Design your life with your questions

Your questions shape your life: 



I once learned that 'The questions you ask determine the answers you get.' At that time, a whole lot occurred to me. Just think that the questioner has so many options to control the answerer and thus the answers.

Ask stupid questions and you get stupid answers. Ask technical questions and you will get technical answers. Ask closed questions and you will get YES and NO answers. Ask negative questions and you will get negative answers.

Example: 'How bad can our climate go?' Answer: 'Yes, it's going to go all the way.'
Example: 'What's the worst that can happen?' Answer: 'That you meet 7 violent men on a dark night.'
Example: 'So what, mollusk?' Answer: 'Hold the bucket you clammy cousin.'

When setting up solution-oriented answers, the questions sound like this:

'How do you think we can get started with climate-friendly thinking?'
'What must each of us do to look after our country?'
'How do we prepare the planet for future generations?'

In this way, you decide which answers you get.

The other day I read a new formulation of the same sentence:

'The questions you ask determine the conversation you get.'

OK. You can decide the answers you get. And you can decide the interview you get. That's why I want to drag it out a little longer. In other words, broad focus even further out. I'd like to take this opportunity to further chunk up:

'The questions you ask determine the quality of your life.'

Some people rarely ask questions. They just quietly walk around and comment. And their comments chunk down. In the supermarket, there is suddenly a man who raises his voice in the queue for the till: 'Aren't you going to open another till?'

If the supermarket doesn't open another till very quickly, then the question leads to one and more comments: 'When the hell are you opening another till?' 'We have other things to do than standing here.' 'Damn it...'

What if the prompt was delivered as a suggestion: 'I have a suggestion - what if we open one more till?'

The exercise naturally lies in how quick the questioner is to formulate a good question and to possibly rephrase the question. And that is the point of this article. Practice formulating and reformulating your questions so that they are positive, constructive and inclusive.

Practice makes perfect

Try using some of these questions and note what the answers will be:

What do you see ... ?
What do you think ... ?
What do you hear ... ?
How do you feel right now?
How did it go today?
What 3 things are you most surprised by?

Link to Infinite Questions HERE
Link til Icebreaker Questions HERE
Link to many different question games HERE



Michael Meinhardt
LEADERSwarehouse.com 
☎ +45 71 92 55 63 ✉ info@LEADERSwarehouse.com


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