Goals and questions

I recently had to take my princess to get a piece of clothing for home coming since my wife had an event out of town. Being a well trained male shopper, I set up shop in the food court until she was finished.

There was this mother and her children paying for their goods. Of the three youngsters the youngest one seemed to be the most rambunctious. There was a barrage of about 50 questions in forty seconds. Well maybe I exaggerate a little but you get my point. The mom answered several back to back questions then she just fell silent. She was using the famous big “I” technique. That's right she was using the ignore and they will shut up. If you are a parent you know that this never, ever, ever works.

As I sat there waiting for my princess the same scenario played out again. This time though the mother used the direct approach. “Don't ask me any more questions” Well as you know that may work after the fourth or fifth warning.

It dawned on me that we are naturally curious. As adults we tend to lose that maybe because of those times as children where questions were not encouraged. It turns out that questions are very beneficial for us as adults when speaking of goals. Questions can give us the clarity we need to really hone in and make our goals a reality. I should mention that not just any questions will do but we have to ask the correct questions. Clearly you would not want to eat a piece of cake with a hammer right?

For instance you might find that you have lost enthusiasm for your project. It is a good idea to ask yourself why you are doing it. Now the key is to not stop at the first answer. So keep going until you get to the core of the matter. Think “3 year old child” :-)

As an example perhaps you are doing something to make extra money. You might ask why am I doing this? You may answer to make extra money. You ask why again and you say to pay for my child's tuition. Why? So that he or she could have a good education. Why? So that they will be secured in life. Why? So that I would not have to worry and have peace of mind. The idea is to keep going until you hit on the core value that is driving you. When you find that you will find that it is easier to get motivated to stay focused on your goal.

Questions can be very eye opening and it is always good to know exactly where you stand. When things are a little challenging you can ask how questions just like I described with the why questions. Keep going until you get to the core.

Keep asking those questions like a child would and you will see results. You can get more ideas with my free preview of 37 Power Questions at my blog http://37powerquestions.blogspot.com

Stay curious. Make each moment great.

Oakland Leiws
Peak Performance and Mobile Marketing Coach