Shifting from why to why not

Ever since I can remember I’ve been asking why. 

I was probably not as compliant as my parents would have liked when every decision they made was met with one of these whys.

At school, I got frustrated and rebelled when teachers couldn’t give a clear reason why we were doing something. 

I found it hard to agree on the rules of a game of life that were predefined without understanding the game.

I studied philosophy at Uni because I thought it would give me answers… but I found I had a million more questions. 

I ended up working in the world of design because it seemed like a place where you could ask why. It made sense strategically to understand user needs and problems so we could design better solutions with a clear reason.

But over the years personally, and with my coaching clients I can see that asking 𝘸𝘩𝘺 can often become a roadblock to creativity and action.

When the answer is hard to reach it - why should I do this? It can slow you down and stop you from taking any action or making any changes.

Sometimes asking why can allow you to talk yourself out of something a lot easier than why not.

When it comes to creativity or starting a creative project, I’ve decided to stop asking why and start asking why not.

The stories we create seem less powerful from this angle. Ideas become less serious and binary - good or bad - and more playful. The only need is to be creative, there’s no other meaning or why beyond that. 

So 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 start something creative just because? 

Maybe just showing up and playing any game is more fun than not.

Now I ask myself “Is anything terrible going to happen? No… then why not?