Big Questions Creative Questioning

[Lisa Peake]

This post by author Gay Hendricks reminded me of our Creative Questioning series with Michael Bungay-Stanier. Instead of creative questions, he talks about Big Questions.

What little I know about Gay amazes me. He has gone through a major life transformation/upgrade, and in this post he talks a little bit about how self-consulting with the big questions helped him get motivated to take action. Good stuff.

 

[Dave John]

That’s a great question on his blog Lisa. His answer was quite drastic(!) but it can apply to so many other things too. For me, the question attracted into my mind a lot of the things I have dismissed as things I will never try to do, things that I would never even put on my someday/maybe list, because I had decided I knew nothing about them and it was too much trouble to find out.

His question is a real door opener!

Funnily enough, driving home a few days ago, a big question occurred to me about the way I do (or don’t!) do things. The question was:

“What am I waiting for?”

Is it permission? Something to happen first? Some unspecified future date to arrive?

What ever it is, a lot of what I have to do is not getting done because I am, fundamentally, waiting. I don’t know what for, I’m just waiting.

Dave

 

[Lisa Peake]

What are you waiting for?

Hi Dave,

What a great awareness on your part! I had to respond because, first of all it's a great question to ask ourselves, and secondly last night I was volunteering at a workshop for youth and one little girl about 8 years old, got up in front of all the parents and said, "If not now, then when?" in reference to how she had learned to "be herself." I am so amazed at how children can grasp that kind of self-consulting, course-altering, horizon-of-focus-shifting question so easily. I loved what you said about waiting for permission, as well. One of the things that attracts me to GTD is that it gives me permission to get things off my mind, permission to be organized as much as I need to be, and permission to fall off and get back on the wagon.

Might I suggest a mindsweep to work with that feeling of "waiting for" something unknown? Just a thought, I suppose the important thing is just being aware that there's some open loop for you there.

 

[Dave John]

Might I suggest a mindsweep to work with that feeling of "waiting for" something unknown? Just a thought, I suppose the important thing is just being aware that there's some open loop for you there.

HI Lisa

The jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin said that when he wants to play at his best, he has to “get out of his own way”.

Often, when I look at a project I have to do, I find that a bunch of “what-ifs”, angst, and “what-others-might-think” gets in the way. It’s like trying to see a landscape through a thick fog.

When I get rare moments of clarity (when I see past my own apprehension) the work seems so mundane, easy, and straightforward. But then the fog of anxiety returns and makes the task seem like a dark maze again.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this - David often says that procrastination is caused by an ability to imagine all the ways that something can go wrong.

I also know that my perfectionism bug is not helping either – I can always think of a million things that will be less than perfect about my work.

I really do need to either mindsweep, journal, or mind-map to get an objective view of my own triggers. Maybe I’m “waiting” for me to get out of my own way, for the inner storm to cease.

Dave

 

[Lisa Peake]

Clarity versus fog

When I get rare moments of clarity (when I see past my own apprehension) the work seems so mundane, easy, and straightforward. But then the fog of anxiety returns and makes the task seem like a dark maze again.

Brilliant imagery, Dave. Anxiety is very much like a fog that sets in, lifts for a while, sets in again. For my money you've already tackled the hard part- that is, you know about the fog and have some ideas and resources for getting above it.