Mark Choon

Here’s a tip when you’re doing any form of planning, goal setting, or even if you’re facing a tough time.

Ask yourself better questions!

Why is this so important?

For goal setting:
When stating goals or objectives, it is best to state as much detail as possible. This is to reduce any ambiguity. It also helps ascertain whether that goal is achievable, realistic, or even if it is something that you want to achieve in your life.

Let’s take an example from a 1 on 1 coaching session I did recently on goal setting.

After going through the initial segment of stating goals in 3 major areas of life, I asked my coachee to choose, out of that list, the item that he wanted to work on. He chose XXX. I looked at what was stated for XXX and I asked a subsequent list of questions:

• In your own words describe to me what your understanding of XXX is?
• Is it really important for you to achieve XXX?
• Is this goal a “must have” or a “good to have”?
• At this stage in your life, how do you think you can achieve goal XXX?
• What would you think could be the possible actions that must be taken to reach XXX?
• Who could you talk to or ask for more advice to reach XXX?
• What are the obstacles in your life right now that is stopping you from achieving XXX?

The list of questions is not exhaustive. I am sure you can come up with more defining questions related to the goal or objective that you are focussing on.

For facing tough times in life:
When having a tough time, what would be the best way to help yourself?
People, including myself sometimes, tend to whine, give excuses, even blame and self bash. However, thoughts like those do not help improve the situation at all. If you ask, “Why did I have to go through this ___?”, or “Why am I ___?”, the mind will reply with the reasons why you are at that situation. Questions like these do not help you to move forward. Instead, ask questions from this list:

• What can I do to improve the situation?
• Who can I ask for help and advice?
• How much time must I commit to change my situation?

Again, I am confident you can come up with many more questions, better questions pertaining to your situation you are in.
The human mind reacts better to questions. In fact, it automatically answers, provided it has sufficient information, knowledge and experience. If it is insufficient, ask yourself if you know someone who does. Ask yourself if you could icrease knowledge required in that area. Ask yourself better questions!

Once you have your questions, write down your answers on a piece of paper. Write it down nicely so that you can refer to it. Put it up on a board on your wall too. The better questions and the better answers will constantly remind you and keep you on target in whatever you want to achieve. As you progress on, you will realise the process becomes easier, the questions become better and the answers become inspiring.

Let me end this post with this question:
Would now be a good time to ask yourself the better question that will improve your life?

 p.s. remember to leave a comment if you find that this post has touched you in some way