Posts Tagged ‘blocks’

You can’t get the right answers, if you don’t know the right questions

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

I heard this phrase yesterday, and it reminded me that, in much the same way that they say that when the pupil is ready, the right teacher will come, if you are feeling blocked, try asking  different questions.

Many people get stuck on “Why?”  but this seldom takes you very far.  “What can I learn from this?”  is often a much better question. 

We tend to think that we are at the centre of everything that is happening.  I suspect more often we are bit part players in other people’s dramas.  We might ask “How could he do this to me?”  but a better question might be “What is going on in his world?” 

A great question to have in your back pocket is “Who do I know who could help me with this?” 

Rather than jumping to trying to understand what is going on, get pen and paper and make a list of every question you can think of and pay attention to the less obvious ones.  Another tip is to ask “How would XXX handle this?”  and you can pick any number of people who you think might have an interesting or resourceful approach.

“Sometimes questions are more important than answers.”    Nancy Willard

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”   Dr. Seuss

 

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and out the other side

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

The other day was at a networking event and, as one does, met a number of new people.  One of the interesting things about listening to other people’s stories is that sometimes one sees signposts in them that relate to ones own journey.  Listening to a couple of people there, I was transported back in time about 25 years, because their stories took me back to the beginning of mine.

It is in the nature of journeys that one simply puts one foot in front of the other, and sometimes one has clear views of the road, and at other times, one simply walks.  You don’t necessarily notice that you are making progress or moving forwards.  It is a bit like sitting in a motorway traffic jam, and it is only once one reaches its head and see the clear road ahead that you realise that you have got to the other side of it.  This conversation was like that, I realised that I had emerge the other side of this issue.

You emerge into a new space and new possibilities.  So, maybe you are also emerging into a new space, or perhaps you are still a few cars back from the head of the ‘jam’; you really don’t know how much progress you are making till  reach one of these clear places and look back.  If today finds you with a clear view, take your time and enjoy it and the sense of possibilities. If haven’t don’t despair and just keep nudging forwards

“Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change”  Henry Steele Commager

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee but to enable it.”  Antoine de Saint-Exupery