Chuck Frey at the Innovation Weblog wrote a post about the need for an organization to be truly open to a culture of questions if it wants to create an environment for innovation.
That got me thinking about innovation - and in many ways, that's what pursuing one's passion is all about - on a personal level. I don't think the role of the well-asked question can be stressed enough. It's a vital lubricant for a new way of thinking.
A while back I posted about my fascination with the idea that we each create our own reality by way of how we perceive the world. Options, opportunities, "the way things are done," are all parameters that often exist in our heads, not as finite concepts. We create reality tunnels.
Asking questions can open up the door for a paradigm shift in what is even possible in your world. It can shine the light on possibilities that may never have occurred to you, creative ways to apply your abilities, or help you break out of a rut. It can even help you realize that you're even in that rut in the first place.
It's all about taking a curious approach to the world, rather than a rigid, defined, and ultimately judgmental one. The power of curiosity is enormous (I touched on this in my post, "The power of I wonder")
If you don't ask questions, you're going to continue droning forward on autopilot without ever realizing what your world could be.
What kinds of questions? The possibilities are endless. The "I wonder" questions mentioned above are a great place to start, and help keep that curiosity front and center.
Some more question ideas:
* What assumptions am I making?
* What are five ways I could make this happen?
* What am I not seeing?
* Where am I telling myself, "that won't work?"
* How are some ways it might work?
* Where am I not being true to myself in what I do?
* What are some opportunities to change what I'm doing - even in a small way - to better reflect who I am?
* What is important to me?
The list could go on and on (would love to hear your suggestions for valuable questions to ask).
The bottom line is, questions open up doors. You never know where those answers are going to lead you, but the answer is inevitably "nowhere" if you never ask them to begin with.
Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst SM
How about "is there a different way to do what I am doing, and what would happen if I did it that way?" This might help get out of the think-rut and add some creativity that could spread to other areas.
Posted by: Alicia | March 26, 2004 at 11:55 AM
If I didn't have to make money, what would I do instead?
If I won the lottery, where would I live and what would I do?
At the happiest point of my life, what was I doing? Why did it make me so happy?
Posted by: Jo | March 26, 2004 at 05:57 PM
The book "Cosmic Trigger" by Robert Anton Wilson is not only fun, it's a great way to begin seeing your own reality tunnels and how to break out of them.
Posted by: Gordon | March 27, 2004 at 08:34 AM
I have always felt that questions is the key to a great idea and is the more difficult one compared to coming up with an idea. Just the ability to frame a good question would allow one to unlock the creative talent to come up with good solutions. But from experience, culture plays an important role in determining the expectations and reactions of questions asked...
Posted by: Bis | April 04, 2004 at 07:30 PM
Is there a possibility you can tell the future and is so answer this : will I make ti to university when I get older! Without doing bad
Posted by: Banuja | April 07, 2004 at 05:41 AM