The 5 Whys technique was developed in the 1930s by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the automotive manufacturer Toyota Industries. The idea is simple: ask "why" 5 times, until you get to the root cause of your issue. It's not dissimilar to a kid who exasperates their parents by continually repeating "why"... but the benefits can be transformative!The goal of the 5 Whys problem-solving method is to reach the root cause of an issue faster — and to drill down to countermeasures.Solutions solve for symptoms, and they might be short-term fixes; whereas counter measures propose a preventative response to the problem — ensuring it doesn't recur in the long term.How to implement the 5 Whys technique to get to the root cause of your productivity issuesYour goal is to find the root of your productivity issues.Your starting point is defining the problem: "I'm always busy, but I don't feel productive with my time."Rephrase the problem you've just defined as a "Why" question.WHY #1: Why am I always busy but I don’t feel productive with my time?"Answer: Because I get distracted easily by email.WHY #2 Why do I get distracted easily by email?Answer: Because I am constantly tempted to check my email, rather than work on important projects.WHY #3 Why am I constantly tempted to check my email, rather than work on important projects?Answer: Because I want to be very responsive.WHY #4 Why do I want to be very responsive?Answer: Because I don't want to miss an important email, and have urgent messages sitting unread.WHY #5 Why don't I want to miss an important email, and have urgent messages sitting unread?Answer: Because I don't want my manager or colleagues to think I'm not doing my job effectively.Note: You don't have to stop at 5. If you think you can keep going deeper, do.Now that you've established the root cause of your low productivity — your worries about hitting the quarter's difficult goals — you can set countermeasures to avoid feeling blocked and distracted by the pressure of these goals.Through the 5 Whys process, you can identify the root cause of your productivity issue, as well as secondary factors.In our example, email isn't the root of the productivity problem, but it's a distracting time waster.How do you avoid time-wasters?Even with a crystal-clear understanding of the root causes of your productivity problem, time-wasters can consume your time and derail your progress.For example, social media can be a delightful break for your brain... but sometimes you fall down a rabbit hole of memes and cute cat videos, and spend much longer than you intended. We spend an average of 145 minutes (or almost 2.5 hours) per day on social media, and even more, hours checking and responding to email.The result? You're under even more time pressure, and further away from achieving your goals. Here's how to squash 6 common time-wasters to boost your productivity. see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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