Two Questions.

They are the two questions you must answer completely, deeply and honestly if you want to make dramatic changes in your life. It doesn’t matter if you are an executive, an artist, a preacher or a company, these two questions are the key to moving forward.

They always seem easy. In eight years of consulting and coaching, I have asked these two questions of all of my clients and each had an answer for me on the first day. But as we probed, the first answer was never the right answer, it was never the complete answer.

It takes time to whittle down the right answers. The truest answers. The complete answers. And so we probe. We ask questions. We reframe things so we can look at them from different angles.

And when we nail it? When we probe and question and find those answers? Then, and only then can we go to work. And because we have the real answers, the right answers, the complete answers, we know we are doing the right work. And suddenly, progress, real progress, powerful progress, happens.

Every time.

What are the questions?

• What do you want and why?
• What is getting in your way?

That’s it. But don’t kid yourself, it’s not easy to get to the core of it. Pretty much everyone I have ever worked with since 2011 has been surprised (pleasantly so!) after working their way to the real answers.

On the first question, the key is “and why?”. That’s where the probing needs to focus. Too often we focus on the first thing that comes to mind: Money or position or market share or whatever we THINK we want, but as we probe deeper we find that the real issue is something more: time, change, growth, reputation. And once we know what the real need is, we know what to work on because the path is often different.

And what is getting in our way? Almost always, when I begin that conversation with people or companies, they point to external factors. Once we start getting to the internal factors, we get to the things we can change to make the difference. But it takes a while.

So now you know. Start asking, but be prepared to be wrong at first. Give it time. Getting these two questions right is the key to everything.

Be well. Travel wisely,

Tom

What can I do for you? 

If you want to move from where you are to where you want to be, consider taking advantage of my “three for free” coaching sessions. Three free sessions, no strings attached, to see if coaching is for you. Want to know more about coaching’s effectiveness before you contact me? Try reading this. 

If you are a company or organization that needs to simplify, market more effectively, change corporate culture or has a nagging issue you want to fix for once and for all, consider a free one-hour consultation. Want to know more about our consulting services before you contact me? Try reading this.