I’m a fan of the idea behind /now pages, /uses pages, and /hello pages.

The basic vision behind each of these is that there’s a place on one’s personal websites where visitors can go to see interesting, noteworthy, and useful things about the site’s owner. So, /now pages are where you can go to see what that person is currently up to. A /hello page is a quick introduction, as well as an explanation of how that person likes to communicate online. And /uses (mostly used by programmers and developers) is where to go to see what kind of technology, hardware, and software that person uses.

I’ve been pondering for a while now the idea of drawing from these page ideas, and adding a new kind of page to my site.

Specifically, I have been thinking that there should be a page that contains in one place a somewhat codified version of an answer to the question “Why I do what I do?” (Or maybe, rather, “What do I want to be the reason I do what I do?”)

Derek Sivers mentions that one of the things he likes about having a well publicized /now page is that “It’s a nice reminder for myself, when I’m feeling unfocused. A public declaration of priorities.” He has codified his commitments and priorities in a given season. That public accountability, along with simply the act of writing down the thing he’s currently doing in a visible place, helps keep him on task.


I liked that idea of writing out exactly how we’re are trying to show up in the world in a given season. I’ll make a /now page for myself at some point. But, in the meantime, I have been thinking about the idea of doing something similar, but in a way that isn’t focused just on what I want to be doing “now”, but also how I want to be living my whole life.

What is my “Why?”


To that end, I’ve written and posted a /why page on my website, which can be found at joshmuller.ca/why. It’s an attempt at codifying a few philisophical and practical pieces of what, how, and why I want to show up in my life — of how I want to approach work, life, relationships, faith, the world, and how all those pieces fit together into what I do on a day-by-day basis. It’s also kind of a letter to myself; a reminder of things I think are important and that I want to be spending my life on; a place where I want to hold a few core ideas that I think I’d like to regularly come back to, that I want to continue to be shaped by in the coming decades of my life.


And, notably, it’s not a finished product.

I expect I’ll be updating that page lots in the future. My personal “why” has changed and updated over the years — the reasons I do what I’m doing looks different today, when compared to 1 year ago, when compared to 10 years ago. I think my “/why” page will similarly need updating as time goes on, too. I’m thinking about making a yearly rhythm of revisiting it.

And I’m excited to see how those changes progress over the years!


Do you have anything in your life similar to a /why page, where you’ve written your personal philosophy for how you want to show up in life?

If so, I’d love to hear about it! Please send me a message at the link below!


If not, or if you like this idea, why not add a /why page to your own website!

I’d love to hear about it, too.

Let me know, and I’d share it on this page!