News from Pullen Associates Coaching and Consulting

Insights April 2008

Questions
Are you Asking the Right Ones?

Greetings!

Everything we think and do is generated by the questions we ask ourselves. Questions are at the center of how we listen, behave, think, and relate - as individuals and as leaders - to the world around us. It is often easy to forget that the events that take place in our day to day lives are a result of the decisions we made yesterday, last month or last year. Questions push us into new territories. The future itself could be said to begin with how we think, which in turn is reflected by the questions we ask ourselves and others. The back cover of one of this months featured books, "The Right Questions" says that we don't end up thousands of dollars in debt because of one extravagant purchase, nor do we gain thirty pounds as a result of one decadent dinner. We are, the book says, where we are because of the decisions we make every day. If we want to better understand how we have created our present day reality, all we need to do is look at the choices we made and continue to make along the way.

The second book I am featuring this month, "Change Your questions, Change your Life" says that we must know how to ask the right questions. If questions are asked from the viewpoint of open-mindedness, of trying to learn- then the resulting awareness can help to produce a mindset that is optimistic, hopeful and full of possibilities for the future. If however one asks questions that seek to assign blame and are based on negative reactions - the resulting mindset will then lead to failure, inflexibility, stress, and a sense of sever limitations.

Books of the Month

The Right Questions - Ten Essential Questions to Guide You to an Extraordinary Life by Debbie Ford

The New York Times best selling author Debbie Ford offers ten profound questions that will change the choices we make - ultimately empowering us to fulfill our life's dream.