Why You Should Ask Yourself This Question 5 Times
Ask yourself this question 5 times. This trick is how experts solve difficult problems quickly.
It turns out, there's a quick and effective technique that experts use to solve problems. What's great about this technique is that it works for business problems just as well as it works for personal problems. It's a simple question but you have to ask yourself this question 5 times.
Ask yourself this question 5 times:
- Why are you doing all of this work?
- Why is that?
- And so why would that be?
- Why might you think that?
- Why again?
Seems ridiculous to ask yourself "why?" five times, but understanding the WHY behind your work is important.
This is the fastest way to move from surface curiosity to a root cause of a problem. This technique is well known in productivity circles like SixSigma.
One of the things I love about this is that it requires no math and it will help you call out the relationships between the problems you face.
It will also support your motivation, a constant daily battle for each of us. Here's a post I wrote about using the 5 Whys to solve business problems with a few extra tricks thrown in.
Sure, you don't need a great "why" to make money or do the things you want, but you do need a strong "why" if you want to live a life of social impact and purpose.
Audit your "why" and you will increase the chances of living a regret-free, purpose-driven life.
Audit your "why" in other areas of your work and life and you will get down to the real issue you need to address.
2 Minute Action
Ask yourself "why" 5 times.
You might be surprised at what you find.
If you have trouble doing this by yourself, enlist a friend to help push you.
No excuses.
This Bothered Me So Much . . . I Had To Share It
I’m up at night thinking about it.I’m working all day thinking about it.I can’t stop myself from talking to others about it.It’s the one factor that matters more than anything else.
It matters more than hard work, aptitude, attitude, or background.
It’s how much you care.It’s my life’s work to help people care more.If people like you just care about other people and the way you spend your time, everything else has the potential to fall into place.Caring means treating others with respect even when they disrespect you.Caring means creating or discovering a mission and working toward achieving it.Caring means doing the right thing even when others around you disagree or reject you.
2 Minute Action
Take your pick. Any of these 2-minute actions will get you started on exhibiting the #1 sign of a person who cares . . . Action.- Do a quick time audit of your day and cut out something non-essential. This is harder than it sounds.- Call/Email/Text someone you haven’t gotten along with recently. Reach out with empathy and gratitude. Refrain from expressing your side and just listen to understand.- Write down some of your goals and ask how these will help others. If they don’t inherently help people, how can you make it so that you both get what you want?
Whatever You're Doing Right Now, You're Paying For It With Your Life
No one knows how much time they have left, but most people want to do something important.Where's the urgency?I have an estimated count of how much time I've got left. I call it my "Death Bed Timer."It's a little scary, and that's the point.I look at this quickly shrinking number on a regular basis for 2 reasons:
- To desensitize myself to my fear of dying.
- To motivate myself with the urgency of impermanence.
Whatever you're doing right now, you are spending your life on it.Maybe it's just temporary right now, but maybe it's a habit.Whatever it is, you will NOT get that time back.Think like this and live a life of purpose.We all need your help out here.Let's do this.
2 Minute Action
What's your most important task today?Work on it right now for 2 minutes. Set a timer. No excuses.If you can read this for 2 minutes, you can spend the next two minutes on this.Everyone has 2 minutes.Start now.