... PING!
How was your month? How many Lightbulb Moments did you get to experience? I'd like to share my biggest one with you.
Do you have kids? If you do, you will have probably felt the frustration that comes with that "why?" question. Why do I need to brush my teeth, why do I need to eat my vegetables, why can't I stay up all night, why is that person driving that car? Sometimes the most random questions that just don't have an answer for. Yes I have those kids!!
I also know that while I tried to answer those questions, there were occasions (let's be honest, more than I would like to admit) where I responded with a "just because, and stop asking so many questions!"
I am guessing from his poem, "I keep six honest serving men", Rudyard Kipling felt the same about his daughter! Check it out here if you haven't heard it.
Maybe you were that kid who asked too many questions. It seems that as we get older, we decide that asking questions is not a good thing, so we stop. The problem is, we only learn by asking, that's why kids do it, they are learning, so if we stop asking - then we stop learning.
Now I love the question Why.
You may have heard of Simon Sinek, he famously brought back the "Why" question in his book "Start with Why". He has some great Ted Talks, interviews and now has a training program all around finding and using your Why.
During my work as a trainer and coach I often ask my clients to consider asking great questions, and there is no greater question than Why? We need to be careful we don't over use it, or ask it in a way that could be annoying (like my kids used to!!) but a simple, "tell me why...?" can be so enlightening, it provides the person you are talking to, time to explain their point of view and also allows us to learn more deeply about a situation or feeling we were unaware of.
This question needs to come with empathy, it needs to be sincere, it should come from a place of curiosity and not of challenge or judgement.
It is also a great question to ask yourself. Why am I finding this hard? Why don't I want to do that? Why was today such a great day?
Why do I ask Why? Because it opens doors, it opens hearts and it opens minds. It is the key to the answer to all your questions.
Use it wisely and it will pay you back in heaps of knowledge.
Wondering why you don't ask Why? If you find it uncomfortable, you maybe doing it wrong. Why not ask me for some help?
Thanks for reading, I hope this has given you some things to think about and you have some of your own Lightbulb Moments.
I'd love to hear about them.
If you would like some help experiencing them, I'd love to help.
Please share this with anyone you know who loves experiencing Lightbulb Moments.
Enjoy the Ping!
Viki Johnston
Check out Why Simon Sinek loves Why as well
Viki Johnston, a Brit who has recently moved to Southern California with her family, is a self-confessed learning junkie. Having flunked out of school at 17, she spent the next 30 (cough) years trying to figure out why learning stuff is so hard. She made it her mission to help others believe in their abilities and achieve more than they thought possible. Now through her coaching and business focused training she helps others to experience the "light bulb moment" and strive to greatness.