The Power of Questions: Unlocking the 
Possibilities For Personal and Professional Growth

There is a lot of truth to the old saying, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Therefore, it is important to be
deliberate in planning for your personal and professional success.  One of the easiest and most effective ways to shape your future is to
ask yourself powerful questions
.

In her book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life Marilee Adams wrote:

A world of questions is a world of possibility. Questions open our minds, connect us to each other, and shake outmoded paradigms.

Likewise, Jacqueline Kelm believes that we live in a world that our questions create.  In her book Appreciative Living, she writes, “The internal and external questions we ask steer our thinking, attention, and images in one direction or another which in turn directs decisions and creates our experience”

Most of us realize how important questions are in our daily interactions with clients, friends, and family—it seems we are continually either asking a question or responding to a question.  What we are less aware of are the questions that we continually ask ourselves.  Our internal dialogue exists so automatically that we are barely aware it is happening. What develops are patterns of thinking that shape the way we view ourselves, view others in our lives, and view the world in which we live and work. 

Our internal dialogue exists so automatically that we are barely aware it is happening. Share on X

As Kelm explains, although it is impossible to monitor every thought that runs through our brains, it is possible to become more aware of the question and answer “habits” that guide our lives.   She wrote, “What we can do is realize these thought processes are going on, appreciate the value they provide, and make a point to ask questions in a more intentional way at appropriate times.”

Kelm also believes that what we pay attention to grows.  In other words, if we choose to study success, we will not only find it, but more success will be generated.  Therefore, she recommends the following:

It is important to ask about what we want more of, and not less. Our attention will create our experience, and if we focus on lack, we create more lack.

In addition, Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, Inc., has long promoted the power and value of “strategic questions.” For well over a decade, he has used one question in particular to foster clarity of vision and motivate positive change. In a meeting with his coaching clients, he asks:

If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy with your progress?

What Sullivan has discovered is that this question provides a framework that enables individuals to simplify their complex lives. They gain clarity when they identify what will make them happy with their progress.   Lou Tice, creator of the Investment in Excellenceprogram describes this phenomenon simply and succinctly: “You move toward that which you think about.”  

-Carol Anderson

Author’s Note:  At Money Quotient, we believe in the power of questions.  Questions are not only at the heart of our 5-E Model of Financial Life Planning, but also the key to unlocking the potential in our personal and professional lives.

Therefore, we are excited to dedicate our 2018 MQ Retreat program—November 7-8, 2018—to exploring the many facets of asking and responding to important questions about life and money.  Be sure to click here to learn more, and watch for updates on our speaker lineup.

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