The Daily Question Process

This post will focus on a coaching exercise that was suggested to me at a conference I attended this morning with executive coach and author, Marshall Goldsmith. I'd like to try it myself with someone, so, if, after reading this, you're interested in trying it for a month or so, let's make that happen! Here's how it goes... 


Goldsmith and a friend simply ask each other a series of questions every day that help them live life more fully - and happily. Questions like:

• Did you do your best to increase your own happiness yesterday?
• Do you do something to make your wife happy?
• How many sit-ups did you do?  
• How many pages of creative writing did you write?

They each came up with their own list of questions based on things that they want to make time for / that have meaning for them. Goldsmith identified some of the major stakeholders in his life - like his wife and children - and asked them what they would like him to focus on on a daily basis. 

Goldsmith has found that the repetitive nature of the questioning eventually leads to action. For example, he says, when you get sick of being asked every day how many sit-ups you've done and answering, "none," you start doing some. When you are asked if you helped out someone less fortunate every day, that activity remains in the forefront of your thinking. And active questions - questions that focus on what you can do to make a positive difference for yourself and the world (versus passive questions that focus on what the world needs to do to make a positive difference for you) - questions like, "Did I do my best to maximize my performance yesterday?" - are especially effective.

Clearly, who you choose as your partner matters here. It will have to be someone you feel comfortable sharing your intentions with. More importantly, it will have to be someone non-judgmental who will not criticize you if your answer to a question like, "Am I current with my physical exams?" continues to be "no" week after week. Or maybe you do want someone who will push you if they notice your responses aren't matching your intentions. I guess there would have to be some groundrules established at the start of the partnership about how you want your partner to react to your responses. 

So, I'm intrigued and I'm going to start playing with the questions I would want to be asked every day: What questions would drive me to take actions that I want to be taking? What do the people I care about want me to be more aware of on a daily basis? I think even just coming up with the questions is a valuable coaching exercise. And if any one wants to go to the next step and try a daily check-in for awhile, I'm curious to try it out with you.  

Goldsmith himself was inspired to do this exercise based on a book by Atul Gawande called Checklist Manifesto, which sounds fascinating. Let me know, if you read it, what you think.