self and then we can build our life framework around it. But inherent in that thought process is the idea that up until then we were being partially or completely inauthentic.
By flipping the script on WIIFM, we can evaluate our current situation to identify what motivates our actions and activities. We can learn by becoming conscious of the circumstances we accept unconsciously.
Once we inventory where and how we spend our time, we have a new opportunities for choice. Do our activities stand up to our litmus test? Are we comfortable with all, part, or none of what we’ve learned? As with most things, it’s likely a mixed bag.
Until we know and own who we have become unconsciously, it’s impossible to become who we want to be consciously.
P.S. WIIFM is still an effective communications strategy. A list of generic benefits can feel like no benefit. Sometimes people need help seeing themselves in the picture frame of what you are saying or offering to understand its real value.
