Powerful Questions: Looking Inside and Out for Your Answers

Posted by Ann Deaton Share Your Voice

Life is full of questions, and the answers aren't always obvious. I've been talking this week with leaders of all types--CEOs, older brothers, teachers, business owners. They range in age from 11 to 62 years old and I'm surprised by how many questions they have in common. Some of the questions in my recent listening are:

• Who am I?
• What is my purpose?
• Why did this [bad thing] happen to me?
• What's the next step I need to take?
• How can this be a win-win instead of a win-lose?
• How can I stop spending time doing things that aren't important, and make time for the most important things in my life?

Just by asking a question, each of these people is setting the stage to discover their own answers. A question is like a lens through which you see the world. If you begin each morning with the intention of discovering the answer to a question, you will hear the possibilities everywhere. You can look inside for your answers, and you can also look all around you for the wisdom the world offers. You'll hear answers to your questions in the thoughts you awaken to in the morning, in the music you hear on the radio, in the books you read, and in your conversations. 

Some recommendations for asking the most powerful questions to shape your discovery:

• Ask about what you want rather than what you hope to avoid or get rid of.
• Ask What or How questions to move you forward. Who, When, and Why questions are often about finding someone to blame and focusing on the past.
• Be open to unexpected and surprising answers. Keep listening even when the answers don't make sense.
• Write your questions down in a journal or notebook, and write down the answers you hear, even if you don't yet know what they mean.

Here are some wonderful quotes to consider as you ask your questions:

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.
-Decouvertes

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.
-Rainer Maria Rilke

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Ann Deaton I am a leadership coach, and Managing Partner in Bounce. I love to coach and facilitate with individuals and systems experiencing significant change and growth. The clients I work with, regardless of their age or position, are talented and creative individuals willing to look with fresh eyes at their challenges and opportunities, and to take action based on their discoveries. As a result, they find that they are capable of accomplishing far greater things than they ever imagined. What do you want to accomplish today? Who do you want to be?