How do you spend your attention?
How aware are you of how you spend your attention? For most of us, we are little aware of where our attention goes on a minute-by-minute basis, let alone hour-by hour. Shame, given that our attention is, in my opinion, our most precious resource.
Attention, and it’s more effective sibling, focus, are the currency of engagement (it is the X-factor of the influential and charismatic), change and growth. Consider the analogy: if you pay little attention to how you spend your money you can have little chance of wealth or prosperity. Similarly, if you are not at least sometimes strategic with your attention and focus, you have little chance of creating anything better for yourself.
Today, I have been using a wonderful tool for exposing where my business attention should be going: the IMPACT-EASE tool. I am not a list person, nor am I good with detail. This tool is brilliant for providing clarity on what it is that should be done. Little surprise, then, that getting back to my blog and writing a post was high on my impact-ease analysis today!
Download the impact-ease-worksheet (with instructions) to do your own anaysis.
I am yet to find who to attribute this file to – please let me know if you know who the author is.
The Ten Best Questions for Growth or Change
10 Best Questions for Reflection, Clarity, Insight and Growth
The list of questions below are proven questions to help another person, or yourself, find reflection, clarity and insight around an issue. The intention is to show the general structure of these questions as examples, rather than ‘exact’ questions that you would quote verbatim. Shape them to your needs as required, considering the content and context.
You can use these questions as individual points of reflection, or as a sequence.
- If things were perfect tomorrow (with regard to the issue), what would be different (in what you see and how you feel)?
- What aspects of this situation are you happy with?
- How would you rate your effectiveness/satisfaction here, say out of 10?
- What rating would be pleased with, or would help you meet the current challenge?
- What do you need to do to move towards your preferred/needed rating?
- How is your current thinking or feeling impacting on the outcomes, results or goal?
- What thinking or feeling do you need to have to meet your goal(s) or challenge?
- What learning emerges for you (either from your experience, the situation or these questions)?
- What are the implications for your next steps?
- What are your next steps or actions?
Bonus Question Group: Johari Question Set
Based on the Johari Window concept, the following four questions are powerful and can be asked in many contexts (reflection, conflict management:
- How do I see myself? (skills, behaviour, attitudes, thinking)
- How do others see me?
- How would I like to be seen?
- How do I need to be to be effective? (or to find resolution, or to meet the challenge)
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