For those passionate about questions there is a good chance that you have been told to avoid asking a why question. For starters it can often get people offside. If asked in a derogatory rather than inquisitive tone you may well create a person to feel defensive and challenged and they feel like they have to justify themselves.

In addition, we should also remind ourselves that why questions often uncover the reasons why. Whilst insightful, this can frequently lead to excuses being formulated and people then being stuck and not taking action.

So, let’s explore this why question further, whilst there is some rationale for potentially avoiding the question, how about we dig a little deeper and enlighten ourselves as to the ‘why’ we are asking ‘why’.
If we are simply asking it to find out the reason and then it is left as awareness then this is where it can become problematic. The reason I can’t do it is because I’m not confident. Period. Stuck!
BUT if we ask the why question to find out the reason and with the intention to change or challenge it, that becomes a very different proposition. In other words, once we have the reason why, we progress further by asking another question like, so now that you have that awareness, what are you going to do?

This becomes far more positive because we are using the awareness of the reason to then be challenged with an intention to move forward.

What’s your reason for asking why?