The power of questions

" Some men see things as they are, and say, 'Why? ' I dream of things that never were, and say, 'Why not? '"

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Most of us, when we see someone of extraordinary capability or someone who seems to have a superhuman capacity to deal with life's challenges, think things like, " They're so lucky! They're so talented! They must have been born that way." But in reality, the human brain has the capacity to

produce answers faster than the " smartest" computer on earth, even considering today's microtechnology with computers that calculate in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). It would take two buildings the size of the World Trade Center to house the storage capacity of your brain!

Yet this three-pound lump of gray matter can give you more firepower instantly for coming up with solutions to challenges and creating powerful emotional sensations than anything in man's vast arsenal of technology.

Just like a computer boasting tremendous capacity, without an understanding of how to retrieve and utilize all that's been stored, the brain's capacity means nothing. I'm sure you've known someone (maybe even yourself) who has purchased a new computer system and never used it simply because he or she didn't figure out how. If you want access to the files of valuable information in a computer, you must understand how to retrieve the data by asking for it with the proper commands. Likewise, what enables you to get anything you want from your own personal databanks is the commanding power of asking questions.

" Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question."

E. E. CUMMINGS

I'm here to tell you that the difference between people is the difference in the questions they ask consistently. Some people are depressed on a regular basis. Why? As we revealed in the last chapter, part of the problem is their limited states. They conduct their lives with limited movements and hamstrung physiology, but more importantly, they focus on things that make them feel overloaded and overwhelmed. Their pattern of focus and evaluation seriously limits their emotional experience of life. Could this person change how they feel in a moment? You bet—just by changing mental focus.

So what's the quickest way to change focus? Simply by asking a new question. When people are depressed, it is more than likely due to asking themselves disempowering questions on a regular basis, questions like: " What's the use? Why even try, since things never seem to work out anyway? Why me, Lord? " Remember, ask and you shall receive. If you ask a terrible question, you'll get a terrible answer. Your mental computer is ever ready to serve you, and whatever question you give it, it will surely come up with an answer. So if you ask, " Why can't I ever succeed?, " it will tell you—even if it has to make something up! It might come up with an answer like, " Because you're stupid, " or " Because you don't deserve to do well anyway."

Now, what's an example of brilliant questions? How about my good friend, W. Mitchell? If you read Unlimited Power, you know his story. How do you think he was able to survive having two-thirds of his body burned and still feel good about his life? How could he then endure an airplane accident years later, lose the use of his legs, and be confined to a wheelchair—and still find a way to enjoy contributing to others? He learned to control his focus by asking the right questions. When he found himself in the hospital, with his body burned beyond recognition, and surrounded by a large number of other patients in the ward who were feeling sorry for themselves, patients who were asking themselves, " Why me? How could God do this to me? Why is life so unfair? What's the use of living as a 'cripple'?, " Mitchell chose instead to ask himself, " How can I use this? Because of this, what will I be able to contribute to others? " These questions are what created the difference in destinies: " Why me? " rarely produces a positive result, while " How can I use this? " usually leads us in the direction of turning our difficulties into a driving force to make ourselves and the world better.

Mitchell realized that being hurt, angry, and frustrated wouldn't change his life, so instead of looking at what he didn't have, he said to himself, " What do I still have? Who am I really? Am I really only my body, or am I something more? What am I capable of now, even more so than before? " After his airplane accident, while in the hospital and paralyzed from the waist down, he met an incredibly attractive woman, a nurse named Annie. With his entire face burned off, his body paralyzed from the waist down, he had the audacity to ask: " How could I get a date with her? " His buddies said, " You're insane. You're deluding yourself." But a year and a half later, he and Annie were in a relationship, and today she's his wife.

That's the beauty of asking empowering questions: they bring us an irreplaceable resource: answers and solutions. Questions determine everything you do in life, from your abilities to your relationships to your income. For example, many people fail to commit to a relationship simply because they keep asking questions that create doubt: " What if there's somebody better out there? What if I commit myself now and miss out? " What terribly disempowering questions! This fuels the fear that the grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence, and it keeps you from being able to enjoy what you already have in your own life. Sometimes these same people destroy the relationships they do eventually have with more terrible questions: " How come you always do this to me? Why don't you appreciate me? What if I were to leave right now—how would that make you feel? " Compare this

with " How did I get so lucky to have you in my life? What do I love the most about my husband/wife? How much richer will our lives be as a result of our relationship? "

Think of the questions you habitually ask yourself in the area of finances. Invariably, if a person isn't doing well financially, it's because they're creating a great deal of fear in their life—fear that keeps them from investing or mastering their finances in the first place. They ask questions like " What toys do I want right now? " instead of " What plan do I need in order to achieve my ultimate financial goals? " The questions you ask will determine where you focus, how you think, how you feel, and what you do. If we want to change our finances, we've got to hold ourselves to higher standards, change our beliefs about what's possible, and develop a better strategy. One of the things that I've noticed in modeling some of today's financial giants is that they consistently ask different questions than the masses—questions that often run counter to even the most widely accepted financial " wisdom."

Currently, there is no denying that Donald Trump is experiencing financial challenges. For almost a decade, though, he was clearly an economic kingpin. How did he do it? There were many factors, but one that virtually everybody agrees on is that in the mid-seventies, when New York City faced bankruptcy and most developers fretted over questions like " How will we survive if this city goes under?, " Trump asked a unique question: " How can I get rich while everyone else is afraid? " This one

question helped to shape many of his business decisions and clearly led him to the position of economic dominance he enjoyed.

Trump didn't stop there. He also asked another great question, one which would be good to emulate before making any financial investments. Once he was convinced that a project had tremendous potential for economic gain, he would then ask, " What's the downside? What's the worst that can happen, and can I handle it? " His belief was that if he knew he could handle the worst-case scenario, then he should do the deal because the upside would take care of itself. So if he asked such shrewd questions, what happened?

Trump had put deals together that no one else would have considered during those economically stressful times. He had taken over the old Commodore building and turned it into the Grand Hyatt (his first major economic success). And when the tide turned, he had won big. However, he eventually ran into major economic trouble. Why? Many say he changed what he focused on in making investments. He began to ask questions like " What can I enjoy owning? " instead of " What is the most profitable deal? " Worse, some say Trump began to believe he was invincible, and as a result he stopped asking his " downside" questions. This single change in his evaluation procedure—in the questions he was asking himself—may have cost him a good part of his fortune. Remember, it's not only the questions you ask, but the questions you/ail to ask, that shape your destiny.

If there's one thing I've learned in seeking out the core beliefs and strategies of today's leading minds, it's that superior evaluations create a superior life. We all have the capacity to evaluate life at a level that produces outstanding results. What do you think of when you hear the word " genius"? If you're like me, what immediately comes to mind is a picture of Albert Einstein. But how did Einstein move beyond his failed high school education into the realm of truly great thinkers? Undoubtedly, it was because he asked supremely formulated questions.

As Einstein was first exploring the idea of time and space relativity, he asked, " Is it possible that things that seem simultaneous are not really so? " For example, if you are a few miles away from a sonic boom, do you hear it at the exact moment it occurs in space? Einstein conjectured that you do not, that what you experience as happening in that moment is not really happening then, but rather occurred only a moment ago. In day-to-day life, he reasoned, time is relative depending on how you occupy your mind.

Einstein once said, " When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity." He conjectured further into the realm of physics, and believing that the speed of light is fixed, he found himself asking the question, " What if you could put light aboard a rocket? Would its speed be increased then? " In the process of answering these fascinating questions, and others like them, Einstein postulated his renowned theory of relativity.

" The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.

It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.

Never lose a holy curiosity."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

The powerful distinctions that Einstein made resulted from a series of questions. Were they simple? Yes. Were they powerful? Absolutely. What power could you unleash by asking some equally simple but powerful questions? Questions are undeniably a magic tool that allows the genie in our minds to meet our wishes; they are the wake-up call to our giant capacities. They allow us to achieve our desires if only we present them in the form of a specific and well-thought-out request. A genuine quality of life comes from consistent, quality questions. Remember, your brain, like the genie, will give you whatever you ask of it. So be careful what you ask for—whatever you look for you'll find.

So with all this power between our ears, why aren't more people " happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise"? Why are so many frustrated, feeling like there are no answers in their lives? One answer is that when they ask questions, they lack the certainty that causes the answers to come to them, and most importantly, they fail to consciously ask empowering questions of themselves. They run roughshod over this critical process with no forethought or sensitivity to the power they are abusing or failing

to ignite by their lack of faith.

A classic example of this is a person who wants to lose weight and " can't." It's not that they can't: it's that their present plan of evaluating what to eat is not supporting them. They ask questions like " What would make me feel most full? " and " What is the sweetest, richest food I can get away with? " This leads them to select foods filled with fat and sugar—a guarantee of more unhappiness. What if instead they asked questions like " What would really nourish me?, " " What's something light that I can eat

that would give me energy?, " or " Will this cleanse or clog me? " Better yet, they could ask, " If I eat this, what will I have to give up in order to still achieve my goals? What's the ultimate price I'll pay if I don't stop this indulgence now? " By asking questions like this, they'll associate pain to overeating, and their behavior will change immediately.

To change your life for the better, you must change your habitual questions. Remember, the patterns of questions you consistently ask will create either enervation or enjoyment, indignation or inspiration, misery or magic. Ask the questions that will uplift your spirit and push you along the path of human excellence.