#Day7: Tough Questions

December 7, 2015

The final #Day7 of 2015.

With one year coming to an end and another fast approaching, we may find ourselves pondering how the past year went and questioning what the New Year will hold.

“How did the year treat you?”

“Did you accomplish what you wanted in 2015?”

“What do you have planned for 2016?”

In our one-day Catalyst program we talk about the importance of asking ourselves meaningful and important questions. We challenge the participants to consider what questions they should be asking themselves that they currently are not. As we come to the last #Day7 of 2015, we want you to do the same.

It’s not always easy to challenge ourselves in this manner…to look within and consider what we are avoiding. But there are some pretty great things about digging into “the tough questions.”

We learn.

We learn from the question itself and from the answers we discover. We learn what we are afraid of, what is holding us back, what troubles our hearts and our minds. We learn how to be vulnerable.

We learn how to face our fears. We learn how to move forward despite obstacles. We learn how to solve problems. We learn what we care most about.

We learn where to direct our attention, resources, and efforts.

So let’s try it. Ask yourself, “What question am I avoiding that I should be asking myself right now.”

You aren’t alone in this practice. Here is what we at LeaderShape think we need to be asking ourselves right now…

Is this choice or decision getting me closer to the person I aspire to be?

Abby

Have I made someone smile today?

Kim

What do I need to let go of so that I can truly focus on what is most important to me?

Why is it so hard to show myself grace?

Kristen H.

What do I need to be doing to refresh my soul and encourage my heart?

How do I show compassion to my parents on a more regular basis?

Kristen Y.

What are the lessons I want to teach my children before they leave home?

Paul

How can I be more patient with myself and others?

How do I allow for voices different from my own to be heard?

How can I contribute to a sense of hope in our world?

Vernon

What is your question?

We’d love to know and hope you’ll share it in the comments section.

#Day7 and Questions

We are loving this video from Soul Pancake. In it they ask, “If you could change anything in the world, what would you change?”

It really is a fitting video for #Day7 - a day and concept about staying in action and committing to making a difference in our world.

That’s a pretty big task though, isn’t it? Making a difference in our world. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by it.

An anchor can help though.

An anchor can keep us connected to the larger and ultimate goal. And maybe that anchor can be found through a question like the one Soul Pancake posed in their video. And like the one we ask at the Institute: “If you could have the world anyway you wanted, what would it look like?” 

On this #Day7, take time to reflect on these questions. To connect with how you want to see the world. And use your ideas as fuel to keep moving. To set some goals that will help you get closer to that ideal world. To find your anchor and stay in action.

If you don’t know much about Soul Pancake, you can learn about their work here and watch their videos on their YouTube channel.

#Day 7: How Do We Begin?

The world is struggling. We are struggling. Sometimes it is difficult to know just what to do amidst such turmoil. Where do we start? How do we begin?

Inner Work
What if each of us committed to the ongoing exploration of self, asking ourselves questions such as, “What do I believe? Why do I believe that?” and “What are my core values? Do I live those out in my decisions and actions?” and “Who do I want to be? How am I becoming that person?”

Dialogue
What if we all created spaces that welcomed the authentic sharing of oneself along with the commitment to listen to the stories and perspectives of others with curiosity rather than judgment?

What if?

We think we know what might happen.

We might be more deeply aware of our own beliefs.

We might become more attentive to the impact we have on others.

We might be more open to what other folks have to contribute to the conversation.

We might listen with unguarded hearts.

We might be transformed.

We believe in the power of inner work and dialogue to transform us as individuals and as communities. With enough people doing their own work and engaging in meaningful, vulnerable, brave conversations we can change our communities. We can create a just, caring, and thriving world. It can start with one such conversation, followed by another, and followed by yet another.

What kind of inner-work are you doing? How do you create space for transparent conversations? We hope you’ll tell us in the comments section.

September Book Review: Think Like A Freak

I'll be honest that I haven't been reading as much as I usually do. Most of that is an issue of the summer and being busy coaching baseball, doing yard work, taking and picking up kids from camp, and work. Mostly work. However, I've gotten back into it with a vengeance and began tackling the pile of books that has accumulated over that time. I do love my Kindle, but there is something to holding the book, dog-earing pages, and using a highlighter. Thus, the stack. I really did intend to read them when I bought them. Honest. Be warned though, I read more on the edges of leadership these days given that most of what is written about leadership these days seems to be repackaged. I must be getting old.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot these days about asking good questions because I believe that most of the major issues we face in the world are a result of asking bad questions. Asking questions of "who is to blame" instead of "what are WE going to do about it," is just one example. So I'm gravitating to books that help me think more clearly, more often, and more openly. I found a really good one that you should pick up by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner…two economists…hang with me.

They are the authors of Freakonomics, Superfreakonomics, and their latest Think Like a Freak. All of them made me go "hmmm" out loud because they look at issues, problems, and challenges from the perspective of asking good questions to get at the root cause not just what it would appear to be on the surface. Our news comes to us pre-washed and shrunk to sizes that apparently we consume best – two sentence tweets. With that, we miss nuance, debate, perspective, the works. I truly believe that if we moved past the lens that we have crafted to see the world and actually see the world for what it is, many of these challenges facing us could actually be addressed. 

Kicking the can down the road is not a solution any more. We will continue to find ourselves asking why we are in the same place as we were years before. Being economists, the authors write a lot about incentives and how to truly influence other people. As LeaderShapers, we embrace living in possibility every day and thinking about how best to influence others and ask good questions seems like an exercise worth doing.  I would pick up Think Like a Freak as it is their latest and I think best book. I think you will really enjoy reading it. It's hard to put down.

On to the next book in the stack.  Here we go…

Paul