because

when i was younger most times when i was told to do something, i would question why i needed to do it. found myself as i got older doing this more & more frequently. in high school i found myself daily asking how chemistry or algebra 3 was going to help me in the real world. as i began to work in the real world - it became second nature that most things at work was rationalized that they must be done - the reason was always because.

in college the same, never was it something i would ever find of value later in life or in business, but rather things found with little to no value rather than things beneficial throughout life. my first career out of college was in banking and it was ripe with incompetent people and the reason to do anything was always because.

a few years back i watched a lecture from some sociologist or professor about how to get anyone to do anything you want them to do. here’s a news flash - you can get anyone to do anything if it satisfies their self interest. what was most interesting was that the word because was scientifically proven to make people listen and believe what they were told, just by using the word “because” people would believe you.

that’s not what this is about though - my fascination lies in the fact of people doing things just because, but mainly at the notion of how infrequently people ever question why something is or why you do it this/that way beyond the explanation because. not everyone does this, but the vast majority do. i found myself recently doing that on a tough situation and then realized my issue.

recently i needed to take care of some legal matters for my companies & after much thought coupled with internal debate it dawned on me to go into a different direction. after thinking of doing that, i thought about why it hadn’t come to me sooner & then i realized that it’s centered around closing off our minds & forgetting about other options - because.

tonight i was in a store and a lady remarked at checkout about how that’s how things were done, when taken to task about it, she claimed it was because it was the way it has always been done. on the drive home i thought more about it & almost any invention in a better way of life, or really anything that has advanced our society has been a direct result of asking why and then how.

asking why of anything always begets more truth than most of us would ever like to deal with, but it’s counterpart how is the only way progress ever happens. today in the tech world companies are valued solely on the execution of disruptive technologies within established industries. the most exciting thing in business right now is that a lot of really great ideas are quickly becoming cornerstones of our social lives.

take for example taxis & cabs, in cities like nyc they are everywhere unless you need one, for years when i lived there i would think man there should be an easier way to get a ride. uber started out as a great idea, has turned the taxi and livery industry upside down. it’s convenient, efficient and easy to use. hailing cabs is cumbersome, expensive, usually filthy and slow.

successful people overcome because they ask more questions, but why aren’t more people asking why and how. this isn’t about business though, it’s about life and life is about being happy. because emphasizes a fact - everyone loves facts, so we accept because as the end of debate over why and we only focus on obeying.

now there are numerous tasks that you do because you have to, for example pay your bills, must be half a dozen ways to pay your bills, but ask 20 people and likely you’ll find several different answers. myself i use the internet to pay my bills, i have friends that still write checks, whatever it is we all still do it. asides from having to do it, it really is a must in life - therefore we each take a stab at doing it the best way we think we can.

some people seek efficiency, others security, but all of them just seek to accomplish the task. the how of what we do lies in our beliefs and our they are based on our values. this isn’t about psychology but our psyche plays a vital part in our everyday life. i’ve thought a great deal about this topic long before the other day - also taking into consideration my own life.

slowly at first i began noticing little things and i’d wonder why i did them this way and how if all could i do them better. quickly i began to see that a lot of what i do was based on the theory of “because” - it was mixed with routine, became a habit and manifested into a staple of life. a large part of what i realized also was that doing things because you thought it was right, or because that’s the way it was always done didn’t make sense at the end of the day.

you see people have always argued that business and life are two completely different things - i disagree. they are almost parallel - in business the end game is profit, in life the end game is happiness. some may argue that money is happiness, but true happiness is freedom and time. changing the way i’ve done things has helped me out in some good ways, but they will become habits as well.

recently i encountered a situation in business where the because of something was related to an attorney wanting something to be. now while i understand most people aren’t fond of lawyers - i’m no different, but i’ve realized they are just doing their job like any of us. in my prior world we called the lawyers in to handle the paperwork and that was it.

working with lawyers and having to explain what to do is exhausting; either way this one attorney has found himself on the wrong end of the because, specifically because it has to do with my money. i can’t think of a worse position to be in than standing between my money and myself - i took his because and laughed about it.

my hope for this lawyer is that he will understand that my cause is far more important that his because and the last thing he will be questioning is what the fuck just happened. guess the lesson here guys is that because can be a dangerous question not to ask and like most other things vice versa.

until then,

rodney