Monday, November 19, 2012

The 5 Whys

A few months back I took a class through my employer on Trust Building.  It was an interesting way to spend a couple hours of my day, and there were some really insightful thoughts brought up throughout the class.  One thing that really resonated with my was...

The 5 Whys
 
In the class, we were instructed to ask ourselves "Why?" 5 times before doing something, especially something not so smart.
 
An example:
 
This weekend I am going to drink a bottle of wine, call up an old boss of mine and tell her what I really thought of her.
 
Why?
Well, she was a total biatch!
 
Why?
She deserves it!
 
Why?
Maybe she will become a better boss because of it.
 
Why?
It will make me feel better!
 
Why?
Well, I'm all out of answers.
 
By the time you get to Why #5, you're usually out of good reasons to do or say what you were thinking of doing in the first place. 
 
Other times the 5 Whys might come in handy: thinking of calling your ex, going out drinking when you haven't eaten dinner, telling your Mother in Law what you really think of her, wearing 5-inch stilletos to a baseball game - the list really goes on and on.
 
So next time, before doing something ridiculous, ask yourself the 5 Whys and you might just save yourself some embarassment!


3 comments:

Julie said...

I just applied this to a situation that has been on going with my stepmom and it helped me realize even more that I'd be the bad one persay because she's never wrong!

I'll have to keep this in mind!

Neely said...

This is so true for so many situations!

Amber said...

Haha! This is the best. I will definitely have to remember this!

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