The Power of Questions

                                                                     by Lars Ray

 It has been said that questions, especially those that that make us ponder, have the magnificent power to transform our destiny. The quality of your life is equal to the quality of the questions you ask. For example:

“What am I doing right now that is life affirming?”

“How can I add a little more fun to my life in this moment?”

“What can I do to make my life more exciting?”

 Questions like these cause us to reflect, to daydream and to think of possibilities as potential answers. And then, as they so often do, they fade away as the next urgent matter crosses our path.

Instead of making resolutions at the beginning of the year that I do not plan to keep, I asked myself just two questions;

  There is an inherent power in these two questions, and seeking their answer is my quest for the year.

  Asking them helps me narrow my focus to what I really want, and how I will go about achieving it. They leave little room for fluff or distractions. They help me prioritize what is important and challenge me to be true to myself. They keep me accountable, and inspire me to grow. Answering them reveals my potential and helps me achieve goals that matter.

  When people ask me for assistance in helping them achieve a goal, my first question is what is it they want? Once answered, my job is to challenge their present thought process to consider ideas and options they hadn't thought of, and to help them discover new ways to reach their potential.

  These questions apply to my corporate clients as well. At a time when quarterly financial reports are coming out, the usual rhetoric follows – the numbers are down and we need to make changes. New goals are set, the business priorities are aligned and the marching orders are given. But what if the business direction was set by asking these two questions? What would that business look like? 

  Determining what you want and what you are going to do about it are the first steps to realizing your potential. It applies to your personal life, your relationships, and your career. 

So - What do you want and what are you going to do about it?

Question: What questions do you ask that can possibly transform your destiny?

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10 Amazing Lessens we can learn from Albert Einstein.

             10 Amazing Lessens we can learn from Albert Einstein.

                                        Taken from Albert Einstein, and written by Jack Arnold

1. Follow your curiosity. There is nothing wrong with curiosity. Not saying to check out bad or wrong intentions. If no one sparked curiosity we may not be swimming or flying in planes, exploring new worlds. Mr. Einstein would not have found E=Mc2.

2. Perseverance is priceless. You’ll never make it to the finish line without it. Never give up, never give in to defeat. The old cliché, ‘losers never win and winners never lose.’ Even if you lose a battle the war is still on, get up and keep pushing forward. Mr. Einstein’s theory of relativity wouldn’t have been discovered by him.

3. Focus on the present. Its okay to look ahead, but you live in the here and now. You can’t change the past; you learn from it, you can change the future by living in the ‘Now!’ Your today’s make your tomorrow’s! Give today every bit of attention you can, tomorrow is not promised, you can only hope to see it.

4. Imagination is powerful. When Mr. Einstein was a young boy his teacher thought he would never amount to much. He was a day-dreamer. Today they may have called it ‘ADD’ and required a prescription. He was and still is one of the world’s most admired scientists. Creativity comes from the imagination. Get creative in your thinking; go past the norm.

5. Make mistakes. Thomas Edison made many mistakes with that light bulb; but it paid off in the end. Mistakes can be for the good; they’ll show you what doesn’t work, what not to do in the future, and so on. If the Orville brothers gave up because of mistake after mistake, the airplane wouldn’t have been their reward for creative ventureship. Don’t shrink from mistakes; rather shrink from not trying anything at all.

6.  Live in the moment. Take today for all its worth, make it count. In other words, when you’re at home, be at home, right then and there. Enjoy your time with family. Forget figuratively about work and such; don’t take your work-burdens home for the weekend. When at work, give it your full attention as well.

7. Create value. In everything you do, put value on in. If it’s worth doing, worth saying, worth having, let it have value. Many, waste ‘valuable’ time doing irrelevant things in their life; it takes precious time away from the relevant.

8. Don’t expect different results.

  You can’t plant apple seeds and expect oranges to grow, right? Well, the same with life, family, and your career; you can’t keep doing the same ole’ thing and expect change to happen. You need to get out of the “box-logic” and into the “Sphere-Logic” mentality; change habits, thinking, etc. This takes time and sometimes others to come along side to help.

9. Knowledge comes from experience. Reading books about Disney World and going there are two different things. You have to experience it for yourself. Unless you’ve done it or are doing it, your knowledge is limited. Imagine being on a rollercoaster, feel the wind, the sway and speed going up then down. Now go to the amusement park and actually get on one. Imagination can take you only so far, experience takes you the distance.

10. Learn the rules, then play them better. Learn to play the game first, then modify, elaborate, make them fit your style without breaking them. There are rules go follow, specific guidelines each has to follow or there could be some serious damage or even fatality that can occur. That’s why procedures are written; but then you have the learning process, the short-cuts you can take without jeopardizing the standard, your style so to speak. There is a full knowledge of the procedure now modified to elaborate the same outcome, possibly better quality in lesser time. Always look for a better way, not quicker. I told my kids while growing up “Work smarter, not harder!” I t doesn’t mean you won’t make a sweat, but you will the better for it.