I’ve already written on the English side of this blog about why we shouldn’t get lost in the “How” and why we shouldn’t spend all our time agonising over the “Why” either. Instead, we should focus more on the “What”. Once that’s clear, the “How” follows naturally.
At the start of the year, I want to offer one more question that will save you a lot of time and energy when it comes to getting the truly important things done: What for?
In German, we have two words where English only has “Why”: Warum and Wozu. “Warum” is philosophical, existential — it’s the Why that Simon Sinek talks about. “Wozu” is its pragmatic, no-nonsense cousin. It translates roughly to “What for?” and it cuts straight to the point.
“What for?” gets you to the finish line faster
Ask yourself next time: what am I actually doing this for? And if the first answer doesn’t satisfy you, keep going — but what for, then? You’ll quickly notice that sometimes you can just stop, because you’re only trying to please others or feed your ego, rather than actually getting something done.
What are you doing this for? If you can’t find an honest, coherent answer, you can skip the subsequent “How” entirely — all that optimising and acquiring of skills you’ll never need again. That frees up time for the things that actually matter.
The German original lives at reinergaertner.de, my blog since before most of the internet existed (1997). Translation: AI. Quality control: me, squinting. Apologies in advance.