A great QUEST-ion should lead you on a QUEST, in pursuit of something valuable, interesting, a treasure?
I'm on a QUESTion kick these days.
Skilled facilitators ask great QUESTions.
Good leaders ask thoughtful QUESTions.
The interviewers you love to listen to ask probing QUESTions.
Wonderful conversationalists ask engaging QUESTions.
Coaches help you find your way in life through powerful QUESTions.
I am not talking about your everyday questions that can be answered yes and no or with a short answer, like "will you pick up some bread?" or "what time will you be home?" I'm talking about the kind of questions that can change your life, or at least change your way of thinking.
Some QUESTions don't really have answers, but they send you on a great journey - that's okay, too. Perhaps the journey itself was what you needed.
A really great QUESTion should send you on a quest. I love a QUESTion that sends me to a place I have never been before. My coach told me that a powerful QUESTion should send you somewhere - it should shine a light into a room or a tunnel where you haven't been before, and maybe you are just a little afraid to enter, but you are also so intrigued by the possibilities that you take a step and try to see what's there. That is a good QUESTion.
Powerful QUESTions reveal things you didn't know were there. Sometime we hide from questions because we don't want to know the answer - we don't want to look down that tunnel, but we need to. If we get to a scary place, we just need to ask another QUESTion that will get us further along and through to the light. Oftentimes, the only way around something difficult is to go right through it. QUESTions can help you do that.
I am blessed in my line of work that I get to spend a great deal of my time coming up with great QUESTIons and sending people onto paths that are unfamiliar or forgotten or scary or well-traveled. I ask them to follow these paths and bring back what they notice along the way. I know I have asked a great QUESTion when they say "I don't know - I need to think about that - I need to spend time with that - that' s a really great question and I have no clue what the answer is." That's when I know I have sent them somewhere good - they are going to go on an adventure where treasure lies.
I encourage you to find a way to engage with powerful, meaningful, probing questions. Pull back the covers on some stuff and see what's there. Don't be satisfied with the superficial, easy answers that lie near the surface. Be brave - be open to learning - be open to investigating the what, why, how, who, and when of things. Ask them of yourself. Ask them of others. Spend time with intentional, thoughtful inquiry!
What answers are waiting to be found in your life?
