A New Question - and no answers?
Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 21:58 I’ve been spending some time experimenting with the best system to use the new question with. The question itself is not giving me any problems, but the context in which to get the best results from it is proving difficult to find.
I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that the best way to use it - for me anyway - is on its own without any list, not even a short one like 5/2 or other “no list” systems. In fact I’m not at the moment even bothering to get an answer to the question. I ask fairly frequently (but not obsessively) “What am I resisting not doing?” and then just act. It might be any type of action, such as continuing to do what I’m already doing, or starting something different, or even abandoning work altogether and doing something quite unexpected. But the important thing is that I don’t feel that I have to vocalise the answer to myself.
This changes the emphasis quite a lot. When I’ve been working with the question up to now, whether with a list or not, I have generally waited until I’ve finished the task I’ve been doing, and then I’ve asked the question with the purpose of identifying the next task.
But I find now that I’m more often asking the question at any stage of a task - and that either confirms what I’m doing, or makes some adjustments, or sends me off on an entirely different tack. So it’s more like being at the steering wheel of a ship - making minor adjustments to prevent the ship going off course, rather than making the big adjustment needed to actually change course. Of course when you are at the helm of a ship you have to do both, and so it is with asking the question.
So I’m still exploring exactly what the capabilities of this question are, and I don’t think I’ve got anywhere near to exhausing them yet. You may want to conduct your own experiments with it and you may get different results from me.
I’ll keep reporting back - and so can you in the comments.
Reader Comments (8)
All the discussion on the New Question is fascinating. When you introduced the concept of Standing Out, it took me a while to get my head round it, then it just clicked. I expect it'll be the same with the New Question. So in the spirit of experimentation, I'm going to plunge in without trying to analyse it all.
Over the last few weeks I've been trying to find a satisfying system that fits well with my way of working – or more truthfully, with my way of NOT working (i.e. procrastinating). I have a strong tendency to spend far too much time analysing and re-arranging systems and the tasks and projects within them, and spending too little time actually doing the tasks and projects. I can very happily spend all day doing the former, and no time at all doing the latter.
In my heart of hearts, I already KNOW what I should be working on, and all this over-analysis and tinkering with systems is just a way of avoiding doing what needs to be done. With the New Question placing more emphasis on the negative consequences of not getting a task done, I will hopefully find the motivation to do what's needed.
I have the advantage over you there. Over-analysis and tinkering with systems IS my work!
Hope it goes well for you. I've found it remarkably effective.
This has always been an issue for me -- at school and university I was terrible at exams and answering essay questions, because I just went into a cold sweat and my brain seized up, even though I did much better on other measures. Multiple choice aren't much of a problem because I tend to choose from the answers first before I look at the question -- it's surprisingly effective.
When I was taught at school to learn and be creative by asking questions, I just couldn't do it, and assumed that I was no good at learning and creativity. What I have learned relatively recently is that I am very creative and I learn new things very easily -- just not in the way I was taught to do it at school.
Now, I just absorb what takes my fancy, and the answers to questions I never knew I had just appear out of it all.
Most questions limit creativity, or restrict it to some extent, which is perhaps what is wanted in most cases.
So all of Mark's methods that involve asking a question don't work for me -- my brain simply doesn't work that way. In fact, they have the opposite effect and cause me to stop moving forwards and go into drift mode instead. This latest question “What am I resisting not doing?” drives me nuts -- I can't directly parse the question in order to use it in the wild, although the concept behind it is clear to me.
Standing out works very well for me. It clicked immediately when I started using AF1 -- it was the easy bit.
But there is still a lot of value to be had from the posts and comments about questions. I read them all, even though I feel uncomfortable (weird, huh?). The concepts behind the questions become part of my mindset, which subtly alters my choice of decisions and tasks. I guess that is the point of asking the questions -- to get to a point where you don't need to because it is automatic. Perhaps for me it is more organic. I can't use the questions directly; I have to absorb them over days or weeks and they either become part of my mindset or they don't.
<< Asking questions of myself doesn't work for me. I'm good at answers and solutions >>
How do you have an answer to a question that hasn't been asked, or a solution to a problem that hasn't been posed?
<< Multiple choice aren't much of a problem because I tend to choose from the answers first before I look at the question -- it's surprisingly effective. >>
Well, there you have it. Give the answer first and then ask the question.
I can't help but think of the classic story in martial arts and other areas where you start with "no method", learn the method so that you have additional competency, until you internalize the principles to such a degree that you again reach a state of "no method." :-)
I'm finding, for me, that I like the question, but I'm still a little divorced from it right now, and I can't "feel it" quite as strongly yet. In other words, it takes me a while to build up the feelings and discover them. I'm not as strongly attuned to the question yet I think.
I am currently rereading How to Make Your Dreams Come True. This latest use of the question seems in line with the Pull mode. Would you agree?
Yes, I agree. I hadn't actually thought of that, so thanks for raising it.
It does put a new perspective on it, which I will have to think about.