Killer Questions
The need for bold and powerful questions in our lives
This article explains how killer questions have taken over the role previously held (in your mind) by fairy godmothers. And by the end, you’ll know how to create the most valuable thing you’ll ever own in your entire life…
I do my best thinking when I walk.
Where I walk, I pass rows of terraced houses where the front door opens directly onto the pavement.
That rectangle of wood is the thickness of my finger. It’s all that separates me from knowing the life being lived within.
What if I knocked on one of them and spoke to the person inside? What would I learn? Would it change my life? And for the better—or for the worse?
I don’t know.
But imagine if life was different. What if some people were willing to offer strangers life-changing opportunities? And these people painted their front doors bright red.
Then hung a sign on saying Please knock and speak to me.
What if everything you’ve ever wanted to change about your life started with you knocking on that door?
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Would you do it?
What if I told you that a similar situation exists in your life?
Would you use it?
In your life, you pass (metaphorical) red doors every minute of every day. And every one has a blank card hanging on it.
Currently, the doors are invisible to you. And the cards only exist as blank pages in your notebook. However, there’s a simple way to reveal the doors.
You have to pause and write a powerful question in your notebook.
The moment you do this, the door and card reveal themselves. There’s suddenly a loud mechanical click, and the door cracks ajar. Inviting you to enter.
You notice the card now contains the exact question from your notebook. All you have to do is walk through the door to reveal the answers that lie on the other side.
Killer questions
Your question doesn’t need to be a grand declaration or a detailed proposal. The door opens for any straightforward question, providing it’s bold and powerful. And it’s such that when answered well, will deliver significant value and benefit for you.
Then you have a killer question.
Killer questions cut through the noise in our life, get to the heart of what matters, and demand an answer that could change everything. These are not casual questions asked in passing. They are meaningful important ones that light a fire within.
You see, a powerful question is like a key. It unlocks doors to new thoughts, perspectives, and possibilities.
Because they may be hard to answer, they ignite our curiosity and stir us deep inside. Driving us to explore for answers that match the boldness of the question.
A killer question forces us to confront ourselves honestly and pushes us to think in ways we hadn’t before.
It’s not about the answers
In life, we may think that finding answers moves us forward. But it’s the questions we pose that shape our future. Questions that can’t be resolved instantly—they take time and effort to answer.
But because they’re bold and powerful killer questions, they’re always worth it.
The path to finding the answer might take a few days, or an entire lifetime. But you will find an answer. Or answers.
You may consider the question as your journey and the answers as intermediate (or final) destinations. But if you hadn’t posed the question initially—you wouldn’t be on the journey at all.
We don’t change because we find the answer—we change when we ask the question. The right question at the right time has the power to shift everything—our thinking, our choices, and so our direction in life. The questions you ask today will shape the future you live tomorrow.
When to think about killer questions
In the movies, an action hero always seems to think best under pressure. Coming up with the perfect answer in moments.
Some sad news for you here. You’re not an action hero—and your life isn’t a movie.
You don’t need to answer your killer questions immediately. The longer you think about the answer—the better the answer. And the more of them you discover.
Because killer questions aren’t quiz questions. There’s usually more than one answer—and you can combine several answers over time too.
And that word I just used—time—is a key element…
Consider the urgent / important matrix as a way to address your killer questions.
Everything you do in life lands in one of these quadrants.
If something is urgent, then you need to do the important elements immediately. The urgent but less-important ones are done afterwards. If it’s not urgent and not important, then maybe drop it altogether.
The key quadrant is the top right. It’s where your killer questions thrive.
Things important to you—but not urgent. So, you have time to consider and reflect on them.
Therein lies a problem. Procrastination.
Because it’s not urgent, it gets pushed out by urgent stuff. Which is often less important too. You must make time. And there is time.
Plenty of time.
Potentially, you aren’t prioritising it for the important stuff. How much time have you spent watching mindless content on TV when you could have been thinking about your killer questions in the past?
Deep thinking that uncovers powerful answers to your life-changing killer questions can be an exciting activity. It delivers value. It shapes your life.
Or you could just watch some more television.
Do meaningful—or watch meaningless. Your choice.
You can’t be wrong when you think to identify brilliant answers. With killer questions, often it isn’t about coming up with one correct answer.
It’s about coming up with an answer.
Then another answer.
And then an even better answer—and so on.
The mere fact you allow longer time to answer a killer question ensures you find the better answers.
After all, these are your important life questions. The ones that will make the biggest difference to, and for, you.
Backlogs of killer questions
Have you noticed how your life is going digital?
Banking. Healthcare. Shopping. Government services. They’re all changing.
The organizations involved call it transformation. They have teams of software developers coding these digital services. They use what’s called an AGILE process.
They break down the work into tasks called stories. Each one precisely written. The team checks every word to make sure the task is clear.
Then they rank them, most important at the top, forming a list.
It’s called a backlog.
The team operates in two-weekly cycles called sprints. That’s the plan. As soon as a team member completes a task, they grab the next one off the top of the backlog.
When the two-week sprint is over, the individual bits of work combine to deliver a new feature. Something that offers value to the end-customer.
Two weeks to get something significant done. Doesn’t matter how small, but something of value for the customer to see or do. Bit by bit, minor changes that build.
Writing’s the same. As can be your work and life.
You make a list of bold and powerful questions you want to answer—your killer questions backlog.
You shape them until they’re clear. You rank them. Then, when the time comes, you pick the most important one and get to work.
No urgency. No big rush. But moving forward, always making progress. That’s how you get it done. One question at a time.
What happened to all the fairy godmothers?
When you were a child, you heard stories that gave you hope. Fairy godmothers who grant you three wishes.
Bad news: fairy godmothers don’t exist. The dinosaurs ate them all.
Good news: your killer questions are new-age wishes you grant yourself. You can answer a new one every two weeks. For the rest of your life—if you wish.
Start a backlog of the killer questions you want to answer. You can add more any time. You can re-prioritise them any time.
They live in your important / not urgent quadrant. That means they are worth spending effort on, even if it takes time.
Your killer questions tend to be enduring in nature. If you took three years to answer an important one—then the answer still has value and relevance.
That’s what important means.
Your most-valuable asset
The item you should value most in life is your backlog of killer questions.
The second most-valuable asset is your mind—and the way you apply it to answer your killer questions. Brilliantly. Steadily. Progressively.
Each killer question is a doorway offering you a better future. Nail these over the coming months and years and you’ll achieve the life you want. The life which exists in your answers.
My coming posts will help you become a freaky thinker. The route to a better life.
Don’t you just love being alive today?