We all have blocks that hold us back. In this post, I’ll describe a technique for unblocking yourself by getting to the root cause.
Imagine this scenario: Ashley has always wanted to be able to paint portraits. She can visualize spending quality time with friends and family drawing them. She can vividly imagine giving people portraits as a personalized gift that will make them feel uplifted and special.
Despite wanting this for a long time, she has never learned.
How to Get to the Root Cause of Your Blocks
Ashley hears about a technique called the 5 Whys that can get to the root cause of blocks. She asks herself five questions that start with why. Each one drills down from her initial answer. Here’s how this looks.
1. Why haven’t you learned how to do portraits? It’s never seemed like a priority.
2. Why has it never seemed like a priority? Work and parenting always seem more important.
3. Why do those things feel more important? They seem like sensible and logical priorities.
4. Why do you think you can only focus on sensible and logical priorities? Those feel safe and responsible.
5. Why does it feel uncomfortable to prioritize something that isn’t purely sensible or logical? I feel like I always need to be doing something productive.
At the end of this exploration, Ashley sees that she has a root belief that she always needs to be doing something productive. And her view of what counts as productive has been narrow. She realizes that learning to draw portraits feels valuable to her and she sees creating joy as inherently productive. This empowers her to finally prioritize portraits.
Aim for Useful Answers, Not Right Answers
The 5 Whys doesn’t have one right answer. It can go in different directions. This happens because your initial answer will vary based on what first comes to mind.
Let’s see how the process might’ve changed if Ashley’s first answer had been different.
1. Why haven’t you learned how to do portraits? Because it intimidates me. I’m not sure if I would be good at it.
2. Why does it intimidate you? Because I’m not sure what all the steps to learn would be.
3. Why aren’t you sure what the steps to learn would be? Because I’ve never outlined that in black and white. I’ve never considered what a specific learning plan would actually be.
4. Why haven’t you outlined a specific learning plan? Because I’ve never approached this like a serious learning goal.
5. Why haven’t you ever approached it like a serious learning goal? Because it seems frivolous, even though it’s not. It’s important to me.
You Don’t Have to Ask Exactly 5 Questions
In the last example, a good place for Ashley to stop might’ve been at her fourth answer: Because I’ve never approached this like a serious learning goal.
That insight might’ve made Ashley realize she needed a structured learning plan, like she would for any work project.
If the epiphany you need occurs before you’ve asked five rounds of Why, then stop. On the other hand, you sometimes might need to ask a sixth or seventh why question to get to the root cause of your block.
Play With This Technique
When people ruminate, they often ask themselves Why questions but don’t answer them. This framework forces you to answer, and that’s where the power is.
Let’s work through another example: Hannah wants to turn her crafts into a business. Like many people, Hannah blames lack of discipline and only ruminates about this. She tries the 5 Whys instead.
1. Why haven’t you done it? I’m not disciplined enough.
2. Why aren’t you disciplined enough? Because I get overwhelmed.
3. Why do you get overwhelmed? Everything feels hard.
4. Why does everything feel hard? Because I try to accomplish everything at once.
5. Why do you try to accomplish everything at once? Because it’s hard to see where small milestones will lead.
Hannah sees her sabotaging pattern and where it comes from. Her pattern is not breaking down her goal into small milestones. Where the pattern comes from is lack of self-trust and clarity.
Tips and Tricks
Follow the process even if you second-guess your answers: It’s important you actually answer the questions, even if you find yourself second-guessing your answers. Follow the trail and see where it leads. You can always try other variations later, but once you give an initial answer, follow the process through in its entirety if you can.
Restart or go back steps if stuck: If you get stuck, go back a couple of steps, or start again. Or, give it a few days, and try again.
Try fictional scenarios: If you want practice, try creating vignettes like I did with Ashley and Hannah. Use those to practice.
Variations can help: Varying your Why questions diverges from the traditional version of this framework, but can produce useful insights. These questions can help pull different insights out of you, provided you answer them and keep drilling down with further Whys:
- Why do you think that?
- Why is that stopping you?
- Why does that feel out of reach?
- Why do you think you couldn’t learn that?
- Why can’t you make progress?
- Why can’t you handle that?
- Why does that keep coming up?
- Why do you think others could but you couldn’t?
We Can Solve Problems We Understand and Make Concrete
Why questions we don’t answer become rumination. Why questions we answer become plans. Most blocks stay that way because they’re too vague and self-critical. They don’t illuminate the path forward. This simple framework gives you a way to arrive at a relevant solution. Because you generate your solution, you’ll feel more ownership of it. Blocks can feel very big when they make us feel stuck. The solutions are often more tangible and practical than you think. By making your specific blocks concrete, solutions will naturally emerge.
