Ever Feel Stuck In Your Business? Try Any of These 7 Power Questions to Get Unstuck

Have you ever felt stuck in a decision, a moment or a meeting where you just couldn’t move forward with as much certainty as you’d like?

If you’re in business that means you signed for a never ending flow of problems and finding solutions to such problems. What do I mean? Consider the reason you started a business and you’ll realize it was most likely related to one or all of the following:

• You wanted more income so starting a business seemed like a good way to control your financial destiny.
• You discovered something at work or in your industry that represented a thorn in the side of many yet no one took the time to remove said thorn. In other words, you saw a problem worth solving that no one else considered.
• You had an itch that no one could scratch so you decided to come up with the product or service that would solve that itch, so to speak
• You stumbled upon something that made you money, it came easy, so hey, why not start a business
• You witnessed an injustice and wanted to make it right

As you can imagine the list can go on and on, but the point here is that all of these reasons have one thing in common. They were a problem needing solving. As soon as you started solving problems for your clients you realized growing a business is a problematic beast in and of itself so now you’re faced with solving internal and external problems. The better you get at solving problems, the sooner you’ll grow. The faster you learn the longer you’ll stick around.

Over the years I’ve grown companies and helped others do likewise and I must confess the toughest problems to solve are those containing too much ego, insecurities, fears, doubts, identity and posing for position of control…..in short making it about yourself rather than the mission at hand of solving problems for your clients.

The following list of 7 prompts and questions have helped me tremendously in life and in businesses and think of them like magic levers that can dislodge any boulder blocking the flow of the river so to speak. When we experience flow we know we’re in alignment overall. When we get stuck it’s an opportunity for improvement and growth as an organization and as an individual.

7 Power Questions To Get Unstuck and Gain Momentum in Any Challenging Business Situation

1. How is this happening for me and not to me ?
   This simple prompt takes your experience out of the limbic brain where we default to fight, flight or freeze/faint. We react, we don’t respond. With this question we elevate the situation to our frontal cortex where we can respond and not be impulsive…..we go from victim to victor.
2. Has anything happened that should not have happened?
   Oftentimes our minds project into the catastrophic future and we find ourselves in a situation yet to materialize yet we make hasty decisions that have little to do with what actually happened.
3. Did something not happen that should have happened ?
   The reverse question of #2 above is also true. Do you find yourself in problematic situation because something didn’t happen but was supposed to? All too often do I witness myself and my teams trying to crack the code as it were, thinking we have all the necessary info. Sometimes all it takes is asking this question to realize we’re operating with incomplete knowledge that could easily be remedied.
4. Is life, limb or fortune at stake?
   How many times have you reacted disproportionately to what actually is happening? We all have and will continue to have moments like that. I honestly can look back at business and personal situations where my pride was at stake and I did whatever I had to so I would not appear vulnerable or at minimum like I had all the answers. Our fragile, yet loud egos will often send a message to our limbic, reptilian, monkey brain that life, limb or fortune is at stake and we physiologically will experience panic or anxiety. However, most likely what’s really happening is that our weakness or insecurity is about to be exposed which is fine, if you’re mature and wise enough to learn from it.
5. How would you define the problem at hand to an outsider, complete stranger?
   In business school, CSUN, I learned about the importance of defining problems well. A problem well defined is a problem 75% solved. Take out how you feel about the problem for a moment and imagine you had to write to an outsider, perhaps a consultant with a magic wand that’d make all your problems go away. How would you define the problem? Write it out and notice the amount of focus and self reflection this will take in order to get it right. I often challenge myself and my private clients to do this and almost 10 out of 10 times do we end up with a well crafted question / description and more importantly realize what the solution might be.
6. Is this problem important, urgent or both?
   In Stephen Covey’s book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” he talks about the difference between urgent and important. He also showcases what’s known as the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, that basically is a 2×2 quadrant with urgent / not urgent up top, and important / not important down the left side.

If you find yourself addressing all problems as urgent and important you’ll soon burn out. Consider that a question or problem, even a request from a team member can easily be categorized as either urgent or important. If not urgent, yet important you can address it a time better suited to you. If all you do is face situations and problems as urgent and important you have a time + boundary management problem. Get that straightened out first. Remember, money will replenish but time wont, so invest money into whatever saves you time…highest ROI possible — guaranteed.

7. If deemed important and urgent, why?
Take an honest look at how you spend most of your time and focus. Does it feel like you’re putting out the proverbial fires most of the time? Are you in demand and needed all the time? Do you have a hard time sleeping? These are all good indicators that you’re not protecting your most precious asset — time. Hence, if something feels urgent and important, ask why. Next, ask how you can reduce the amount of time running around with the fire hose looking for fires. Hint: spend more time in quadrant 2 and less in quadrant 1 (see image in 6 above).