Something I learned from one of the fabulous mentors I follow is that you will be more successful and happy in life, as you ask yourself better questions. How is this? Each of us has the answers in her mind and heart. Believe it. They are not answers to mathematical problems. They are answers to the questions you ask yourself in your life. Your full potential is within you and the questions are small channels that allow you to let it out.
The valuable thing about this is to make those questions "powerful" what it means is that they generate a greater impact on you and thus you can extract better resources from your brain and your heart.
So if you were wondering "what's wrong with my job today?" Maybe you come across a list of some things you don't like, that don't satisfy you at all. But look at the potential if you ask yourself, "What am I willing to change to make my career better?" I assure you that, as a first step, this question will not have such an automatic answer. You are going to have to reflect and think… "really, what am I willing to change…". And when you answer it, the question will have made a much bigger impact on your life and career and endowed you with much greater power.
Ready to experiment? Take 15 minutes to answer these 4 powerful questions and reflect on the impact these questions have on your current level of "thinking" and "feeling". Write in a notebook everything that crosses your mind once you ask yourself each question:
Question number 1 - What kind of job do you want to have in 5 years?
In detail, describe what you will do in your ideal job. What kind of homework will you do? How do you relate to other people? Do you teach, negotiate, lead, manage their work? Where will you work (physical and geographical place)? Do you travel frequently? How many hours per day do you work? How is your homework distributed throughout the day?
Thinking long term helps you get out of today's limits. The mind can free itself and imagine more freely because your obstacles and worries are overwhelming you today, but if you think about the future you don't project them (fortunately). So defining specifically and in the highest level of detail what kind of job you want to have will give you direction for your next goal.
Question number 2 - What is preventing you from living and enjoying that job today?
This question is very interesting because it will help you think about what are the obstacles you have today. Maybe you can't enjoy your ideal job because you lack training or coaching. Maybe it's because you think you don't have what you need or because you haven't found an idea to achieve it yet. You lack time to dedicate, money to invest or any other resource. Clarifying what you need will allow you to find the help to be able to destroy this obstacle that is preventing you from achieving what you want.
Question number 3 - What are you willing to risk to have that ideal career?
I love this question and it is the one that will help you the most to the action. The answer to this question will give you your own limits. What you are willing to risk to achieve your desired career goal is what you could use as a bargaining chip. How is this? An example, if you are willing to risk long hours of work or weekends to achieve your dream of a promotion, you can use them to train yourself and improve your position. If you are willing to lose a vacation to make a job change, then you can take advantage of any time of year to make that change.
And what you are not willing to risk, because it is your true limit and it is better to know it to guide each step towards your career.
These 3 simple questions will guide you so that you can reflect on your professional objective and discover what you can do and what you must work on to achieve what you want.
