I have two sons that I try to raise to become nice boys with a good education while having a lot of fun. In the evening I tell them to take a shower, brush their teeth. During the day I tell them to listen well, be nice to their mother and to each other. Still they regularly they respond that they do not want to do something like cleaning their room, or finish their diner before getting a desert. I am glad they do not respond yet with “Why should I want that?”.

Both my sons play soccer. I am one of those fathers that played soccer themselves and therefore think they are qualified to be a soccer trainer. Well, someone needs to do it and the kids and parent tell me I do a good job. Of course I did some research on the internet, watched youtube movies and I even attended a “train the trainer training” (nice sentence). When training the kids (around 10 of them) I ask them to try certain exercises like tip the ball with your toe, pass the ball to someone else and wait to get it back. I think you get the idea. During the training I try to combine hard work with having fun. Still the first thing the kids ask is: when are we going to play a match? However, when explaining a new exercise, I am glad they do not ask “Why should I want that?”.

At work I am one of the seniors of the company. I like to mentor/coach my colleagues. I think it is great to see interns grow from still in school “I know the world guys” into men who have actually been part of something. I like to think about the future together with them, and make plans. Talk about what they want to become and the steps they need to take. I discuss the questions they need to ask themselves. I think it is very important to like what you are doing at work. It is hard to keep up if you are not having fun. One thing that surprises me is that colleagues very often forget to ask the question “Why should I want that?”

Why should I want that?