Where will a question take you?
The Questioning Quest
2014 was my year of questioning. I decided I was tired of not leading a passionate, joy filled life. I was tired of “living for everyone else.” I thought a lot about what I was doing every day and realized life is too short to continue to live like this! I guess it really hit home that my life had become a droning of existence. I started looking at why I was doing things and setting these goals. I started reading tons of blogs, and social media posts. I started watching videos online. I started listening to Audible books. I started reliving turning points in my life, and what I did to change things. Bottom line, I started asking a ton of questions. I started looking for a methodology for questioning and problem solving. Entrepreneurs are constant problem solvers for the business world always asking questions.
Who Started It
I started looking back over my life and people I knew, who embodied this questioning quest? Plain as looking in the mirror, it was my Dad. He cultivated this questioning experience. His brilliant research chemist mind started this for me. He was able to explain things to the Nth degree of why. He loved learning and so did my mother. Growing up in my house was like watching a brain work. My Dad was the logical, mathematical, scientific left side. My Mom was the creative, artistic, passionate, entrepreneurial right side. My parents told me as a young girl, “You can do anything you pursue!” Ha! I believed them, but somehow I got lost in the “settling” process:
- Of growing up,
- Of the goal setting droning,
- Of listening to what adults should do,
- Of what is expected.
I forgot how to dream. I forgot what really made me happy. I forgot what brought me joy. I forgot what ignited my passion. I stopped asking questions for the next step, searching for the next answer for growth.
Where it Took me
Entrepreneurs constantly plan business activity to achieve a goal, exceed a milestone. If we attempt to keep moving forward, surely a goal is required? I’ve been deeply and intentionally pondering what my goals are. I don’t know of any goal that has ever driven me to wake up in the morning to say, “Oh, I can’t wait to face these obstacles to achieve this goal today.” My goals have always turned into a guessing game of:
- Can I achieve this goal?
- What’s my role to accomplish this goal?
- Does this goal even sound motivating?
- Is this goal inspiring?
Are you one of “these people,” caught up in the business goal churn of “do this, because it pays the bills?” I have been caught up in “the goal churn.” It’s a good thing I enjoy what I do – most days. As I’m my own boss, I get to determine what continues, and what stops. Goals have been a guessing game for me. There is no goal passion, no inspiration, just a “well I hope this works” based on what I know today.
Where Questioning Could Take you
I determined questioning made my entrepreneurial life interesting. Questioning is what changes things. Questioning keeps you from just accepting life the way it’s fed to you. Questions empower you to flip life on its head. Just before…you scream, “Why is it like this?” Questioning makes you dig down to find answers:
- If you’re brave,
- If you’re willing to change,
- If you want to grow,
- If you’re not “settling” for an answer,
- If you’re looking for the best answer, for “now!”
I have to find other people motivated by questioning. I have to find people who think “big,” like this. I have to find “my tribe.” Or perhaps, my tribe of questioners will find me? Are you a questioner? How do you know?
