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Powerful Questions - are you asking enough of them?

Guest post by: Colin Graves

Article Overview: Are you asking enough powerful questions? Have you noticed that sometimes we are so keen to help people that when they make a statement or ask us a question we always try to provide an answer? Perhaps, at times, we don't know enough about the situation but we answer anyway. Perhaps they just need some space to work the answer out themselves but we takeover that space. Maybe we would help more by reframing the question into a more powerful question? Equally, perhaps, sometimes the questions we ask ourselves may limit the answers that we get? This articles gives some hints and tips on asking powerful questions

Powerful Questions - are you asking enough of them?

Are you asking enough powerful questions?

Have you noticed that sometimes we are so keen to help people that when they make a statement or ask us a question we always try to provide an answer? Perhaps, at times, we don't know enough about the situation but we answer anyway. Perhaps they just need some space to work the answer out themselves but we takeover that space. Maybe we would help more by reframing the question into a more powerful question? Equally, perhaps, sometimes the questions we ask ourselves may limit the answers that we get?

Consider each of the following statements/questions. How 'powerful' are they? How could they be madepowerful?

1. "I want to go to evening classes but there's no one reliable to look after the children.The situation is just impossible."

2. "I'm always worried about money. I'm worried about it regardless of how much I have. It's just always in my thoughts."

3. "I've moved jobs and I've moved house and now I have no friends and no social life. It makes the whole thing seem pointless somehow."

Powerful questions have a number of benefits:

• They refocus thought, eg from problem to solution.
• They help someone feel more powerful and constructive about a situation.
• They tap into creativity and create options.
• They make a problem feel more like a challenge or opportunity.
• They create forward movement, ie out of the problem state and into solution or action.

Using our original examples some more powerful questions may be:

1. "I want to go to evening classes but there's no one reliable to look after the children.The situation is just impossible."

"How can you get someone reliable to look after the children while you go to evening classes?"

2. "I'm always worried about money. I'm worried about it regardless of how much I have. It's just always in my thoughts."

"What is it going to take for you to feel relaxed about money?"

3. "I've moved jobs and I've moved house and now I have no friends and no social life. It makes the whole thing seem pointless somehow."

"What could you be doing to feel more settled and meet some new friends?"

Food for thought?

How would you reframe the following questions?

1. "I'm really struggling with this job, and my boss doesn't support me. He doesn't even know what I do!"

2. "Why can't my boss help me?"

3. "I am stuck in a rut"

Are you asking enough powerful questions?

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Article Tags: hints and tips, powerful questions, reframing



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Re: Quote of the Day - "Don't be embarrassed about asking "stupi - One of my favorite requests when leading a class, workshop, lecture, interview, whatever... There are no Stupid Questions, don't be afraid to ask - someone else has the same question, but is afraid to ask On the other hand - try anticipate the questions Back to the first hand - Some People ARE dummer than a ROCK
Re: Marketing ideas? - Questions will set you free... And make you Rich [quote="KH_Global":349pds7c]Just ask ask ask. That is it.[/quote:349pds7c]
Re: Contact Information - Another idea would be to have an email form in place to accept "ticketed" inquires (if people are afraid of spammers seeing their email address). However, I hate how some sites try to persuade you out of sending an email by bombarding you with lists of "Frequently Asked Questions & Answers" as I find they're rarely helpful.
Re: Book Review - The Freedom Formula - Hi Shri, Thanks for your input. I have read a bit of the book. Now I say something which many may know, true freedom comes from the true source of Freedom. We read this in Luke 4v17-18. ......has sent me to proclaim freedom for the....proclaim of the Lord's favor. Later it reads, the people were amazed. She mentions God, but what about his son Jesus, who died and rose again. Jesus. Powerful. More and more people asking questions, why are we here and what is the purpose for our life. All the answers are in the Bible, which stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. A very successful guy in the US is Joel Osteen from Houston Texas, with over 40'000 people meeting every week. He has written a book: "Your Best Life Now" Well worth reading, too. Regards Beat
Re: Book Review - The Freedom Formula - [quote="bmueller47":mx7r9l33]Hi Shri, Thanks for your input. I have read a bit of the book. Now I say something which many may know, true freedom comes from the true source of Freedom. We read this in Luke 4v17-18. ......has sent me to proclaim freedom for the....proclaim of the Lord's favor. Later it reads, the people were amazed. She mentions God, but what about his son Jesus, who died and rose again. Jesus. Powerful. More and more people asking questions, why are we here and what is the purpose for our life. All the answers are in the Bible, which stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. A very successful guy in the US is Joel Osteen from Houston Texas, with over 40'000 people meeting every week. He has written a book: "Your Best Life Now" Well worth reading, too. Regards Beat[/quote:mx7r9l33] Hi Beat, I totally agree with you, but we are living in an age where we have multifacet religions and different opinion on who is who in the spiritual realm. It is so amazing that the first book to be published on earth could not be believed by many. I know all the answers to life are in the bible and I am glad that I am one of the believers in the word of God


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