Instead of just asking “why”, you put the whys in 4 categories and keep asking why for each category until you come to a root cause and/or an actionable improvement. The categories:
Materials, Equipment or machines, Processes or work methods, Measurement.

And I found out the (very) hard way that taking care of your body is not something you can just push off till later.

It really allows you to get to the core of the problem and finally viablle solutions.

Who cares if this concept has been taught before (as one commenter commented)? I had never heard it before and will certainly adopt it into my life

I was taught it as part of a “quality learning tools’ seminar for my professional development as a teacher. It’s been in Australian schools for over a decade.

I find that there is a BIG 3 of household chores, three things which must be done every day; cooking, dishes and laundry. If you do each of those at least once each day then you will be in much better (domestic)shape on the weekend. Honestly though, I have three teenage boys who are well over 5 feet each, completing laundry is as nebulous as trying to catch the wind. :)

When my kids were little and could not read, I had their clothes in plastic bins under their beds. At the end of each bin was a picture of what belonged in each bin along with the word. It encouraged them to learn how to put away their clothes. By the time they are in junior high (it may seem like a long time from now but it isn’t) they should be able to do all their own laundry. It is an important life skill to have. One of the goals of parenting is to in some respects work yourself out of a job. By having your kids help from a very young age, they accept participation in household chores as a natural part of living. My sons may not always see what needs to be done (their dad doesn’t) but they help with chores willingly as teenagers. My mantra is ‘pick up after yourself’. If everyone does this, it makes life much easier. Your kids are still at an age where they are very dependent on you for everything but this will all come.

Get a small tape recorder and tape your ideas while your on the treadmill!

Ok now for my laundry…

I do find his examples interesting, as they draw out some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the 5 Why’s system. In the first example, it would seem to me that he skipped ahead a bit… he went straight from “they’re stored in lots of different places” to Quicken, without investigating Why they’re stored in different places. It may be that different root causes might have appeared if he’d taken that step.

In the second example, there’s a perfect example of a different criticism – that this type of analysis is not repeatable with similar outcomes. Different people, faced with the same dilemma, would likely follow different causative paths. If I found myself in that situation, I might find a solution that was more organized around my time management (as that is often a root cause of cutting out exercise for me). It’s not to say that either response is more “right” than the other, but that different people face a problem looking through the lens of their own personal experience. They may not come up with the best solution if they rely only on their own experiences as they analyze root causes.

That said, I find the 5 Why’s to be a great first step when I’m faced with a frustration in my own life, and have passed it along to others who have found it valuable as well. Just make sure you are aware of its limitations as well as its strengths.

I like “the five whys.” Gonna try to use that when I find myself resisting change. Will introduce it to DH, too, who resists change a lot more than you’d expect from someone who grew up in San Francisco. :-)

I think it was just an illustrative example of a common housekeeping hurdle. Trent doesn’t seem to be asking for any kind of sympathy here, just using a few situations in his own life to outline how to get to the root of a source of stress or dissatisfaction in life. Useful technique if you ask me.

You talk about the path of least resistance but you also say that sometimes you need to take the plunge.