Are we too focused on finding all the answers?
As a researcher, I know that this is a controversial thought to express — but (as every researcher knows) for every question that is answered, several more appear.
Isn’t this also true in our own lives? We think we know all the answers…but then life throws us a curve ball. When this happens, we either have to re-learn what we forgot — or prepare ourselves to learn something totally new.
Life is all about asking the questions. Not necessarily the questions that other people tell us to ask, but the questions that we feel on a deep level will help us develop into the person that we want to be.
There seems to be an insatiable need for people to find out “how to do it”: how to create a business, how to build positive relationships, how to be a great parent, how to achieve success in our jobs. We naively think that if we just get the “right” answer, we will be happy.
But life doesn’t work that way.
No two people will be faced with the exact same questions in their lives. Nor will we be forced to confront the same obstacles. While there will be trends that span a wide range of people and personalities, each of us have to find the answers to the fundamental questions that are critical in our own lives.
The quality of our lives is directly related
to the quality of our questions.
If we ask, “Why does this always happen to me?” — our question belies a feeling of being a victim.
If we instead ask, “What can I do to improve this situation right now?” — our question provides direction to our conscious brain and subconscious mind to find a solution.
Every question has a subtext, an assumption that provides the foundation and meaning behind that question. No matter how hard we try, we will probably never be able to answer the question, “Why did he or she do that to me?!” — because we can never truly know everything that someone has gone through in their lives.
Images can be deceiving.
The questions that we are asking right now reveal our emotional assumptions about the current state of our lives. Because life is constantly changing, so are our questions.
So what burning questions do you need to answer?
Dr. Geri Puleo, SPHR, is the President and CEO of Change Management Solutions, Inc., an eLearning and Coaching company focused on eradicating workplace burnout through the B-DOC Model. An entrepreneur for over 25 years, keynote speaker, author, blogger, business coach, university professor, and researcher, you can see her “in action” by watching her TEDx Talk on YouTube. To contact Dr. Puleo, please go to www.gapuleo.com.
A New Way to Work 