We’ve all been there before: the boss approaches and asks you to do something that seems useless. You don’t ask questions. You just do it because they’re the boss, and that’s what they asked you to do.
“Why are you doing that?”
“I don’t know.”
“It seems dumb, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you doing that?”
“Boss told me to.”
Ugh. Don’t you see? Everybody loses when this happens! You’re doing something you perceive as useless, so you probably feel like you’re time is being wasted. You’re also probably not putting forth your best effort since you’re doing something you think is useless. Plus, you don’t understand the reason you’re doing it, so there’s a good chance you might overlook something that’s relevant to the actual goal. So even if you’re trying your best, you might not be as effective as you could be. Maybe there’s a better way to accomplish the goal than what you’re being asked to do, but how can you know without having any awareness of said goal?
I see this all the time, and it drives me CRAZY. It’s sad, too, because the solution is so simple: ask questions. Don’t do something without understanding why you’re doing it. The worst reason you can have for doing something is because somebody told you to do it. The next worst reason is that it’s what you’ve always done. If you’ve been given an assignment, and you don’t understand why you’re doing it, don’t just do it: ask some damn questions! You’re smart. You have ideas. If you understand the problem you might be able to come up with some smart ideas about how to solve it. (And if you can’t, at least you’ll understand why you’re doing that dumb thing you’re doing.)
You might be able to do an okay job by just doing what you’re asked to do without knowing why you’re doing it. You’ll probably do a better job if you know what’s trying to be accomplished, but you’ll do your best work if you can somehow find a way actually care about the problem. Mindlessly doing what your told is a fantastic way to be mediocre and not have a satisfying career. Being engaged plays an important role in both performance and satisfaction. You must understand a problem in order to care about it, and only when you care will you become truly engaged–unlocking your full potential, producing your best work, and feeling maximum satisfaction for what you’ve accomplished.
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