By Jay Forte
One of the most significant ways to access your creative side is to ask powerful "What if..." questions. These questions both enable and compel you to invent, imagine, dream and discover. "What if..." questions encourage you to see what you generally miss as you move at breakneck speed through life; they encourage you to think, to take a stand and to own your work and your life.
Open a journal and select one of these "What if..." questions. As you record your thoughts, allow yourself to consider greater and greater possibilities. This is not about being right or wrong - it is about creating, dreaming and visualizing. The more you can imagine, the more you can create.
When ready, select another question or create one of your own. Have your work team or your family participate in this "What if..." exercise. Not only does it encourage a broader definition of you and your performance, but it helps you search out opportunities and possibilities. It allows you to step forward and own your responses. It helps you to imagine the greatest vision of you.
What if my life could be exactly as I want it?
What would it be?
What if my family was the way I want a family to be?
How would I encourage it?
What if my dreams could really come true?
What would I wish for?
What if happiness were entirely within my control?
How would you live it?
What if money could only do good?
How would I spend it?
What if a kind word could really make a difference?
What would I say?
What if I could improve the quality of life of just one person?
Who would it be and what would I do?
What if I could make a difference with someone just with a smile?
To whom would I give that smile?
What if I could love what I do for work every day?
What job would I have?
What if when I learned something important that I could pass it on?
What story or lesson would I share and with whom?
What if I could do something extraordinary and receive no credit for it?
What would I do and who would benefit?
What if I could choose what success is for me?
What would I choose?
What if I could have dinner with a famous person?
Who would it be and what would we talk about?
What if I could talk to God?
What would I ask and what do I think he would he say?
What if I could do something that would make a great difference to my family?
What would it be and when can I do it?
What if I had 10 minutes with the President of the country?
What would I talk about?
What if I had a free afternoon to spend with my kids?
What would we do and what memories would we create?
What if I were remembered for something great I did?
What would it be?
What if I could have the greatest adventure of my life?
What would it be?
What if I could address an assembly of young people/older people?
What is something valuable I could I tell them?
What if the direction of the company were left up to me?
Which direction would I bring it?
'What if...' questions are the powerhouse of creative practice and discovery. The more you use the curious 'What if...' approach, the greater your options become, the more options you consider and the more significant impact you make. Invent your 'What if...' questions and use them to make a considerable difference in the quality of your life and work and in the lives and work of others.
Jay Forte is a powerful performance speaker, consultant, author and founder of Humanetrics, LLC. He works with managers who want to be more successful in activating and inspiring exceptional employee performance, to significantly drive customer loyalty and improve company profitability. Jay, a CPA/financial executive turned educator, turned consultant, is renowned for producing significant results. He is a highly engaging speaker and is working on an upcoming book "Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition; How to Invite, Incite and Ignite Performance" For information on keynotes, seminars and consulting, or to see the daily "BLOGucation," visit: http://www.humanetricsllc.com, his new site http://www.fireupyouremployees.com or call: 401-338-3505.
