The Power of Questions

Hi Everyone,

I had a meeting this evening that ended with us talking about questions and how important they are. Now that might sound like a strange topic but questions really do guide our thoughts and our lives. How? Good question!

1. They determine the direction that the conversation is moving toward.

2. They place limits on information. For example, if you ask a child how their day in school went, you often get "Fine" or "Good." Ask them a more open ended question and youget a more detailed answer.

Sometimes we don't ask enough. One of the people at the meeting lost his cell phone
this week and asked the provider if he could get a free replacement. They said he couldn't. Someone else at the meeting said he didn'task enough. He might have asked what he had to do to get a free one which might only have involved extending his contract for another year.

3. They determine our mood. Ask yourself a question like, "Why does everything always happen to me?" or what I consider one of the worst questions to ask yourself, "What elsecould go wrong?"

The funny or not so funny thing about these questions is that our brain answers them. Do you really want to know the answer to why everything always happens to you or what else could go wrong?

When I was teaching my Strategies of Success class, I devoted a couple of lessons to the power of questions. We worked at coming up with questions that improved our day and the students often competed for the 'best question.

Here are some of our favorites:
1. What am I grateful for?
2. What made me smile today?
3. What cool thing is going to happen today?

Asking questions opens the door to our minds. What questions are you asking yourself? Are they improving your day or adding to your daily stress?

What good questions might you ask? Send me your favorites and I'll share them!

What can you do after you read this that will either make your day or someone elses?
Get it?