The Secret Question that Transforms Your Life for More Success and Happiness
“I don’t know if I can keep enduring this stress,” Emma, a friend, said. During our conversation, I shared with her an idea that could give her more energy.
To feel better, you can transform something stressful into something better. I use this question: “How can this be an opportunity?”
It’s valuable to use this question in two ways: “How can this be an opportunity for me?” and “How can this be an opportunity for me to serve others?”
I’ll give you two examples.
Example #1:
Emma told me about her concern with the following question on a job application: What is an assumption that people have about you that is wrong?
She asked me to show her an example of how she could answer this question.
I shared my answer:
People see me excel with public speaking, teaching, and on-camera presenting, and they categorize me as an extrovert. I have an introverted side that gives me another dimension. I have great empathy for people who have difficulty with public speaking.
Example #2:
Like me, Emma is a writer.
At one point, someone asked her for a writing sample.
“This terrifies me. How can one piece of writing demonstrate what value I can offer?” she asked.
She added, “Do you have an example you can show me, Tom?”
I shared my writing sample with her:
Scared. On the movie set, that’s what I felt in my gut. I was a first-time movie director. That day, I learned something that saved a man’s life. This lesson also turned my life around.
“Leave now,” an airport official said, while we were filming on the San Luis Obispo Airport runway. He didn’t care that he was breaking our original location agreement. We’d only been filming for 51 minutes. We had no way to finish the scene. This was a disaster. We’d have no ending for the movie.
Frantic, I looked at my binder with the script and notes. I was supposed to get the crew and actors off the runway in a few minutes!
We had the next shot all set up. The camera operator was supposed to film this shot with the twin-engine airplane. I heard the twin-engines roaring. Any minute, the plane would race down the runway, and the wing of the plane would glide over the camera. A quick shot. The camera operator could handle it on his own.
But I felt it in my heart: “Watch this!” I abandoned my script and notes and watched the whole movie set.
The plane races down the runway.
No! The camera operator is standing too tall. The wing will hit him.
I could yell to him. No time. I run to the camera operator, grab his jacket at the shoulders, and pull him down. The wing slices the air where our heads had just been.That moment saved a life. I learned to listen to my intuition. That’s my true guide and friend.
Emma smiled. She said, “Oh. I see how this real-life example seizes attention. It has emotion and urgency.”
Like Emma, we can feel great stress when called to answer questions or to show what we can offer.
You can transform your experience by asking the Secret Question: “How can this be an opportunity?”
Secondly, stay open to “opportunity for me” and “opportunity for me to serve others.”
Emma transformed her relationship to the job interview questions. She found them to be opportunities to grow as a writer.
May you discover more opportunities each day.
Call to Action
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This article originally appeared at GetTheBigYES.com
