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If you've previously tagged "right now" tasks, that question could be asked from a sub-set of your FV list tasks (to be done over one week or one month horizon).
Emphasises Urgency, Mark Forester style. ("Urgency should be measured from the beginning of the task, not the end of the task")
What is less relevant than x?
Selects the least relevant tasks, and "working" them oftent entails deciding that they are truely no longer relevant, and so striking them permanently from the FV list.
What is closer to completion than x?
Quick list clean up.
What is more in line with [Goal] than x?
Focuses on completing a higher order goal, rather than mucking about in the weeds.
Make a deck of question cards pulling your favorites from above.
Draw a random question when you want to spice things up.
"Draw a random question when you want to spice things up."
... Alternatively, you could first preselect tasks using one question; adding a small circle to each instead of a dot; then build a second preselection from your ladder using another question, dotting each selected task by filling in the circles.
What would take me to the next level of growth?
What is hindering progress?
What is helping progress?
What would be natural and easy now?
In practice, I find that I need to build and "work off" 2-4 consecutive chains based on the "What is less relevant than x?" question to really prune down my list, depending on how much I've let my list coast. I began doing this when I realized that my list was becoming too cluttered with less than relevant stuff because I generally don't look at my list in terms of relevancy. Crossing off irrelevant tasks as soon as you come across it is good and all, except I tend to breeze over irrelevant tasks rather than stop, think about them, and judge them as irrelevant. Therefore, my list became longer and longer, with a huge "dead zone" between the root task and the next task I dotted. So when relying on the root task to clean up or "dismiss" the older, less relevant tasks doesn't work fast enough for me, I work off a few task chains with this question to pare my list back down to the stuff I actually want to work on.
For example:
1. I want to do Y before I do X, because I feel more resistance to Y (and feel like challenging myself at the moment).
2. I want to do Z before I do Y, because I need to get Z done this morning and it's relatively easy and quick to just do it now (and a good start-work warmup before the Y challenge).
As you can see from these two examples, different reasons may apply on the same chain. And remember that Mark wrote in the instructions: "There may be a whole variety of reasons why you might want to do one thing before another thing and all of them are valid." So no matter how you rationalize your chain, the act of building it and doing it in order implies that you really want to do Z before Y, and Y before X.
I have since experimented a bit with "What am I less comfortable with putting off than x?" and I find that it achieves the same end as the previous question, but it is easier to intuitively "answer" while breezing down the FV list.
(ie: you can generally judge the answer to the second question by an already existant "feeling" about each task, compared to the first question where you will occasinoally find yourself "thinking" about the task in question before "deciding" the answer.)
2. A bit morbid but realistic:
Tomorrow is not promised, what do I want to do before x?
Remember life and each day in it is about enjoying and improving, not always doing mundane tasks. If you have task not really assisting with either, then they should be deleted.
What is the best way to do X?
What task will set me up best to do X next?
What will give me more satisfaction by doing before X, as opposed to sometime after?
At the end of the day, if I don't finish the chain, what will I wish I did before X?
Apply the 10-10-10 question: Compared to doing X, what will put me in a better position in 10 minutes, 10 days, 10 months and 10 years?
"...be very cautious in subbing new questions....The real question was...crafted for balance. Any alternate...is not likely to have the same quality."
... That's the point — to develop a list of questions that will purposely throw off that balance. "What do I want to do before I do X?" creates balanced preselections. This alternate list of questions is intended to create narrowly-focused preselections balanced sharply in a chosen direction. An alternative to the standard question, not a replacement.
Ideally, we remember all the things we need to consider when creating a chain. We want to do things in an order that produces the greatest progress on the most important things. In reality? It's useful to try a new lens every now and then. If the results are the same, great! If not, it means we were forgetting an aspect of the original question.
If I think too hard about it the process gets bogged down. I don't even think of it as making a chain I keep in mind what 'x' is and scan my list seeking an answer to the question. I don't ask it about each and every item. I'm just searching for the answer. When I find it, I have a new 'x' which gets marked with a dot and go forward from there seeking the answer to the question.
I really like your description. Probably the best one I've read describing what's happening when one asks the standard question. And I like the "I'm just searching for the answer." part. It shows the system can be worked in a relaxing, intuitive way, and is probably how Mark intended it.