The Secret to Getting to the Root of a Problem

There are a lot of things that can get in the way of hard work.

For example, I love to get my personal training done first thing in the morning (like 5 AM-sh early). If I wait too long in the day, my motivation to go for that run or hop in the pool almost completely dissipates.

But sometimes things come up and I don’t get that morning training session in.

How do you get ahead of those things that get in the way of hard work? Here’s a little trick I use - it’s called the Rule of 5 Why’s.

Let’s say, for example, you planned on getting up early to get that 5 mile run in and you just didn’t get yourself up. Something broke down and the outcome was not what was intentionally planned. Ask yourself: “what is the problem?” The answer in this situation: “I didn’t get my training in today?” Once you have the problem, take yourself down a string of asking yourself “why?” five times.

I didn’t get my training in today. Why?

Because I didn’t get up this morning on time. Why?

Because I hit the snooze button several times when my alarm went off. Why?

Because I was absolutely exhausted when my alarm went off. Why?

Because I went to bed last night at midnight rather than 10pm. Why?

Because I waited too late to complete that work assignment I was obligated to complete.

There is the root of your problem right there. Rather than target the first WHY of your problem, asking yourself “why?” at least 5 times should really get you to the true root of the problem.

So, how do you ensure that you get your training in? Make sure you schedule your work assignments better and prioritize things better in your daily life. BOOM!

Now, the other thing about the 5 Why’s is that it can also help you to let go of guilt when things pop up and you can’t get that training in because of something even more important. Let’s face it - triathletes are typically type A personalities and we beat ourselves up when we don’t blindly follow every order from our coach. Just like being inconsistent is a problem, being too on-point and hard on one’s self for every day life getting in the way can be detrimental as well.

Let’s look at an example of the 5 Why’s again:

I didn’t get my training in today. Why?

Because I didn’t get up this morning on time. Why?

Because I was exhausted when my alarm went off. Why?

Because I got to bed a couple hours later than normal last night. Why?

Because my brother came to visit last night and we stayed up late talking. Why?

Because he’s having trouble with XYZ and wanted my support.

My training is really important, but there are things that are much more important in life. Asking ourselves “why?” five times when we have something in our day to day training breaks down will help keep us on the right side of the mental fence. When we get down to the root cause of what’s getting in the way of our hard work, we can either make decisions and changes to our habits and routines to help us get that hard work done, or we can let the guilt go by discovering that something else is really more important than training in that moment.