The Power of Asking Yourself Questions
The Power of Asking Yourself Questions
“What if…?” — Just two words but the answer to this question could change your world!
Questions form a daily part of life and business. We ask other people questions frequently.
We ask questions to collect information: to understand, to learn, and to help solve problems.
Being mindful of the questions you ask other people can make a huge difference to your life, business and career.
Many years ago, back in my IT sales role I noticed that I often asked clients ‘closed’ questions — these are questions that invite a “yes” or “no” answer.
For example, “Are you ready to start the project?”. The answer to this question provided me with limited information — typically just a “yes” or “no”. A more helpful question would have been “When will you start the project?” or “What needs to be in place before you start the project?”.
These questions are examples of ‘open’ questions which do not invite a “yes” or “no” answer. ‘Open’ questions tend to be higher quality questions because they provide more useful information. From that point I increased my use of them!