The Road to a Clearer Vision - The 5-why Analysis

Well well well, it has been a while since I last wrote on this blog! As I always said, I can never write a motivational article without having a personal experience related to it! I have been thinking a lot lately about a topic to write about when suddenly I remembered a conversation with my fiance few weeks before. 

The 5-why analysis! Yup! Never heard of it before! We were talking about a certain topic when he asked me his first why. I answered … the second why. I again answered… and so on! Only when he reached the fifth one we came to the root cause of the subject under questioning! It drew my attention and I loved this way of thinking!

“This technique was originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and was used within the Toyota Corporation” as wikipidia offers. By repeating “why” five times, the nature of the problem as well as the solution becomes clearer.

 
Ok so what does have to do with MOD? I’ll tell you. This problem solving technique can be used on anything in this world. And when I say anything, I mean from business problems to social issues, to personal issues. We can wake up one day feeling lazy and depressed, and when asked why? We barely know the answer. Simply, apply the 5-why analysis!
 

Feeling unmotivated? Apply the 5-why analysis
Feeling happy? In love? Scared? Apply the 5-why analysis!
 

Most of the people out there can go into deep negative situations where nothing and no one can help them except themselves. They can think all day about what may be bothering them without reaching the main cause. By simply going through this technique, they can figure it out easily.
 

• Having a bad day? Ask your first why. “Because my boss is giving me hard time”.
• Ask your second why? “Because he needs certain report and I am not delivering it”.
• Ask your third why? “Because I think it’s a hard report to be done before the requested deadline”
• Ask your fourth why? “Because I have other things to do and I’m swamped in too much work”
• Ask your fifth why? “Because I have been lazy all week”

There you go, the main reason of having a bad day is that you already feel swamped with too much work, and you can’t take more tasks. Therefore, you can simply be clear with your boss, and next time learn to do your job faster =)

This wonderful technique can be used in so many ways! In any issue you face… 

Go ahead people, start asking your five whys and enjoy life a little bit more with more clear views ;)