Start Your Day With Why

Why ask why? How can it make all the difference? What does asking Why do for us exactly?

The question Why focuses our thoughts on an idea or collection of related ideas. We consider abstract things and force our minds to focus on basic concepts. We might consider the source of problem, the base facts of a given situation, fundamental personalities/quirks, or even our own identity. However, the point is that using the “Why” question is the quickest and most effective way for us to challenge assumptions that might not even know we had! The question “How” encourages our creativity and constructive thinking upon our initial groundwork of ideas & concepts. This is, in every sense of the word, an exploration and a journey; it is the stage where our minds try to comprehend and grasp the possible upon our ideas. We explore and begin to construct models (both conceptual and architectural) as the ideas begin to manifest into our world in a very real sense. The question “What” is the pragmatic and logical part of our grand ideas interface with reality. As each “How” question becomes answered, each part of the model is created and brought into our world (either by creating a physical part like machinery or something more ethereal like an algorithm that processes data). This is where the idea becomes real. In short, every idea (both important and mundane) comes to fruition in a very real way: Why → How → What.

Why does this matter? How can we turn this to our advantage? What influence does this have on my idea?

As we can see, the base idea is the foundation of every real product, system, philosophy, and concept that we encounter. They can be as impactful as gravity or indescribable like love. But as those ideas manifest themselves into something concrete, we ultimately build in assumptions and construct models like scaffolding on a construction site. Our tools that build and support the system result in the actual product. We should ask ourselves: Is there a fundamental problem with our idea? Is it still relevant? Is there some assumption with our model that we couldn’t anticipate? We can see that each stage builds upon itself like the layers of an onion. If there is a problem with our base idea… we need to start with “Why” and not “How”. Often, it is easy to look at the outer layer and notice problems with each part we see but fail to see the flaw in the layers below.

Our ability to consider and validate each stage is fundamental in effective results and change. As you might imagine, this is critical to many fields such as: business, academic research, engineering, arts, self development, and many more. The scope of this concept is nearly limitless. Just the power in that shift as we go deeper: It can be universal to our understand like the change to the theory of relativity from a 200-year old theory of mechanics devised by Isaac Newton, or intimately personal like Jean Valjean’s transformational experience of redemption from a petty thief to benevolent hero in the literary masterpiece Les Misérables.

So this begs the question: When was the last time you asked “Why?”