Ask why 5 times

I’d much rather be doing this.

I’m Bill Murphy Jr. Welcome to Understandably, my new regularly published email about “the story behind other stories.” I hope you will consider subscribing!

This is one of those deceptively simple, problem-solving, life-hacking things that seems too good to be true--until it actually makes sense and pays off.

It has its roots in the management practices at Toyota, and it's examined in a book called Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg of The New York Times called

The crux of the idea is a system called "the Five Whys." As Duhigg explained in 2016:

In the 1980s, the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota opened its first American plant in Fremont, Calif. The factory was guided by a management philosophy known as the Toyota Production System, which at its core holds that even the most complex problems have simple causes - if you know how to look for them.

Mainly, you look for them by asking "why" enough times.

Here's an easy example--Duhig…