7 Whys

            If you have any lean management, business operations, or quality background you are very likely familiar with this notion of the 5 Whys that originated out of the Toyota manufacturing system that became famous in the 70's and 80's.  This notion of asking 'why?' five times is a technique that gets to root causes in a very effective manner.  Some more history on the origination and a summary view of how to employ it is located <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

Well, the ‘7 why’ technique asks why twice more to discern your internal truth and motivating factor that will enable you to resiliently pursue your goals.  Without this clarity of purpose underpinning your daily actions and daily priorities or lack thereof – you are way more likely to wilt under pressure, procrastinate, give up, or just half ass your desired end state.

If you are truly clear on the underlying need you have that is a personal truth – this will serve the necessary slow burn of why you are setting out on the current mission.  I was exposed to this notion of 5 whys back at Babson College when I was a TQM geek unusually interested in the Malcom Baldridge awards.  Then as I got into quality assurance at Raytheon, and later into software quality assurance (don’t call it testing) this notion of 5 whys was many days – the reason why I found some of the most interesting bugs.  Ultimately, the most interesting bugs were based upon flawed thinking that had not considered the gaps of error conditions – the white space if you will.  This is where I attacked many lines of code in my heyday as a QA guy.  Today, I am aiming this same strategy back unto myself when I see that I am stymied in terms of daily advancement towards my goals.

If I am not making daily progress towards something that I have promised myself, this is an indicator of a lack of clarity on my underlying reasons for this mission.  I have stopped saying it is because I am undisciplined slob that needs more judgement of myself…  Instead, it is an invitation to find a quiet time to dig into myself – to figure out why many times I am productively procrastinating on lesser valuable actions that still represent progress – just not the most meaningful progress.

I have been able to blow apart all sorts of procrastination barriers in multiple dimensions of my life by looking to my sons as their father as a source of truth for knocking all sorts of things out of the park in the past few years.  On many days, and in many ways – they are the reason for doing what I do.  However, they are not the only reason – some of my most fundamental reasons are involving a broader view of legacy, and of being able to answer the two questions I’ve been told I’ll be asked when I die.

Someone very close to me, many of that are close to me know who this is, shared with me over two decades ago what two questions we will be asked when we meet our Maker.  You know what – since the dawn of the WWW – these questions have been corroborated hundreds of times by many others that have had similar NDE.  Whether you believe the NDE is a chemical induced flash of hyperbole and whether or not you believe there is such a thing as a God – I ask you this – how can call of these randoms have the same exact two questions asked of them on their death bed as this person that is so close to me in my life?  Prolly just another coincidence, right?  NDE is a whole other topic worthy of a few posts, and you can probably tell I’ve been doing some research on this…

Anyway, my legacy is inherently tied to these two ‘final test questions’ and the answers here form the basis for many more breakthroughs in other areas of my life.  I have found that when I dig deep with 7 whys that the first 4-5 whys are symptomatic and easily arrived at in comparison to the 6th and 7th whys…

Asking why seven times takes a deepening level of self awareness, and it is likely going to be very, very hard the first few times you do this.  I have found on more than one occasion that the 7th why is the same across multiple goals and visions for myself.  When that starts to happen – it unlocks an overpowering alignment in your life that will propel you forward.

I am blessed to have discovered this in a couple areas in my life as of today, however there are still areas that are languishing with old baggage that I have yet to crack open – even with a 4th or 5th why being derived.  More work to land the 6th and 7th whys.  For me, I am still working this level of detailed examination when it comes to my relationship with money and finances.  I know that I need to solve for it, yet I continue to press on without the follow through that I promised my coach over two weeks ago.  I have postponed my most recent coaching appointment with her, as I have languished on my progress.  I have at least 12 pending actions from our last session, and as a coach she is a velvet hammer – exactly what I need in this area at this time.

I promised her that I will complete my 7 why’s on my spending plan and budgetary / finances view of the world before our next appointment which is slated for next week.  Now that I have put it out here on this blog, I am on record in a very public way to drive this home and breakthrough this seemingly last thick wall in my life.  I’ll share my experiences on how the next few levels of why go through.

I clearly have a blind spot in this white space, now I need to shine the light on the bugs and start addressing the bug fixes on this front.  I am still very much a QA geek and process nerd at heart.