What’s in a question?
Well, I think Tony Robbins said it best when he said, “Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Too often we ask ourselves self-defeating questions such as, “Why does everyone hate me?” or “Why can’t I lose weight?”
The thing is, as soon as questions are asked, regardless of by whom, our mind immediately goes to work on them.
It’s sort of programmed into us.
A question is asked, we start thinking of answers.
Good questions beget good answers. And the opposite is true as well.
Over the course of our lives, we’ve all probably had the experience of being asked a good question. Maybe it was a friend, a teacher, a coach, or perhaps a parent. It doesn’t matter who asked, but rather what it made us realize.
Good questions, you see, are eye-opening.
I remember Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, in which his rich dad had him change his words from “I can’t afford it” to “How can I afford it?”
What a good question. Too often we say “I can’t” without actually thinking if we could or not, we simply accept the fact that we can’t or just don’t want to do something but are afraid to admit it.
Most children are guilty of this as a way of getting out of doing something and unfortunately, for many of us, it becomes a habit that continues into adulthood.
I never gave it much thought till I got into self-development, but when I heard my mentor, Jim Rohn, ask some good questions, it all clicked.
Since that time I have chosen my words carefully and learned to harness the power of questions in dealing with clients.
While there are many more good questions to ask ourselves, here are 17 that I ask myself on a regular basis to keep myself on track.
- Why am I doing what I’m doing?
- What is my dream job?
- Who do I want to work with?
- If money is no object, what would I do?
- What unique skills do I possess?
- Who helps make me a better person?
- How can I achieve what I want out of life?
- Where can I find the answers to the questions I have?
- Who can I really trust?
- What have I learned from the mistakes I’ve made?
- Have I done what I want to do? If not, why not?
- What could I have done better? And how?
- How can I be a better friend? parent? business person?
- How can I serve people better?
- How can I improve upon myself? My business?
- If I were to pass on one secret to success in life, what would it be?
- What do I want my legacy to be?
In the past few years I have lost a few classmates and each time they serve as a reminder that we never know just how much time we have left so we should make the most of what we do have.
Personally, I intend to be around for a long time, and hopefully the guy upstairs agrees.
Until that time I’m going to give it all I’ve got. Sharing what I know to clients, friends and colleagues.
This month alone I’ll (finally) be releasing the audio book of iSucceed, my financial seminar videos and giving another financial seminar presentation to a small group of people. And that’s not including the free reports I’m working on.
Basically, it’s all go go go.
And I have these questions to guide me, I hope they are of some use to you as well.
Adrian Shepherd