Welcome

Have you ever…

Walked away from a conversation feeling there was more to discover, thinking about the perfect question you didn’t ask that now you wish you had?

Been in a job interview determined to ask an exceptional question that demonstrates your intellect and who you really are?

Wanted to learn more about what’s going on in your children’s lives?

Sat in a Boardroom digging for forensic questions to uncover an inspired solution to a compelling challenge?

Been curious to learn more about your parent’s life story?

Had pent up emotions in your relationship, needing the right question to start a healthy conversation and avoid an argument?

Felt stuck and in need a fresh way forward?

Easy access to a search engine gets you the answer to practically any knowledge question in 6 seconds. The powerhouse skill this simple book invites you to unpack is not sourcing more existing information; it’s freeing yourself up to ask the right questions at the right time to take you somewhere new.

Why are Questions such a spectacular tool to build more success into your life?

The pace of change has never been so fast and will never again be this slow. With your attention being fragmented by a kaleidoscope of media and distractions, focus management now eclipses time management as a priority in achieving your goals. Quantum leap questions are a tool you use to harness your focus to bring your best thinking to life, you can then invest that thinking into any room you’re in.

What is the consequence of not asking good questions? A wise woman in her eighty’s told me that when you are young you have a narrow waist and a broad mind and as you get older, the two have a tendency to switch… brilliant! A lack of curiosity can corner you into limited, rigid thinking, missed opportunities and a fear of the future. We are living and working longer so whether you’re 20 or 80, it’s empowering to embrace a curious, optimistic, engaging approach to life. We must avoid the downward spiral of mindset malnutrition and nourish our thinking to thrive into the future being agile, creative, joyful and receptive to learning.

Questions that sharpen your critical thinking are a daring, heroic partner in creating your ideal future self. They decode unproductive habits, enlighten and infuse your thinking with fresh understanding, solve confounding problems and build fresh points of view. They will help you…

Increase your confidence

Harness your focus

Be smarter with your money

Avoid making errors of judgment

Enrich your relationships

Identify your own blind spots

Make clearer, better-informed decisions

Understand yourself and others better

Artful questions open up your world, they blow away psychological cobwebs to help you rise above fields of fear and effectively navigate challenging terrain. Good questions add richness and flavor to your conversations, they challenge entrenched thinking to free up new possibilities.

Enjoy!

About the Author

Murray Altham is a unique Keynote Speaker, Author and Trainer. Beginning his professional life as a Chef, he moved into the fitness industry, then a successful two decades in the Pharmaceutical industry in many fascinating parts of the world. As a presenter, he’s described as “an experience that takes you places!” Murray is the author of three popular books… Hard Boiled Habits ‘How to crack the code to change’, Quantum Leap Questions and Fired Up, Fit and 55 all available at www.murrayspeaks.com

His most requested Keynote presentations and workshop’s include-

Being a Champion with Change

Winning Wellbeing

The Powerful Presenting Workshop

Building a Peak Performance Environment

You Are The Asset: The Power of One.

Murray designs vibrant learning experiences that help you achieve your objectives and beyond, delivering inspiring energy to your event, “when people are laughing, they’re learning!” His focus is empowering individuals to to bring their A game to any room they’re in.

“Innovated individuals are the most potent and valuable capitol in any enterprise, the impact of personal innovation is powerful, unique, and underestimated. When you have strong, confident, energized, mission clear individuals contributing their A game to any room they’re in… you win, the team wins, your customers win and your brand wins!”

To connect with Murray visit www.murrayspeaks.com

Insight #1 Time to grow

Let’s begin with a simple truth. What you are naturally good at and your best thinking got you to where you are. The next step is… to create new results, you need to go beyond what you’re naturally good at and build new strengths. The skills in this book are tools you can use to build a bridge between where you are and where you want to be.

The brilliant part is if you want to improve, change, solve new problems, lift your thinking and prepare for the future, you can do that because you are the asset that creates all of your other assets.

More than ever, your professional and personal development is in your hands. There is an expectation that you are building fresh skills, developing your strengths and keeping up with new ways of thinking. The more responsibility you take for your future, the more power you have in your hands. In the future, many companies will hire for attitude and train for skill. In the same way you constantly upgrade your technology, it makes sense to upgrade your interpersonal skills to match and high caliber questions light the way for you. You use a question on a situation to pry it open and see what’s inside. As a bonus, understanding why and how you do things contributes to your confidence and peace of mind.

Have you ever struggled with unproductive fear? Did it freeze you in your tracks and create self-doubt? The opposite of fear is not courage; it’s curiosity. We can be fearful of things we don’t understand and understanding comes through asking good questions. Curiosity is expansive; it broadens your understanding and the options available to you; questions keep you awake to life!

We invest time and energy maintaining our game face, stepping into the world looking like we have our act together while knowing none of us are an island of perfection! That performance can deliver a rigid mindset, something we rely on to get through life as we unconsciously reinforce and dance with our limitations. Questions and self-reflection create space to explore your potential and build your confidence so step forward with good humor and compassion, for yourself and others, as you work on growing yourself.

The price of moving your potential in new directions is releasing yourself into the unknown, to step boldly into the unfamiliar and bravely engage with what you’re not naturally good at. It is only in the realm of the unfamiliar where new possibilities exist and questions are the keys that open the door to these fascinating new discoveries. You may even find genius you didn’t know you had. Everything you are good at you were once bad at, even the basics like walking and now look at you go!

For things to change, you need to change. A changed you has the power to change your future!

What if you like it better the new way?

What if you succeed?

What if it gives you more confidence?

What if you find a solution?

What if you discover new talents?

What if it makes you better?

What if you discover you love something new?

Let the adventure begin

What makes exceptional questions the key? Having the right question for the right situation helps you see the invisible. What you currently see is based on what you currently know. Questions combined with listening and reflection put you in the discovery zone. You’ll be amazed at what you find!

Questions reveal new and extraordinary things about your life, your work and your relationships. You use questions as an onramp to fresh insight, opening up a world of wonders for your thinking. It helps you stand out as a bright, curious thinker. Every new idea comes about as an answer to a question.

For example, ask yourself these questions about your communication skills

Why are communication skills valuable?

Which communication skills do I admire in others?

What communication skills are important to me?

How did I get the communication skills I have?

When was my last communication skills upgrade?

What benefits could a skills upgrade deliver for me?

Beliefs

What’s the difference between a belief and a fact? Your potent beliefs are those reached through your own understanding. Understanding is built through questions you ask and questions posed to you by others. Leading with questions will stop you talking when you need to be listening, creating space for understanding and insight to help you grow.

Innovation is all about discovery and extraordinary discovery comes from asking the right people or the right situation revealing questions. Sometimes asking the wrong question helps identify the right question, the key is to be curious and ask.

Who knew thinking time would become the rare, sought after luxury item it is today! It’s a priceless commodity enjoyed by those present enough to push back as our attention continues to be hijacked. Create uninterrupted time to think because your actions follow your thoughts

It’s impressive to be around those who ask imaginative questions, people who seem fascinated, interested and committed to a line of enquiry. Great communicators and leaders are always superb listeners, driven by curiosity to understand who or what is before them so they can be better and do better. Switch judgment for curiosity to progress your thinking

You are the magic!

You are the magic in this learning equation. Professional growth comes from the outside in. Personal growth comes from the inside out. When you activate both at the same time; WINNING! No one can stop you thinking better, thinking bigger, thinking smarter, leading better, creating more clarity, focus, peace of mind and vision. All you have to do is ask yourself insightful questions, make time to contemplate the answers and invest this knew insight into creating your future.

Are you future focused?

The speed and size of change in your professional life may feel overwhelming, which can be unsettling. Don’t waste valuable energy wishing things wouldn’t change, it’s tempting and can feel comforting; it’s just not helpful and doesn’t solve anything. Imagine driving a car with a blanket on the screen and you’re trying to move forward looking in the rear view mirror, it makes things difficult. There are new industries that will need smart, agile, curious people of all ages and skillsets to drive them forward. Keep an open mind and maintain a positive attitude, it will be an asset!

Insight #2 The mechanics of a good question

A powerful question travels well, revealing new insights as it ricochets around your mind like a pinball machine, lighting up your neural networks. When you ask smart questions, you open the door to break-through thinking. You create movement, insight, revelation and actions that facilitate change. The right question can inform your position and widen your vantage point, helping you with your next steps.

Adjust your pace

To use questions effectively, take a deep breath and lift your foot off the accelerator. It’s one of those things that you appreciate as you get older and you wish you had invested the time to ask better questions around some of the decisions and choices you made in your life. That you had taken the time to consider, expand and explore in greater width and depth the impact of those choices, to have been more considered, more curious and less of a know it all! Defiantly challenge your own assumptions’ confidently question others and step forward with more informed, rational thinking.

Mining a team for Gold

In a leadership role, questions are tools that help you reveal undiscovered superpowers in the team around you. As a leader your task is not to foresee the future, your task is to enable it to unfold, being future fit for whatever comes your way while lifting those around you.

You may ask a team member to briefly speak about what they perceive as their biggest strength. The team can then dig deeper into that strength by asking questions to see what they can uncover and use in their work.

Just a thought experiment… Imagine if every News Bulletin reported the great events throughout the day where people had solved problems, achieved excellence, encouraged, helped, inspired, had a go, overcome fears, learnt from mistakes, succeeded and lifted their life to new levels? Imagine that bombarding your thinking 50 times a day. You’d be unstoppable!

Insight #3 Luxury Listening

Being really listened to and heard is a rare and wonderful experience. Some people are excellent listeners and some of us can fall into half listening and half thinking about what we're going to say next. To sharpen your listening skills, work with a friend and pick a couple of questions to ask each other. Actively listen to the response and probe beyond the first layer with 5 good questions. Ask them to expand on their thoughts, perspectives, and ideas. Don’t interrupt, bite your tongue if you need to and allow silent space for them to express themselves without interruption. Just ask questions or repeat back a summery of what you heard to clarify (active listening). You’ll be fascinated by what you learn.

Insights on working with aggressive people

A child yells and screams because they want something or they’re in pain. If you get caught up in the yell or scream, which is just the alarm, you miss the need beneath the alarm or jump to a quick conclusion. Adults can be the same so, if someone is being aggressive in a meeting or conversation, how do you find the needs beneath the words?

Aggression can be a statement of ‘I haven’t been heard, I haven’t been understood, I haven’t been given a fair chance and I’m annoyed that that’s not happening.’ As a starting point to move forward, help them feel heard, valued and ensure you’ve understood them. Three tips…

“I appreciate the vigor of your energy…”

“Let me just check for you, have I got it correct, what you’re saying is…?”

“It sounds like you’re really passionate about that?” (You’ve helped them transition from being aggressive to being passionate)

Insight #4 Your elegant escape clause… Have one!

Through questioning, you may experience how starved people are to be heard. Gifting uninterrupted space for someone to freely express themselves is an experience that may be new to them. Described to me by one of the reviewers for this book as opening Pandora’s box, as a listener, it can feel like you have unleashed a backlog of unexpressed thoughts. It is important to have healthy boundaries to end or redirect a conversation if you wish to. An example might be “Can I just interrupt you… Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I have other commitments today so we have about 10 minutes, is there anything you want to ask me?” It’s just a polite way to lead the conversation. Another useful example “ It feels like we’ve been here before, from what you’ve told me, what is your next step forward?” (My best friend reminded me I use that with him!)

With a coaching client, part of pre-framing our discussion is saying, “At times I may interrupt you. I’m not being rude, it’s just that I have the information I need to help you move to the next step. This is not a coffee chat, we have an hour together and I want you to get as much value from this hour as possible, is that ok?” That way if we are veering off into rabbit holes and stories that aren’t useful, we have a decisive way to keep us on track and make the most of our time together.

Launch!

Print off the questions to have them with you in a meeting or conversation. As you grow in confidence, consider what questions would have been beneficial in your conversations or meetings. Practice asking effective questions and listening, just ask one extra question when you normally wouldn’t

If you can, please do this excersise now, it will take a couple of minutes to write them down. What are the top three questions people should be asking you? What could someone learn from your strengths and life experience? What is the best question someone could ask you to get the benefit of your experience, that would help in their own life?

There are six themes of questions for you as a starting point. Apply them in situations you’d like to handle more effectively. Asking questions seems such a basic concept. As you deliberately use good questions, it feels significant, even physically energising in its power to reveal better thinking and self-confidence. They can move you from feeling like you’re stuck in a dark corner to feeling like you’re walking the Swiss Alps in Summer. It’s simple and you get a lot of bang for your buck!

Create your own categories and questions as you find what works best for you. Language is powerful so crafting your own list of useful questions will fire up your intellect.

There is an interesting concept called Five Why’s. In old school language it’s like peeling an onion a layer at a time to get to the truth or significant understanding using why is / are / does [your problem statement]. Explore a situation and keep exploring past the superficial, socially acceptable, vanilla responses to get to the heart of the issue.

Good open ended style questions beyond what, why, how, who and when could be…
I wonder if…
I’m curious…
Help me understand…
Walk me through that
Could this be an example of…
That's interesting, I'm fascinated, tell me more...

Courageous questions come from a deep wish to understand something that matters. These questions evaluate, synthesize and analyze in order to spark curiosity, they speed date with other flashes of insight to explore somewhere new.

Knowledge emerges in response to compelling questions with solutions and innovation springing from that knowledge. They capture your attention, introducing the exciting possibility of something new.

Test-driving new questions

To experience the exotic and mysterious power of quantum leap questions, keep it simple and action orientated. Just like swimming, you can read all the books you like; at some stage you need to get wet so let’s dive in.

Step 1- Read through the questions and see what stands out to you
Step 2- Decide to be more curious
Step 3- Use a new question each day for 30 days, one on yourself and one in your life somewhere, that’s 60 good questions. If you’re in a meeting you may use “What is the best question we can ask right now?” or “What is a good question we can apply to this challenge?”
Step 4- Persist; like the gym, these are communication muscles that will take consistency and repetition to build.

First class Coaching and Mentoring centers on observation, curiosity and insightful questions. As you move forward, new behaviors are built on repetition, a combination of deconstructing the old and construction the new so enjoy the process.

Quantum Leap Questions

The questions following can be framed to ask another person and to ask you. If you are exploring an opportunity, go to the Exploring Opportunity questions. If you are planning an implementation, go to the Implementation questions, you get how it works. These questions are a focused starting point and you can and will come up with brilliant additions!

Release

Expanding vision

What is possible?

What is exciting to you about this?

How could it be?

If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you create for your life?

What are we doing to keep our goals and dreams alive?

If you physically couldn’t see a customer and you had to generate business, how would you do it?

If you had to double your income and halve your hours in the next twelve months, how would you do it?

Finding hope

Who do you know who has overcome the challenge you are currently facing?

What resources do you already have that can help you make forward progress?

Have you ever overcome an obstacle in the past? How did you do it then?

What gives you hope that you can overcome this challenge?

Feeling stuck

What is my definition of being stuck?

Why do I believe I am stuck?

Am I stuck because I lack certain skills or knowledge or because I know what to do and haven’t been applying what I know?

What’s the next best step I could take to move forward?

What’s something small I can accomplish and build on?

What can I do in the next 30 days that would completely invigorate my goals?

Clarifying goals

Are you crystal clear on what you want?

What do you want more of?

Are you pursuing your goals or what others are expecting of you?

What would you like your life to be like?

Which one of my goals am I currently advancing?

What is standing between you and your goals?

What are five things that make you happy?

Struggling to formulate answers

What advice would you give a best friend if they were in this situation?

What research can you do to find the answer to this problem?

Five years from now, looking back on this moment, what would the best decision be?

If you were pretending to know, what would the answer be?

What is a solution you’ve heard of but are yet to consider?

Discover

Assessing

What do you make of it?

What do you think is best?

What resonates with you?

What is the part that’s not clear yet?

What is the most interesting aspect?

Exploration

What is here that you want to explore?

What part of the situation are you yet to explore?

What other angles can you think of?

What are your other options?

What are the possibilities?

If you had your choice, what would you do?

What are possible solutions?

What will happen if you do and what will happen if you don’t?

What options can you create?

Who can give you another point of view?

Are their any assumptions you need to challenge?

Evaluation

What is the opportunity here?

How does it fit with your plans/way of life/values?

What do you think that means?

What is your assessment?

Uncovering obstacles

What seems to be the trouble?

What seems to be the main obstacle?

What/Who is stopping you?

What concerns you most about…?

What do you want?

Tell me why this doesn’t fit/work for you

Looking back

What caused it?

What led up to it?

What have you tried so far?

What do you make of it all?

What if…

If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?

If it had been you, what would you have done?

How else could a person handle this?

If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?

Courage

Expanding your comfort zone

If you were willing to be braver, what opportunities would open up for you?

What behaviors, if any, are undermining your progress?

Are there any decisions you are avoiding to make?

What if it works out exactly as you want? What would that look like?

What am I putting at risk by playing it safe?

Personal Power

What’s it like being around me?

Does the future I want need me to change?

What is the next step in solving my number one challenge?

What gets in the way of me asking more questions?

What new skill would have the greatest impact on my professional life?

Is this how I want to show up for the people close to me?

Am I responsible for the energy I take into a room?

What are my words delivering?

Where is my attitude taking me?

What am I not saying that needs to be said?

What am I saying that’s not being heard?

What’s being said that I’m not hearing?

Forgiveness

What would happen if I forgave this person?

How is holding onto this anger serving me?

Is there another way I can look at this?

What am I making this experience mean?

Is that accurate?

What emotions do I find most rewarding? How can I have more of those?

What would love do?

For our Lovers

What is a perfect day for you?

Is there anything you need from me?

Do you feel loved?

Is there anything we need to talk about that would make us happier?

With what you’ve just told me, would you like to just sit with it or would you like to discuss it?

Am I doing a good job helping you feel cherished?

Am I doing a good job helping you feel respected?

How are you?

What can I do to make your life better?

Act

Acting on learning

What will you act on from this? What will that action look like?

How can you make sure you remember what you have learned?

How will you pull all this together?

What stood out for you? What was the lesson?

Who is someone supportive you can enlist to encourage you to act?

What is the simplest step you can take in the right direction?

Is this a time for action? What action?

Implementation

What is the action plan?

What will you have to do to get the job done?

What support do you need to accomplish it?

What will you do next?

When will you do it?

What targets will you establish?

Networking

Are there any Podcast’s you follow that you’d recommend?

Who do you follow in Social Media that you find valuable to your work?

Have there been any books you’ve read that helped you?

What lead you into doing what you do now?

Who is an ideal client or what is an ideal opportunity for you?

Where are your next big opportunities coming from?

What is the latest trend in your industry?

Finances

Do I know how much it costs to run Me.INC every month?

Who taught me about money?

Is this a need or a want?

Do I need to learn more about my finances?

If I can’t pay cash for it, can I afford it?

What books could I read to increase my financial literacy?

Lift

Finding answers

If you knew nothing you said would be considered wrong, what answer would you give?

Have you run out of answers or have you run out of easy answers?

What research can you do to find the answer to this problem?

What advice would you give your best friend if they were in this situation?

Predictions

How do you suppose it will all work out?

What will that get you?

Where will this lead?

What are the chances of success?

What is your prediction?

Making Decisions

Have I thought this through?

Do I need other perspectives?

Based on what I’m dealing with, what is the next right move?

What is one thing I may not have considered?

Am I overestimating my understanding in this situation?

Summary

What is your conclusion?

How is this working?

How would you describe this?

What do you think this all amounts to?

Family

My friend Sharron Muscet, a wonderful Celebrant, whose work includes thoughtful and beautiful funerals, inspired these questions. Sharon invests significant time preparing with the families and noticed how often the families discovered something remarkable about their loved ones that they never knew. There are often gems to celebrate and learn from as we dig deeper into a life well lived. These questions help us be more curious so we can learn from each other while we’re here.

For our parents

How did you meet?

What was your wedding day like?

What is the greatest challenge you’ve overcome?

What is your best memory?

Why did you choose each other?

What was it like starting a family?

What are you proudest of in your life?

What piece of advice would you give your 21 year old self?

Social media, academic competition and family dynamics can make it challenging for a young person to navigate life. To find out what motivates your children, what they desire and what’s important to them, you need them to talk. Having an open dialogue helps you understand how to support them and you will learn a lot too! Stay calm and use your best listening skills.

For our children

What are three highlights and three lowlights of today?

Tell me more about that?

How did that make you feel?

What makes you say that?

What are you most looking forward to?

What do you think your biggest strength is?

Is there anything you don’t want to tell me?

Have you thought about what type of person you’d like to become?

What is your favorite question so far? What did that uncover for you? Always remember, you are your greatest, most valuable asset and quantum leap questions connect you to exciting new possibilities. According to a 2019 interview with Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, effective communication is the most desired professional skill; it allows you to build more human connection in a digital world. Take what you learn, appreciate the value of your uniqueness and step confidently into the future knowing that you are building an admired skillset, the rare art of asking great questions.

What will your story be in the next six months?