Chapter five,
It's all in the question.
Ask yourselves,
What should I do to be wildly successful Lynne A.
Robinson?
In 2012,
Sphinx founder Sarah Blakely was crowned by Forbes as the youngest self-made female billionaire.
At 48,
She's worth a whopping 1.
1 billion today,
According to the publication's estimates.
Blakely credits much of her success to her father,
Who encouraged his kids to fail.
"'We'd sit around the dinner table and he'd ask,
"'What did you guys fail at this week?
"'If we had nothing to tell him,
"'he'd be disappointed,
' she said.
"'He knew that many people become paralyzed "'by the fear of failure.
"'My father wanted us to try everything "'and feel free to push the envelope.
"'His attitude taught me to define failure "'as not trying something I want to do "'instead of not achieving the right outcome.
"'Everybody has a multi-million dollar idea inside them,
' "'says Blakely.
"'Edison said,
Genius is 1% inspiration "'and 99% perspiration.
"'The same holds true for innovation,
"'invention,
And entrepreneurship.
'" I remember that this same idea helped me the most when I first moved to Quebec.
I barely spoke French and needed to find work.
I also left my car in Saskatchewan,
So I had to find a place that was either walking or biking distance from my home.
The only problem was that I was living out in the field.
This left me with very few options,
And I was so shy to do an interview in French.
My mom,
As encouraging as always,
Challenged me to go out and fail.
As a child,
I'd always wanted to impress my parents and never let them down,
But now she had given me permission to fail and not judge me for that,
But rather be proud if I went out to fail.
This encouragement was just what I needed to apply at a nearby company.
That interview is one I'll never forget.
At one point,
They asked me to do a dictation,
Which is very common for school-aged children to do in Quebec.
French is a language where the pronunciation hardly matches the spelling of words,
Unlike Spanish,
Which seemed so easy in comparison.
When they told me to do the dictation,
I didn't even understand what that word meant,
But I did it,
And I'm sure I failed epically on that part of the interview.
Then,
We had about 20 minutes with the bosses to answer their questions.
I could tell that one boss seemed impressed by me.
She saw my struggle,
Answered each question the best I could,
And told me I had learned French quickly.
When the interview was finally over,
I was walked out of the building and was told by one boss that she was less than impressed with me.
The other boss liked me,
And I was honestly surprised.
At that moment,
I really let go of the outcome and was proud of myself for simply showing up,
Showing up and being open to failure,
Showing up and having the courage to make a fool of myself.
A week later,
I found another job,
But did receive a phone call from that company,
Which I never answered.
I will never know if I was actually hired,
But to me,
I had already succeeded.
I believe that if we really want to receive the most enlightening answers,
We need to ask ourselves the right questions to unlock our truth.
How often do you stop and ask those deep questions that could create newfound clarity in your life?
For the last couple of years,
At the end of December,
I answer 50 year-end reflection questions.
Some of the reflections include,
Number one,
The most important goal I achieved this year was,
Two,
My greatest professional achievement has been,
Three,
My greatest relationship success has been,
Four,
These are the skills I have acquired this year,
Five,
A big mistake I made this year and the lesson I learned as a result was,
Six,
An obstacle or a challenge that I have overcome this year,
Seven,
This year I have learned the following about myself,
Eight,
Here is something I have learned about others,
Nine,
The books I read this year were,
10,
One time I stood up for myself this year was,
11,
One really cool thing I created this year was,
12,
This is how I grew spiritually this year,
13,
This year I have shown great courage when I,
14,
One contribution I made to my community was,
15,
This year I left my comfort zone by,
16,
My biggest time waster this year has been,
17,
If I could go back to the beginning of the year,
Here are some tips I would give myself.
It is so eye-opening for me to pause and reflect on my growth throughout the year.
I take awareness of people I met that had the most impact on me,
Goals I achieved but never acknowledged before,
Lessons I learned from my failures and even times when I was most proud of myself.
This has become such a precious tradition that I wanna keep doing year after year.
My partner and I share what we wrote,
Which helps us to connect and get a better glimpse into the other person's world that year as well.
I think it is essential to ask ourselves important questions throughout the year,
Especially if we are looking for clarity.
Luminita D.
Sovic from The Purpose Fairy writes,
Questions have power,
Great power,
Creative power,
And by addressing deep questions to yourself,
You will get profound answers from yourself.
He then writes 50 deep questions to ask yourself for deep insights.
One,
When was the last time I told myself,
I love you?
Two,
Am I a better person today than I was yesterday?
Three,
Are my actions guided by love or by fear?
Four,
Am I a good example for those around me?
Five,
Is the life that I am living the life I want to be living?
Six,
What would I do with my life if I knew there were no limits?
Seven,
Do the people I surround myself with add any value to my life?
Eight,
Am I a human being or a human doing?
Nine,
Am I following the crowd blindly or am I listening to my own heart and intuition?
10,
What would I do differently if I knew nobody would judge me?
11,
Do I treat myself with the love and respect I truly deserve?
12,
Why am I so uncomfortable with talking to people I don't know?
13,
What is one thing I could start doing today to improve the quality of my life?
14,
When was the last time I told myself,
I am enough?
15,
When was the last time I heard the words,
I love you?
16,
When was the last time I did something nice for someone?
When was the last time I did something nice for myself?
17,
When was the last time I learned something new?
18,
When was the last time I did something fun?
19,
Am I a happy person?
Number 20,
Am I a source of inspiration for my friends and family?
Number 21,
Who inspires me the most in this world?
22,
If I were to give one piece of advice to a newborn child,
What would it be?
23,
Am I holding onto something I need to let go of?
24,
Is there someone who has hurt or angered me that I need to forgive?
25,
What can I do today to live a better life tomorrow?
26,
When was the last time I read a book that had a major influence on me?
27,
When was the last time I said,
I love you to someone and meant it?
28,
When was the last time I made a new friend?
And 29,
Does my presence add value to those around me?
30,
Am I a pleasant person to be around?
31,
What parts of my life don't reflect who I am?
32,
What has my heart and intuition been telling me that I might be ignoring?
33,
Am I on the right path?
34,
Where am I not being honest with myself and why?
35,
Who is that one person I can talk to about just anything?
36,
Am I comfortable with being uncomfortable?
37,
Do I enjoy my own company?
38,
Can I be alone without feeling lonely?
39,
What is one thing I love the most about myself?
40,
Do I take things personally?
41,
What makes me happy?
42,
What do I think about when I'm alone?
43,
What am I most passionate about?
44,
Where will we go after we die and what's going to happen to us?
45,
Who are the people who believe in me?
46,
What do I want to be remembered for?
47,
If I were to die tomorrow,
Would any of this matter?
48,
If I could live anywhere in the world,
Where would I live?
49,
Do I love myself as much as I expect others to love me?
50,
What am I most thankful for?
French novelist,
Anatole France wrote,
The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.
Being curious about ourselves is such a gift.
It opens us up to learning so much about ourselves,
Things we likely may not think about.
Curiosity about others is an even greater gift.
An Irish writer,
James Stevens wrote,
Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
And I agree,
Curiosity is an important factor in leadership principles.
Learn and be curious is Amazon's fifth leadership principle.
Have you ever thought about what this means?
The world's celebrated leaders are those that never settle and are curious to learn about new possibilities.
They always seek to improve themselves.
In what way are you questioning things as it relates to your work and relationships?
I believe that the answer to business success all lies in the questions we ask ourselves.
