Mind Alchemy Day 15
Today we are going to be looking at the questions we ask ourselves day in and day out.
I had originally planned to put this topic into the course, but then took it out in favour of ‘Affirmations’. However as I was reading over the course again I realised that the topic of ‘The Questions we ask ourselves’ is a much more powerful exercise and, is much more effective in changing our thoughts.
Personal development means absolutely nothing unless we are ready to change. We can read a hundred books, attend a hundred seminars, read a million blogs but it still won’t change us unless we are ready to change. A lot of us are looking for answers but we still haven’t formulated a question. Questions are key to solving anything whether it be a mathemtical problem or your own life.
James Dyson asked the question; How could I get rid of the bag in the hoover (vacuum) without losing suction?
Richard Branson asked the question: How can I compete with the big airlines?
Robert Scoble asked the question: How can I change Microsoft’s public image?
Darren Rowse asked the question: How can I make money blogging
Once you’ve formulated your question how do you know it’s the right question?
The answer to that is: when it moves you toward a positive outcome for the good of yourself and harms no other.
I have a friend who has been been trying to get out of his current job for 2 years. The benefits and salary are the key things that hold him there. I have asked him several times ‘If you left your job just now, what would you want to do?’, to this day he still doesn’t know what he wants to do. He knows if he seriously asks himself this question it will be a step closer to making a decision and leaving the company. So if he doesn’t ask the question he can go on with his life and complain about his job.
It takes balls to ask the right question
There are many people in the situation I described above and many people who have still not asked the right questions and deep down don’t want to. Questions drive us forward, right questions change our lives.
Think about this scenario and the questions we could ask:
You’re overweight and you want to lose a few pounds. You’ve lost a few pounds and are quite pleased with yourself and your progress. You are looking in the cupboards one day and see that packet of biscuits that the kids have not seen (rarely ever happens, but it could). What questions do you ask?
Will one biscuit really do any harm? It’s only got 100 calories, surely that’s not going to harm me? I’ve done so well I should have some reward? Are these the right questions to ask.
Any overweight person knows, deep down, they are not. The right questions to ask in this situation could be:
If I have this biscuit will it disrupt my program? Will this one biscuit throw out all the good work I’ve done? Will this one biscuit lead to another one? I’ve done so well, it’s crazy to stop now isn’t it?
Asking the right questions takes guts.
Changing your questions
If you are stuck in a situation and you have been asking yourself questions which are not driving you forward in some way, try asking a different set of questions.
Todays exercise
How to change your questions to change your life
Break your outcomes down
If you have big outcomes, break them down. For example if want to lose 30 pounds, start asking how you could lose 2 pounds. Do this 15 times and you have reached your outcome. Sound too simple, that’s because it is, it’s our thinking that makes it hard.
Think of 5 questions for each problem
We can’t solve problems with the same questions we asked when the problem was first created.
We often ask ourselves the same question over and over again. Ask 5 different questions to a problem you might be stuck with and start answering them all.
Ask questions all the time
Ask yourself questions in every area of your life. How can I make my kids happier? How can I free up more time for myself? How can I work smarter? How could this process be improved? How can I become more organised?
When you ask questions in all areas of your life, you will gradually learn to ask good questions and filter out the bad questions. Practice is the key to changing your life and asking questions is a great skill to have.
What do you want to change in your life today?
Ask yourself this question often as we often get stuck in our life and stop
thinking about what would make it better.
thinking about what would make it better.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow we will looking at organizing your life to organize your mind. Until tomorrow my fellow Mind Alchemists……..
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