Earlier today, I was talking to someone about a system I follow for ensuring I stay in touch with acquaintances, and he asked me why I stay in touch with them in the first place. 

And I realised I didn't have a very coherent answer to it. 

The question 'Why?' has always been a fantastic one in any and every situation to consider. It has the ability to bring focus to the essential like a knife cuts through a cake. 

Having a convincing answer to why we do anything that we do (convincing to ourselves and not to anyone else) determines how strongly we persevere in following through. 

A more convincing answer gets us to stick it out through any period of hardship while a not so convincing answer will have us giving up at the first sign of trouble. 

Someone who has even a single thing in their life with a highly convincing answer will go far in that specific aspect than someone who doesn't. This is what you see in most successful people from athletes to artists to entrepreneurs. 

Asking this question helps strip down a lot of things that aren't necessary.

Typically, we strive to get our hands on more - more things, more activities, more people - when we don't have a strong answer and each new acquisition is a temporary reprieve from having to persevere with what we already have, which we fail at because of a weak answer to the why.