Searching the Why

Do you have your favourite question to ask? I know I do. It has only one word:

WHY?

I ask this question at work, at home, at social events. Sometimes it’s annoying because not that everyone has a well-prepared answer for my WHY question. People will say to me “it is what it is. There is no reason behind it.” Really? Seriously?Can you please dig deeper and wider? If you cannot find a reason to justify why you make this decision, then this may not be a valid decision.

I know, I know, sometimes you fall back to your intuition, which is fine, but listen, most of the time in life and in business, there is a reason for things to happen and there is consequence to it; if you don’t have the right reason, the consequence may not be the most positive one either. It’s important to ask why, to step back and look at the bigger picture before you decide to take a turn in life or creat your work plan for the new year.

The WHY question is a million dollar coin that has two sides – strategic mindset and curiosity.

A strategic mindset is like a telescope that helps you to see the future; Curiosity is the spark behind the spark.

Growing up in China, we all read a children- version of Cyclopaedia called Hundred Thousand Whys, which answers all the odd questions that a child may have, for example, why Giraffe has long neck? Why rainbow has seven colours? Why do humans only have two ears? etc. The thing is if you don’t ask why, you will never know the because.

So, throw out your WHY next time when you try to rationalize a project, a subject, a decision, a phenomenon, or a behaviour.

People are different. Some people approach the world with a HOW question in mind, and others will ask the WHAT question. To understand how your brain is wired from a cognitive perspective, you can try to do a “brain synergy” type of analysis called HBDI. I did mine and the result is D>C>B>A. Go take a test and you will know what I’m talking about.

I’m on a journey to search the why. Are you in too?