Good answers only come from the GREAT QUESTIONS!
Asking great questions to yourself and others is a skill.
I learned this productivity hack from Tim Ferriss–“imagining a gun on your head and contemplating on what matters most”.
Great video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALMg-7-2trY to check out by Tim Ferris.
Do you procrastinate on small things?
If yes, would you still procrastinate if someone puts a gun on your head or on your dog’s head? 😉
I am sure you would finish a lot of things in that situation.
I don’t literally mean putting a gun on your head to finish long pending tasks. It’s just an analogy, you get my point!
What do you do in critical circumstances? Do you still procrastinate to do important things when the situation is tough, or you just do whatever it takes?
We usually tend to procrastinate on things that we think are not important to us.
I think procrastination arises either due to a lack of intrinsic motivation. And we can tap into intrinsic motivation by doing the few small things every day which are really important and letting other unimportant, or not-so-urgent things wait or delegate.
A great book to read on this topic is “First Thing First“ by Stephen R. Covey.
I had been procrastinating fora long time on re-balancing my financial portfolio, and I really wanted to break this pattern.
So, I asked myself these questions
- What would I do if someone puts the gun on my head?
- What would it look like If it was easier?
And the result?
I re-balanced my portfolio and opened Roth IRA by blocking 90 mins without any interruption.
When you ask better quality questions to yourself, your life will dramatically move towards the next level.
Ask these questions whenever you procrastinate or are distracted or unfocused?
- What would I do if someone puts a gun on my head?
- What would it look like If it was easier?
Asking good questions interrupts our old and natural way of thinking, and create possibilities to think differently, and perhaps in a new direction.
If I find myself stuck in any problem, I remind myself to stop, and rethink the problem to get a new solution.
I remember that when I was in middle school, my Math teacher always recommended starting a Math problem from scratch, rather than trying to fix the broken parts.
And, the same principle can be applied to any life problem.
Trying to solve a problem with the same thinking only creates a mess and a vicious thought loop.
I am a full-time Software Engineer, and when I am stuck in a complex problem — I remind myself to — “Stop and Ask good questions”.
With practice, you can develop a habit to remind yourself to “Stop and Ask good questions”.
You can go one step further which I do more often now.
Journaling!
Just writing my thoughts, or whatever clutter I’ve in my head, on a piece of paper, gives me a great degree of clarity.
Break your linear thinking pattern by asking these questions to yourself:
- What would it look like if I do the opposite of what I have been doing in the next 48 hours?
- What would it look like if I do the opposite right now?
- What would it look like if this task were easier?
- What would it look like if someone puts a gun on my head and how would I complete a big task in a short time?
There are literally many ways of asking great questions.
Right before editing this post, I was feeling overwhelmed, and you know what — I asked myself — “What is the ONE thing I can do right now that will give me the most satisfaction?“.
And I, myself, answered that “just edit this long pending post‘.
Please enjoy!
Note: If you have better or other ways of asking good quality questions, please put them in the comment.
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The Nishant Garg Show is listened to in 24 countries and is about extracting information on Mindfulness, Personal Development, Spirituality. I am on a mission to spread Mindfulness and I’d love for you to join me in this movement. For any question, please contact me. If you have enjoyed listening to my podcasts, please subscribe to the new podcast updates on Itunes. Please provide your reviews on Itunes which will really help me. Subscribe to the Newsletter. You won’t be spammed! I hate spams too! You will receive only one email every Friday on the latest published podcasts.