Single-Tasking: Antidote to Multi-Tasking

by Janet M. Shlaes, PhD

We live in a world of multiple simultaneous demands for our attention. The concept of “multi-tasking” was created in order to turn our constant state of agitation into the pretense of a skill. Most likely, you’ve been on both sides of the multi-tasking table, as participant and recipient. Neither side feels particularly satisfying. The undesirable impact of multi-tasking is that you are never fully present to anything or anyone. Although multi-tasking provides the “illusion” of productivity, the cost in terms of stress level and relationships is exceptionally high.

In service of experimentation and moving outside of my comfort zone, I embarked on the mission of “single-tasking” for one week. I discovered that breaking my multi-tasking habit was a lot more challenging than anticipated. Single-tasking required an extremely high level of self- and other-awareness, along with the ability to be fully present to whatever I was doing at any moment in time. It meant that when I was reading, I was just reading; when I was talking on the phone, I was just on the phone and wasn’t scanning my email, making coffee, reading reports or writing; when I was listening to music, I was just listening to music; when I was with someone, I was fully present to what he / she was saying and not going over a mental “to-do list.” Single-tasking also meant that I increased my awareness regarding when I wasn’t present in the moment and the potential impact of this state on others; it also meant intentionally choosing to refocus on whatever was happening in that particular moment. 

My discoveries resulting from my single-tasking experiment were powerful. Time seemed to slow down and my senses intensified. I noticed things that previously would have been beyond my conscious awareness: the radiance of whatever was occurring in a particular moment; the sounds and patterns of various types of music; the unique magnificence of the person I was speaking to; the secrets revealed in my familiar urban landscape; the joy present in doing previously insignificant household tasks. An added bonus was how quickly I was able to complete my actual “to-do” list.

I invite you to take on the challenge and gifts of single-tasking and enjoy the experience of being fully present. You have everything to gain and little, if anything, to lose.

Janet

Choose Wisely

by Janet M. Shlaes, PhD

Your current reality results from your prior choices. Every day, you are faced with a myriad of choices, from comparatively “simple” ones regarding self-expression, where to live and work, money and relationships, to the more complex ones regarding ethics and morality. What many often fail to realize is that seemingly simple choices turn out to be significant life altering ones in the long-run.

If you are like most individuals, many of your life choices tend to be more reactive than proactive. Do you usually make decisions guided by self-awareness, intention, values and principles? Or, do you often make “decisions by default,” via not choosing anything or following the path of least resistance? Not making a decision often releases unanticipated and often unwanted outcomes. Most “decisions by default” result from fear, fear of the unknown, what others will think or feel, or fear of undesired consequences.

Although it may initially seem easier to reactively choose, you may wind up with someone else’s version of who you should be and what you should do. Consciously choosing requires courage and faith – the courage to mindfully act from your highest values and faith that things will work out in the long-run.

Your current reality results from your prior choices. What will you choose today? What future reality will you set into motion today?

Janet

For related posts, check out the following links:

Kindness

Gratitude

Asking the Right Questions

Asking the Right Questions

by Janet M. Shlaes, PhD

The questions you ask determine your reality and your results. What types of questions do you regularly ask? Do they tend to get you the results that you truly want? The types of questions you regularly ask determine your focus, the information you seek and take in, your overall experience in the world and, most importantly, your results. Leaning to ask the right questions is both a process and an evolutionary journey. Asking questions with conscious intention can result in creativity and next level results. This bold claim holds true across professional and personal realms. A few of my favorite questions that lead to collaboration, enthusiasm, creativity and results include, but are not limited to, the following questions.

If anything were possible, what result would we want to accomplish? This type of question immediately puts us in a “visioning,” rather than a “problem solving” state of mind. The question doesn’t ignore that problems exist; it powerfully puts people in the space of what might be possible when everyone is committed to the same outcome goal. I have personally found that this question is highly effective in both the professional and personal realms and fully aligns with the Appreciative Inquiry model (one of my favorite approaches to creating). An added bonus is that problems, potential and imagined, tend to be eliminated or solved with this approach.

What type of discussion would be the best use of our time? Another version of this is “What type of conversation has the best chance of getting us what we want?” These types of questions are useful when a conversation progresses into a conversation of who is right or wrong or a “blaming” conversation. Asking these questions or some other version of them empowers participants to step back and reboot the conversation to one that has a higher probability of moving the project and/or the relationship forward.

The questions you ask determine your reality and your results. What types of questions do you regularly ask? What types of results do you want to achieve?

For addition insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Defining Moments

Optimal Performance Fundamentals 
Making a Difference

Empty Space: The Gateway to Creativity and Presence

Written by Janet Shlaes, PhD

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” ~ Edward de Bono

What do you do when faced with the reality of empty space, dedicated time without external distractions? If you’re like most people, truly empty space might leave you feeling a bit edgy, wondering what you might be missing. What you might not fully realize is that this selfsame empty space is essential to the creative process. The most powerful insights and inspired musings take place in the empty spaces where we are not faced with a myriad of external diversions.

Please be assured that I am not suggesting that we give up any of the gifts of technology, beauty, nature and relationships. What I am suggesting is that when you intentionally incorporate empty space into your day, you will ultimately be more fully present to every aspect of your life. Commit to incorporating a bit of empty space into each day and just notice what it feels like. Start small, a mere five minutes to begin with and expand your empty space over time. Some possibilities include:

1.     Walking to your next destination without looking at or using your smartphone,

2.     Setting aside dedicated time each day to just think about whatever comes to mind,

3.     Journaling about whatever comes to mind in the moment,

4.     Formally scheduling empty space time in your calendar.

What are some gifts that might wait for you via incorporating some empty space into your life?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

If You're Asking the Question
Quitting
Joy of Single Tasking

Expectations and Next Level Results

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.”

~ Peter Drucker

Our expectations provide us with two major functions: the generation of aspirational goals and comparison check points to guide us toward accomplishing these goals. Expectations, when used in a visionary strategic manner, ultimately serve to expand your competence and accelerate your accomplishment of targeted goals. The source of your expectations is critical with regard to using them as a guide and motivator. Externally generated expectations, when not aligned with your core values, can serve to elicit resentment and self/other-sabotage. Internally generated expectations that align with your core-values, tend to result in bold visions and the setting of personally meaningful goals. These goals are then easily translated into realistic ambitious action steps that elegantly lead to your desired vision. An essential aspect of internally generated expectations is the creation of natural "resting places" for evaluating your progress. As detailed in the Peter Drucker quote above, these evaluation moments provide you with essential information regarding adjusting your actions steps, skills and perhaps your entire process.

What personal expectations will you commit to strategically acting on in 2017? Imagine the possibilities for utilizing your expectations to accomplish next level results.

Janet

For addition insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Should, Could, Accomplish

Thinking Small for Big Results

Planting Seeds for the Future

Planting Seeds for the Future by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Every action that you take or conversation that you engage in has a ripple impact out into the world, mostly in unanticipated ways. In fact, there is an area of study concerning unanticipated consequences devoted to this phenomenon. Although this study concentration is primarily focused on negative consequences, I propose that it is equally likely for your actions and words to set positive future consequences into motion. I find this likelihood to be both comforting and filled with tremendous responsibility, as well as comprised of the need for self-awareness, intention, trust, faith and patience. Let me explain……

As a psychologist, my work with individuals and organizations predominantly focuses on articulating an aspirational vision and generating viable strategies, systems, structures, skills and mindsets to reach this vision. As a graduate school professor, my work focuses on imparting an optimal blend of theory, practice, skills and mindsets. In all of my professional roles, I work from a place of passion, dedication, knowledge and experience. With the wisdom that time and experience provides, I have come to realize that I ultimately work from a place of trust, faith and patience. I trust in the motivation, integrity and native intelligence of my students and clients. I have faith that the seeds that I plant will blossom with time, intention, action and experience and that what I have to offer is “good enough” to facilitate this eventual blossoming. I have patience, derived from the experience and belief that one’s unfolding ensues over time.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are continually planting seeds of wisdom, faith, trust and inspiration in others, seeds that organically and miraculously take root and grow in unexpected ways. What seeds will you plant today?

Janet

For additional insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Slow Time

Emerging

Shifting From Knowledge to Wisdom

Problem Solving

Problem Solving by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it."     

~ Albert Einstein

Many people think that the more effort you put into solving a problem, the faster you will come up with a solution. Ironically, the exact opposite is true. Sometimes, too much of the wrong type of effort serves to take you away from, rather than toward, your solution.  Additionally, taking this approach results in increased frustration and exhaustion. So, what’s the solution to solving a problem when it’s clear that what you’re doing isn’t working? The resolution begins via creating a transition space for a different type of consciousness to emerge. Albert Einstein often facilitated this by taking a nap when he reached a problem solving roadblock. Others do this by meditating, taking a walk, listening to music, reading, cooking or engaging in anything that provides a space between the old and not effective effort and the potential solution. The advantage of stepping into this practice when you’re feeling stuck around generating a solution is that you ultimately wind up working smarter instead of working harder. Try it the next time you are faced with a challenging and seemingly unsolvable problem and notice how different your experience is. Notice how creating a transition space for a different level of consciousness to arise, elegantly leads to your solution.  

Janet

For additional insights, check out the following posts:

Breakdown to Breakthrough

Doing and Being

Forcing vs. Unfolding

Paradox of Change

Paradox of Change by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

~ Socrates

Change Process

Change is the only constant in life. Everyone has their characteristic pattern of working with change – some actively embrace and seek out change and some tend to deny or resist change in an attempt to maintain the status quo. I tend to have an ambivalent relationship with change; although I inevitably appreciate the results on the other side of change, the journey itself can be quite challenging.
Change can be internally or externally generated in most any life arena. Even when you choose to make a change in your life – work, relationships, residence, etc. – the process is often surprisingly challenging. Internally generated change can include taking on a new role, relationship, status, skill or mindset. Externally generated change, also known as "stuff happens," is generated from someone or something outside of yourself.

Change Elements

Change incorporates elements of the past, present and future. Though your past might not have been ideal, it was all that you knew at the time. Once the change process is set in motion, your initial experience is that of living between worlds. Your old world or way of being in the world no longer works and you are not yet ensconced in the new. This space between the past and the future often feels disorienting, illogical, unnatural, surreal and highly uncomfortable. The good news is that this transition space is a temporary one. Although you might feel stuck and unmotivated, a lot is happening internally to prepare you for your new reality on the other side of change.

When you’re in the between place inherent in the change process , seeking out and engaging support from friends, family and trusted others will significantly ease your journey to the other side of the change. Through your intention, actions and faith in getting through the challenge of change, you can create a bridge from the old to the new via taking actions that move you forward. When you're able to mobilize your trust to take the next step, subsequent next steps tend to miraculously unfold. 

Although moving through change can feel a bit daunting at times, it’s definitely worth the effort. What is your characteristic approach to change?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Learn Something New
Embracing "Good Enough"
Doing and Being

Taking the Shots

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“You always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  ~ Wayne Gretzky

As a baseball fan, I am continually intrigued by batting averages, finding it highly reassuring that a batting average of .300 is considered excellent. Think about it. In most pursuits, a 30% chance of success tends to serve as a demotivating factor, one that lessens the likelihood of taking action and poses a 100% guarantee of failure. With the odds in favor of a miss, how are ballplayers able to develop their batting ability? It’s highly likely that each time a ballplayer steps up to bat, he’s more focused on the likelihood of a hit, rather than on that of a miss. Practice and preparation leads to focusing on the ball and swinging the bat and hopefully having the opportunity to run and score. What do you tend to focus on – the potential hit or miss?

Janet

For additional insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Courage Revisited   

Defining Moments

Legacy

 

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” 

~ Warren Buffett

In a world that often appears to be motivated by short-term results, it’s easy to forget that much of what we do or say has a long-term impact. I’ve experienced this in various arenas throughout my life; perhaps you have too. I remember specific teachers and mentors whose guidance eluded me at the time it was bestowed. Many years later, their wisdom suddenly connected with me on a deep level, inspiring me to take action on something particularly meaningful at the time. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are continually planting seeds of wisdom and inspiration in others, seeds that will eventually take root and grow in unexpected ways. What seeds will you plant today?

Janet

For additional thoughts and inspiration, check out the following posts:

Questions and Answers

Forgiveness and Freedom

Getting to Essence

Make a Difference

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”  ~ William James

Everything you say or do has the potential for making a positive difference in someone’s life. Making a difference doesn’t have to take place on a grand or elaborate scale. You can start right now from exactly where you are with what you have. You don’t have to possess expansive financial, personal or time resources to make a difference. Each encounter is an opportunity to positively impact someone’s life and the lives that person comes in contact with. Acknowledge someone with a smile or greeting or engage in a spontaneous conversation; help someone carrying packages; invite someone to go ahead of you when waiting for service; assist a co-worker or neighbor; express your gratitude to someone via phone, email or text.

Generating intentional acts of kindness, friendliness, compassion, recognition and support serve to enhance our personal wellbeing, as well as that of the recipient. Develop the habit of intentional acts of kindness, choose your words carefully and deliberately seek out qualities in others to recognize and appreciate. Every interaction is an opportunity to intentionally choose to speak and act in a manner that honors others and yourself.

Janet

For additional insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Thinking Small for Big Results

Doing and Being

Facilitating Transformation through Appreciation Conversations

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

 

 

CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY

Consider the possibility of powerfully shifting your experience in the world through framing each conversation you engage in from a place of appreciation. Imagine how you would feel moving through your day noticing and acting on opportunities to express your appreciation to others. Consider the potential for large scale transformation through consistently generating and modeling Appreciation Conversations.

APPRECIATION CONVERSATIONS

Appreciation Conversations can occur in any area of your life: at work, at home, social gatherings, at the grocery store, in your neighborhood or any place where you have the opportunity to interact informally or formally with others.  An Appreciation Conversation is an authentic expression of gratitude, for something that someone has done for you or for how they are being in the world. It can be a brief exchange with a stranger, friend, family member or co-worker, or a longer conversation – ten seconds or ten minutes or more. Any verbal or written exchange where you actively express your appreciation is an Appreciation Conversation. These types of conversations can range from “thank you for being so helpful today” to “your smile made my day” to “I am so grateful that you are in my life” to “I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Your commitment to being a transformational force in your own life and the lives of others can start right now through your participation in an Appreciation Conversation. You already possess all the skills you need to initiate Appreciation Conversations. As Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert so eloquently stated: "You don’t have to be a person of influence to be influential."

As you intentionally initiate Appreciation Conversations throughout the various domains of your world, enjoy the magic that will unfold in your life and the lives of others!

 Janet

Check out the following links for additional thoughts about transformation:

Thinking Small for Big Results

Making a Difference

 

 

 

Cultivating Your “Edge”

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

Your “edge” empowers you to generate high probability outcomes in every life domain; it provides the requisite strategic advantage to leverage your strengths, skills and desires. Who wouldn’t want that?

Having spent a great deal of my professional life in the financial industry, first as a trader and then as a recruiter and trainer and coach for electronic traders, the concept of the “edge” or strategic advantage is a familiar one that maps across many industries. The “edge” provided traders with the means to fully utilize their strengths in order to consistently produce positive outcomes. This doesn’t mean the traders never experienced losses. Losses are part of all life domains, including the trading world. What optimally cultivating the “edge” in the trading world provided was a net profit over time; the length of time depended on the trader’s intention, financial commitment, trading approach and financial/emotional capacity.

Those of you outside of the trading world can utilize the seven essential “edge” qualities from the trading world to cultivate strategic advantages in most life arenas. These interconnected qualities, when combined, serve to leverage your unique skills and motivators in your chosen arena. Seven requisite qualities for cultivating your “edge” and resultant strategic advantage include:

1.      Information: Successful traders, particularly High Frequency Traders, know that being on top of critical information consistently provides them with a strategic advantage. They are willing to devote substantial financial resources in order to obtain critical information for acquiring a strategic advantage.

2.      Mastery: Mastery of the critical elements of your desired arena is essential for gaining and maintaining your “edge.” It’s not enough to have information, you need to fully understand the specific hierarchy and relevance of critical information. Specifically, what are the elements in your field that are necessary and sufficient for success? How do these elements fit together? Which elements are critical leverage points? Which elements are necessary but not sufficient? Is there room for creativity or do these elements need to be combined in a specific manner?

3.      Self-Awareness: Self-awareness is essential for mastery and includes many factors that, although may often seem non-rational, significantly impact your actions and your results. For example, what is your ability to tolerate risk? What do you do when faced with real and/or potential loss – do you act proactively, reactively or freeze? What are the potential consequences for your characteristic approach to risk? How do you handle conflict – do you characteristically confront or avoid?

4.      Speed: In a world of warp-speed change, it’s essential to act quickly, proactively and defensively. In the trading world the ultimate goal is to increase the outcome of profitable trades and decrease your risk and losses on trades that have turned against you. Many traders freeze when faced with new information, losses, perceived additional risk and even gains; it’s not unusual to limit profits and expand losses when faced with risk, fear and a lack of mastery of critical elements and self-awareness.

5.      Creativity: Creativity requires both expansion and contraction, essentially the capacity to simultaneously think inside and outside of the box. Sometimes you need to limit your options/choices in order to maximize your creativity. Creativity calls for the ability to honor and bring the best of the past into the present and generate new approaches for the future. Think of this as taking the optimal existing critical elements and putting them together creatively to generate multiple leverage points.

6.      Discipline:  Disciple entails generating a strategy and sticking to it, recognizing when critical elements have shifted and your original plan is now irrelevant and being so well versed in your original and alternative strategies that you can shift into action in spite of any discomfort or fear that is generated via change. Anxiety, fear and discomfort are normal elements of working with risk and change. Discipline allows you to utilize these elements strategically to move you forward, rather than be sabotaged by them.

7.    Neutrality: Many think that neutrality is about not caring, however, without caring about what you are doing and being a force to bring your desired outcome into the world, you would not be able to generate the requisite motivation and energy for strategizing and taking action. True neutrality is about not being attached to your outcomes, learning from mistakes and setbacks and utilizing these lessons strategically to increase your “edge” in future endeavors.

Learning to cultivate your “edge” via the seven requisite qualities detailed above requires an investment of your intellectual, physical and emotional energy, as well as your commitment to excellence. What one action will you take today to cultivate your “edge?”

Janet

Check out the links below for additional posts to help you “Cultivate Your ‘Edge’.”

Thinking Small for Big Results

Are Your SMART Goals Smart Enough?

Optimal Performance Fundamentals   

Success

Your personal definition of success determines how you approach your professional and personal life and relationships. Do you view success as an outcome or process? Can you only feel good about yourself and your work after you have reached a critical goal? Or, do you naturally find meaning and power in your mastery of various challenges and setbacks along the road to your desired outcomes?

Carol Dweck in her research and resultant book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, details two main types of personalities and their relationship to growth, excellence and success: The Fixed and Growth mindsets. Those with what she refers to as a Fixed Mindset are focused on outcomes as a means to feel successful. These individuals learn early on that only excelling at a task is valued/rewarded; they tend to focus on the impossible attainment of perfection. The Fixed Mindset abhors mistakes. There are several downsides to this approach to life: a dearth of flexibility and adaptability, an increase in anxiety when faced with the inherent challenges of change and an avoidance of the necessary/optimal risk for high level skill building and overall functioning in a dynamic world.

Those with a Growth Mindset primarily focus on learning as a means to the end of growth and mastery. These individuals understand that mistakes, a critical part of the learning process, serve to move you forward toward higher level skill building. The “Growth Mindset” leads to an increase in higher level integrative thinking and results. The upside to this type of mindset includes: increased curiosity, creativity, resilience, adaptability and optimal strategic risk taking. The following Thomas A. Edison quote personifies the essence of the “Growth Mindset.”

If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

Your personal definition of success determines how you approach your work and relationships, your state of mind and your results. Do you view success as an outcome or process, a journey or a destination? Those with a “Fixed Mindset” tend to view success as a destination and those with a “Growth Mindset” view success as a journey. Which mindset will you choose to embrace?

Janet

Consistent Variable

You are the consistent variable in all of your interactions, successes, failures and near-misses. If you are human and breathing you are bound to face many life challenges that elicit your characteristic patterns of behavior - some that move you forward and some that keep you stuck. Many of my career transformation and organizational development clients are skilled at unintentionally recreating their historical family of origin dynamic via their work culture and peers.  (Personally, I have experienced this same force at work during various times in my life.) It’s highly likely you have also experienced this assembly of a family of origin representational “cast of characters” in the various areas of your life, the individuals who take you by surprise and render you temporarily unresourceful.

When you engage with your unique “cast of characters,” you are essentially transported back to an earlier time in life when you had limited physical/emotional resources, skills and options. As this unanticipated time travel occurs, a very human tendency is to respond in the present with mindsets, resources and skills from your past. The impact of this regression to the past is rarely pleasant, often including an unsettling combination of behaviors: misinterpretation and personalization of data, words, intentions and behavior; communication breakdowns; and, unintentional self-sabotage. Although the “cast of characters” and circumstances may change, the consistent variable in this detrimental equation is ultimately you.

The good news is that just because you are the consistent variable in your life equation, you are not destined to repeat the past. Through commitment, awareness, strategic/informed action, practice and ongoing adjustment, you can learn to develop new habitual responses to situations that have historically served to disempower you. I invite you to consider the brief and iterative process detailed below. This process will ultimately serve to rewire your brain, build new more functional pathways and dismantle familiar no longer needed ones.

1.      Commitment: Transformation is activated by your commitment to change. You recognize that your old way of being in the world in no longer providing the benefits you currently desire and you commit to intentionally modify your behavior.

2.      Awareness: Self- and other-awareness regarding when your unique “cast of characters” gets activated in your world, as well as your habitual response to their words and actions. Self-awareness includes your personal narrative regarding the meaning of others’ words, communication style and behavior, information and data that you tend to personalize or distort and your characteristic manner of interacting with your personal “cast of characters.” Awareness also includes your generating an engaging vision for the other side of change.

3.      Strategic/Informed Action: It’s normal and natural when faced with your “cast of characters” to be more reactive than proactive. A significant aspect of being strategic is learning to slow down when you feel the pull to reactively respond. Slowing down empowers you to strategically choose an action/response that aligns with your vision for change; it also provides the time to evaluate outcomes from your prior reactive behavior. Informed action steps become clear as you view your situation from a more neutral meta-perspective; this viewpoint provides a means to choose behaviors that organically lead you toward your desired outcome.

4.      Practice: Practicing your self-awareness and strategic/informed action behaviors and mindset facilitates the forming of new improved neuro-pathways, as well as the dismantling of historical no longer needed pathways. This process occurs over time, requiring patience, perseverance and periodic visits to your original vision and commitment. Over time, your new narrative expands to include behaviors directly leading to your vision of success.

5.      Ongoing Adjustment: Adjustment is a lifelong process as you continue to accomplish your goals, adapt to internal and external changes and generate new visions for the various aspects of your life. The added bonus of ongoing adjustment is that others will increasingly notice how different you are and will be curious about your growth, success and overall expansion.

You are the consistent variable in all of your interactions, successes, failures and near-misses. You do not have to live in the present driven by habits and resources from the past. I invite you to follow the five steps detailed above and enjoy your desired results.

Janet
 

For related posts, please check out the following links:

Optimal Performance Fundamentals
Courage Revisited
Defining Moments

 

 

Questions, Questions, Questions

What type of questions do you characteristically ask in the various areas of your life - high or low quality questions? High quality questions facilitate good relationships, consistent results, self-awareness, self-confidence, skill-building and forward momentum. Low quality questions tend to keep you stuck in a past focused cycle of self- and other-blame. Which reality would you prefer to set in motion?

Low quality questions usually begin with the word why. Why questions lead directly to the past as a means to uncover and analyze critical information. Why questions and the answers they provide merely generate the illusion of understanding. In reality, why is an unanswerable question. Research consistently confirms that our recall of past events is imperfect, resulting from a subjective perspective dependent on age, cognitive development, mood, point of view, perceptual filters and capacity to focus. Even if it was possible to elicit an objective response, it would be based on historical, rather than current data.  

High quality questions begin with the words “what, how and what if.” They are designed to facilitate creative future oriented thinking and problem solved that moves you toward a desired outcome. High quality questions include: What do you want? How do you want to structure that? What first step will you take? If anything was possible, what would you create? What if we took a particular path or made a particular commitment, what would the likely outcome be? High quality questions lead directly to high level goals, strategies, structures and results. They take your skills and mindsets to an innovative place that creates the space for next level outcomes. High quality questions don’t ignore past data; they serve to briefly visit the past as a means to empower the future.

According to Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”  High quality questions organically lead you to an expanded level of consciousness and effectiveness. What type of questions will you decide to ask – high or low quality ones? The choice is yours.

Janet

Conscious Choices

Your current reality reflects the sum total of your prior choices. If you are like most individuals, your typical choices end up being made from a more reactive than proactive stance. Every day, you are faced with a myriad of choices, from the comparatively “simple” ones regarding self-expression, where to live and work, money and relationships, to the more complex ones regarding ethics and morality. What many fail to realize is that most choices turn out to be significant ones in the long run; even seemingly small ones - made without much thought, self-awareness or effort - ultimately have a cumulative life altering impact.

How do you characteristically approach your various life choices? Do you make decisions based on self-awareness, intention, values and principles that serve as a guiding template? Or, do you make what I refer to as “decisions by default,” essentially not choosing anything or following the path of least resistance? Ironically, not making a decision ultimately serves to release a flow of unanticipated and often unwanted outcomes. Most “decisions by default” result from fear – of the unknown, what others will think or feel or of unwanted consequences.

Although it may initially seem easier to take the reactive path in terms of choosing, you ultimately may wind up with someone else’s version of who you should be and what you should do. Consciously choosing in matters large and small requires courage and faith – the courage to mindfully and respectfully act from your highest values and the faith that things usually work out in the long-run. Conscious decision-making often feels ambiguous and highly challenging in the immediate moment, however, it’s almost always worth doing over the long-term.

Your current reality reflects the sum total of your prior choices. How will you make your choices today and every day? What reality will you set into motion today? I invite you to step into the experience of conscious choice and notice the difference in what unfolds over time in the various aspects of your world.

Janet

For related posts, check out the following links:

Defining Moments   
Thinking Small for Big Results   
Making a Difference