Whenever you do something that relies on previously acquired knowledge, make sure you know the rationale behind each decision. This is especially important if you trust the information that came from other sources, and less important when you rely on conclusions previously established by yourself.

Here's why:

A woman wanted to cool a pot roast according to an award-winning recipe developed by her husband's family. Her husband said that his mother taught him to sprinkle it with salt and peper, cut both ends off, put it in the pan, cover it and cook it.

- Why do you cut both ends off?
- I don't know, my mother always did it that way.

He calls his mother:
- Mom, why do you always cut both ends off ... ?
- I don't know, my mother always did it that way. Let me ask your grandmother.

Mom calls her mom, explains the problem, grandma says:
- I don't know why you do it that way, but I did it that way because it was too big to fit in my pan.

Here is an alternative story:

A more frightened than injured young electrician was brought into the hospital suffering from electrical burns. Shortly afterward his instructor, a chief electrician, arrived. "Why on earth didn't you turn off the main power switch before you tried to splice the wires?" asked the chief.

"I wanted to save time, chief, and I've seen you stand on one leg, grab the wires and splice without turning off the power."

"My God, kid," exclaimed the chief. "Didn't you know I have a wooden leg?"

Additional reading material

• Trusting your previously made decisions
• Challenge corporate policies and procedures
• Other grandma's secret type of stories