The One Question That Can Change & Transform Your Outlook & Approach To Life

And rather than being cautionary and laced with fear or risk aversion, it comes with a sense of childlike curiosity and wonder.  It’s a question that sparks my creativity, wakes up my brain, and the neurons firing.

It is also sprinkled with a big dose of limitless‪‬ thinking, a feeling of possibility, and a sense of expansion, because for me the question opens up the space for possibility and new ideas.

The seeds of such thinking were sewn back in the year 2000 as I wandered into a personal development workshop.

As I thought about their reaction to my idea, I realised that although it is almost the same question, in addition to that foreboding sense of caution, it is also often used in a negative way.  And not usually on purpose, it just seems to be human nature, or people wanting to protect you from making a mistake or making a fool of yourself. It may even sometimes be a reflection of their own fears, insecurities, or anxieties.

I didn’t let their response deter me because I wanted to explore the idea and continue with the brain incubation to see what emerged.

I’m lucky.  I often have a crazy gene that leaps into action which allows me just to put something out there and see what happens.

But what happens if you haven’t cultivated the ‘Take A Chance’ Gene?

What happens if you aren’t lucky enough to be able to wipe other peoples often unfounded fears from your mind?

What happens if your circle of contacts can’t help but worry out loud for you?

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about going out there and being reckless, taking unnecessary risks, or  not listening to good advice.

What I am talking about are those times where your intuition has told you that something is a good idea and worth exploring, yet at the first few hurdles the idea gets pulled out of the ground and ripped to pieces before it has even had a chance to be planted and take root.

Had I not been in the right mind set or frame of mind their one question could have squashed my idea and caused me to pull it up and disregard it.

Just ask yourself how many times you’ve had a great idea which you might have even talked yourself out of, only to then see someone come up with the same idea and make a success of it?

This also tends to happen in day to day corporate life and in meetings; people don’t have to confidence to speak up and then someone gives what might even be an inferior version of their idea and everyone thinks that it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Who Is In Your Circle Of Influence?

There is a metric that says you can determine your likely level of success by looking at the 5 people closest to you.

Whether or not that is true, another good question to ask yourself as a starting point is:

“Does your circle of influence light you up or dim your light?”

If you are in a space where you are able to really shine and be received by those who love to see what you will come up with next and people who support you, and come up with constructive challenge, great.  Keep on sharing.

On those occasions where you find yourself surrounded by less than supportive people, I tell my Coaching clients that they have a several options and choices.  Some of these include:

1. Keep your ideas to yourself while they are growing and incubating.
2. Do your research and due diligence before you put your ideas out there so that you are convinced of their merit and feasibility.
3. Find of new circle of friends or a additional community to hang out with when it comes to creative expression.
4. Learn to put your mitigating risk factors in place and then trust yourself.
5. Remember that although the same species, we are often very different so just remember that everyone has their own perspective and filters on life.

Can This Question Really Change Your World?

I pondered whether this really was a big and life changing question and whether it was worth sharing and Blogging about.

The morning I wrote this post I came across a fascinating interview and documentary about Frank Gehry, one of the world’s most creative architects.  As yet there has been no one able to rival his ‘fluid’ structures and creations.  Both Frank and the film maker even pondered the question who could possibly take over from him when he was gone because his design team, although able to use technology to make his designs a reality, were not yet able to come up with the transformational thinking which creates those designs.

I noticed that the write up of the show posed a question.  It was:

“Why Can’t I?”

And, as Frank explained his thinking he talked about having that “childlike curiosity and courage to take a risk and see how it all turned out.”

Wow.  My clients (and many of my Facebook contacts and followers) are used to me talking about the ‘Speak it into existence’ phenomenon and #synchronicity, and once again this was perfect timing.

To Shine or Not To Shine?  That Is Now The Question

So, if you know that you have great ideas that you think will be of benefit to others I say get out there and share them.

I mean really, what would happen if you did put them out there and you helped a few people along they way and they turned out just great?

There really is only one way to find out, because as far as I’m aware merely thinking about something is rarely enough to get the job done.

Marilyn ♥

 

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