Are You Asking The Right Questions?

Are You Asking The Right Questions?
By
Bill Cottringer

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” ~Tony Robbins.

Success in life, in the three primary areas of work, play and relationships, requires getting successful outcomes to solving daily problems. Successful problem-solving requires creativity. Creativity requires seeing the right perspective and right purpose of what you are trying to do. Getting to the right perspective and right purpose requires asking the right questions to approach solving the problems in work, play and relationships. Are you asking the right questions? Or better yet, what outcomes are you getting with the questions you are asking?

The biggest gains in creativity come about when you can switch from one main front 180-degree perspective or viewpoint in seeing something, to the back 180-degree point of view, in beginning to see the bigger picture or whole field of view. Of course this is not easy and there is not much you can do to consciously speed up this process. It seems to evolve gradually, but once this paradigm-shifting becomes active and you start noticing the connection between your point of view about a problem and the outcome you get from that particular point of view, successful outcomes increase and lead to much more abundance in work, play and relationships.

The best path to increasing creativity is one of questioning the questions you ask when approaching problems in life. This is especially true regarding the questions you are asking in using a particular viewpoint in seeing the problem and hoped-for solution, or in discovering the real purpose behind what you are trying to do.

Below are a 10 examples of shifting questions from ones that tend to lead to failure and the nowhere zone vs. their counterpart ones which open doors to success and abundance ahead of you:

Wrong questions:

1. What personal weakness do I need to overcome to be more successful?
2. What’s in it for me if I do this job as expected?
3. What can I do to change this person from bothering me so much?
4. How can I best spend my money to have the most fun?
5. Why does God allow terrible tragedies like natural disasters, child abuse, cancer, AIDS, rape, violence, financial hardship, and wars?
6. How can we beat the competition and make more money as a company?
7. What is the best choice for me right now in this situation?
8. Why am I not sensing any progress in this project I am doing?
9. What do I need to do to be more successful?
10. Are others more successful and happier than I am?

Right Questions:

1. What are the main talents I have to work at in improving on my way to success, or what situations can I avoid which will unnecessarily exploit my weaknesses?
2. Do I know for sure what is expected, or what contribution can I make in this job to feel good about the work I am doing?
3. How can I manage my own self better, or what approach to this person can I change to improve our relationship?
4. Is my work-play routine out-of-balance, or what are the free fun things I can do to balance my work and play time better and easier?
5. Where does the empathy and compassion come from for us to overcome these tragedies that bring tears to God’s eyes, or what can I do to help out in making a dent?
6. What difficult decisions do we need to make to improve the quality and value of the service or product we are providing to our customers, or do we need to shift focus from the bottom-line results to what we are doing to get those results?
7. Am I seeing the right choices to choose from to get the best long-range outcome for everyone, or what choices might I have, that I am not seeing?
8. What do I need to stop or start doing to get the sense of progress I want?
9. What are successful people doing to be successful?
10. What is the best way to know if I am really happy and successful?

These questions can lead to other even more thought-provoking questions about life’s problems in the areas of work, play and relationships. Questioning your question can be fun, productive work. The main benefit is gradually getting to the right perspective so that everything needing to be seen can be, in better solving daily problems in the success quest we all have in common.

Now see how further you get when you move to a new and unusual perspective to ask a much different question. Start with asking yourself what you think creativity really is? Your answer will probably reveal how much or how little you have and if you aren’t satisfied with your answer, then figure out how to rephrase the question from a different perspective.

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” ~Voltaire.

William Cottringer, Ph.D. is Executive Vice-President for Employee Relations for Puget Sound Security, Inc. in Bellevue, WA, along with his hobbies in being a Sport Psychologist, Business Success Coach, Photographer and Writer living in the scenic mountains and rivers of North Bend. He is author of several business and self-development books, including, “You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too” (Executive Excellence), “The Bow-Wow Secrets” (Wisdom Tree), and “Do What Matters Most” and “P” Point Management” (Atlantic Book Publishers), “Reality Repair” (Global Vision Press), and Reality Repair Rx (Authorsden). Bill can be reached for comments or questions at (425) 454-5011 or ckuretdoc@comcast.net