What can a question do? If it is the right question it can change your life according to Mr Warren Berger,
Here’s how he sees it, wise words and I hope they help,
1. What’s my tennis ball? This question is derived from a commencement speech given at MIT last year by Drew Houston, founder of the successful information storage service Dropbox. It’s a more interesting way of asking yourself, ‘What do I really care about?’, or ‘What am I meant to do?’
As Houston explained in his speech, ‘The most successful people are obsessed with solving an important problem, something that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball’. To increase your own chances of happiness and success, Houston said, your must ‘find your tennis ball – the thing that pulls you’.
‘The things we loved as a child are probably still the things we love’ says Eric Maisel, a psychotherapist and author. He suggests drawing up a list of favourite activities and interests from childhood to ‘see what still resonates with you today’. Once you have figured out what pulls you, it’s time for another question: How might I find a way to incorporate this interest or activity – this tennis ball – into my everyday life?
2. What am I grateful for? Self questioning can easily drift towards a focus on what’s missing in one’s life: ‘Why don’t I have more money, a better job, a bigger house? Meanwhile we tend to take for granted what we actually have going for us. But happiness experts say that if you want to find a quick and easy way to bring more positive energy into your life, start by asking yourself the question above – and keep asking it every day.
‘Gratitude is a short cut to happiness’ says the filmmaker Roko Belic, whose 2011 documentary Happy was a study in what makes some people happier than others. The same conclusion was reached by Tal Ben-Shahar, a professor at Harvard University and author of Happier and Being Happy.
He maintains that people who do this tend to be not only happier but also more successful and more likely to achieve their goals.
3. What would I attempt to do if I knew I could not fail? This question, quite popular among risk-taking entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley today, can be traced back more than three decades to American pastor Robert Schuller, who used it in inspirational sermons and books.
How can a mere question help conquer fear? It has to do with the power of the hypothetical ‘what if’ to enable us temporarily to shift reality and look at the world through a different lens.
By asking ‘What if I could not fail?’ we create a mental landscape in which the constraint of failure is removed. This frees up the imagination to think of the most ambitious possibilities.
4. What if I made one small change? As you set out to make actual changes in your life, start small. Wall Street executive Caroline Arnold, author of ‘Small Move, Big Change’ advises that if you focus on ‘micro resolutions’ – small, targeted, behavioural changes – you are more likely to succeed in improving your life. For example, when Arnold set out to get in shape, she focused on one small behavioural change – walking to work instead of taking the train. And she only committed to doing this once a week, on Mondays. Eventually it became a habit, and now she walks to work every day.
So why not just resolve to walk to to work every day to begin with? By holding yourself to that higher standard, your chances of failure are greatly increased. Arnold says. Bottom line: Resist the urge to try to change too much, too quickly. Begin, instead, by asking, ‘What if I made one small change?’.
5. What will make a better story? Life is about choices. ‘Do I take this path, or that one?’ When you come to forks in the road, ask yourself this wonderful question shared by author and consultant John Hagel. ‘When I look back in five years, which of these options will make the better story?’
Why use this question to guide you? Because, as Hagel explains, ‘No one ever regrets taking the path that leads to a better story’.
That’s it guys and gals! Powerful stuff, reminds me of an earlier post about ‘little steps’ or ‘keep your feet moving’ – seems to be a wonderful pattern emerging?