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Questions for Better Thinking

"Transformation comes more from pursuing profound questions than seeking practical answers." - Peter Block

Welcome, You Curious Maverick! 👋👋

Congratulations, you've stumbled upon a treasure trove of thought-provoking questions that defy the ordinary and challenge the status quo. Here, we don't just settle for answers; we dive headfirst into the daring realm of powerful questions.

Power of Inquiry: Why Questions Matter More Than Answers

In a world where information is abundant, and answers are just a click away, why should we embark on a journey of questions? Because the art of inquiry is a portal to infinite wisdom and boundless exploration. It's the key to unlocking the doors of possibility and igniting the flames of creativity.
Questions are catalysts for growth and innovation. They break down barriers, shatter assumptions, and lead us to discover new perspectives and insights. Great thinkers and visionaries have relied on the power of questions to challenge conventions, reshape industries, and pioneer groundbreaking ideas.
As you delve into this collection, let go of the belief that answers hold all the solutions. Embrace the beauty of questions, for they are the compass that guides us through uncharted territories, where true transformation awaits.

My Quest for Questions Journey


How to Use This Collection:

Discover the art of powerful inquiry and tap into the full potential of this question collection through a series of transformative practices and rituals:
Question-Storming: Gather your thoughts, pen, and paper, and unleash a torrent of questions without judgment. Let the floodgates of curiosity open and explore uncharted territories of thought.
Thinking Time: Find yourself a cozy nook, a journal that speaks to your soul, and allow these questions to fuel your thinking. Delve into deep contemplation, unearthing treasures buried within your mind.
The 1 Thing: Zero in on the single most important question—the one that, if answered, would make everything else easier or unnecessary. Let it be the guiding star in your quest for clarity.
Amorati Daily Ritual: Adopt the daily ritual of the Amorati—a practice that sharpens your focus and keeps you aligned with your purpose and passions.
Your 12 Favorite Questions: Embark on a journey of self-discovery by exploring the questions that align with your mission, values, and vision.

Unveil Your Beautiful Question



Join the Maverick Community

But wait, there's more to this expedition! By joining the Quest for Questions community, you'll gain access to exclusive content, engaging discussions, and the chance to connect with like-minded seekers from around the world. Our newsletter is a treasure trove of insights, delivered right to your inbox. Plus, you'll be the first to know about exciting updates, new question collections, and captivating explorations.
In the age of misinformation, we reject mediocrity and embrace the thrill of uncertainty. As the legendary Richard Feynman once said, "It's much more interesting to live not knowing, than to have answers that may be wrong."
So, fellow seeker, if you're ready to embark on a quest that transcends time and space, grab your hat of inquiry, fasten your seatbelt of curiosity, and join the ranks of the trailblazing mavericks.
Ready to take the leap? Let's dive into our Maverick's Guide to Rule-Bending Questions and unlock the secrets that lie within.

Practices


Question-Storming
Thinking Time
The 1 Thing
Amorati Daily Ritual
Your Mission Questions

By Categories:

⁠

Personal

Life-Changing Questions

What in life gets you really excited?
What could you do to bring more of what really excites you into your life?
Summarized in just a few sentences, what is your life's story?
What would you like the next chapter of this story to be?
What would you say is the greatest accomplishment of your life so far? Brag for a minute.
What do you want to make sure you do, achieve, or experience before you're gone?
In recent years, what's the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself?
Who inspires you most, and why do you find them inspiring?
What was the biggest turning point in your life, and how did that experience change you?
What are you taking for granted that you want to remember to be grateful for?
Think for a moment about the biggest problem right now in your life. If that problem was happening to a close friend instead of to you, what would you say to comfort or advise that friend?
What meaningful or important thing should you tell a particular person that you haven't said to them yet?
When are you going to tell this person this meaningful or important thing?
What's one of the best days you've had in your entire life? Describe what happened that day.
What in your life that you have the power to change is most limiting your long-term happiness?
What could you start doing now to address what you said is most limiting your happiness?
If you had to have roughly the same work day, 5 days a week, for the next 10 years, what activities would you ideally want this work day to consist of?
What can you do to make your current job closer to this ideal, or to help you get a job that is closer to this ideal?
What is the most important thing that you know you really should do but which you have trouble getting yourself to do?
What could you do now to make it more likely that you actually do this important thing?
What do you think is holding you back from achieving more in your life than you've achieved so far?
What could you start doing now that would help address what you said is holding you back in life?
In your opinion, what is the purpose or meaning of life?
How is the very best version of yourself different from the way you sometimes behave?
What has kept you hopeful in life's most challenging moments?
During what period of your life were you the happiest, and why were you so happy then?
Imagine that you received a message from a version of yourself five years in the future. What warnings would the message give you, and what advice would it offer about how best to achieve your goals?
If you knew for a fact that you were going to die exactly 10 years from now, how would you change your current behavior?
Suppose you knew that you were going to die instantly (but painlessly) in exactly 7 days. What would you spend your last week doing?
If you could plan one nearly perfect (but still actually realistic) day for yourself, what would you spend that day doing? Describe that day, from when you wake up until you go to sleep.
When is the soonest that you can treat yourself to this perfect day, or to another day that you'll really enjoy and remember?
What valuable things have you learned, or what useful takeaways have you gotten, from answering these questions?


Personal Questions

If I had a board of directors, would they give me a raise, or would they fire me?
If You Inc. was a publicly-traded company with stakeholders would the stock price be rising, falling, or threading water?
Where has the ‘job’ mentality of the comfort zone, the path of least resistance, and do the least expecting the most crept into my thinking and performance?
Where are the growth opportunities I postponed because they require extra effort or are outside my comfort zone?
What business skills do I need to learn, so that I can create the leverage required to be a successful owner? Who can I learn them from?
How important is learning this business stuff and how fast do I need to learn it?
How do I define excellence?
Why shouldn’t that be the standard I work towards regardless of my ownership %?
If I had a board of directors, where do I need to pick up my game to deserve the raise or incremental profits I’m seeking?
What should I be doing which would add more value?
What am I doing that could be done by someone else?
What can I (and only I) do?
What shortcuts am I trying to take?
What skills do I need to master to attain the success I want?
Realistically, how much additional time and practice are required for me to achieve my outcomes?
Who can I hire as a coach or mentor to help guide me and hold me accountable?
Where do I need to practice to improve my game and thus deserve the success I want?
Where do we need to pick up the level of intensity on how we are playing this game?
What are the 50 most important lessons I learned from my stupidest decisions and biggest losses and biggest mistakes?
Where am I making them again?
What do I need to change immediately to avoid dreaded dumb tax?
What are the rules I need to put in place to avoid those mistakes?
Who around me is screaming alternative solution but I’m not hearing it?



After Action Review Questions

What were the objectives of XYZ endeavor?
What actually happened?
Why was it different from the objective?
What went well?
Why did these things go well?
Why did the things go wrong?
What are we gonna do different next time, and how?
What’s the ONE Thing we’re going to do different next time ?

6 Common Questions Transformed


How do you do it? → What is the refusal I’ve been postponing?
How long will it take? → What is the commitment I’m willing to make?
How much does it cost? → What is the value of it to me? / What price am I willing to pay to get there?
How do you get those people to change? → What is my contribution to the problem?
How do you measure it? → What is the judgment I need to make?
How have other people done it successfully? → What is the contribution I want to make? / What do we want to create together?

The 1 Thing

What's the ONE thing I can do to help others such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to achieve my diet goals such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to ensure that I exercise such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to relieve my stress such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to improve my skill at <......> such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to find time for myself such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to improve my relationship with my partner such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to ensure that I hit my goals such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to further my career such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
What's the ONE Thing I can do to increase my net worth such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

The Mother of All Questions

What question if I had an answer to, would set me free?

Thinking Prompts — Socratic Questioning

Attributes and Tendencies
What characterizes (X) ?
What do I mean by (X) ?
If (X) could utter a single line it would be…
Other ways to describe X would be…
(X) is kind of like …
What do I already know about (X)?
Could I expand upon that point further?
An example of (X) would be...
⁠
​Similarities and Differences
- *(X) reminds me of ... because …*
- *Isn't this (X) argument similar to that (Y) one?*
- *Haven't I heard this before?*
- *(X) is similar to (Y) in this respect. It differs from (Y) in this other respect.*
- *What would be an alternative? *
- *How are (X's) and (Y’s) ideas alike? Different? *
- *(X) is somehow related to…*
- *Are X and Y ideas contradictory or do they compliment each other?*

⁠
Viewpoint Questions
- *What is another way to look at (X)?*
- *Why (X) is necessary-or beneficial and who benefits?*
- *Why is (X) the best?*
- *What are the strengths and weaknesses of (X) ?*
- *What is a counter argument for (X)?*
- *Compare... and... with regard to... *
---
Parts & Wholes
- *Is (X) a Genus or a Species*
- *Rectangle : Square*
- *(X) is a part of…*
- *(X) is made up of the following parts…*
- *(X) is an instance of (Y). (X) is itself composed of a,b,c.*
--- ​Assumption questions
- *Why would I make this assumption?*
- *What am I assuming here?*
- *What could I assume instead?*
- *How can I verify or disapprove that assumption?*
- *What would happen if...?*
--- ​Significance and Implications
- *What does (X) mean for (Y)?*
- *Why did the aspect I wrote down catch my interest?*
- *(X) is important because…*
- *What does this all mean for my own research and the question I think about in my slip-box?*
- *How does (X) apply to everyday life?*
- *What generalizations can I make about (X)?*
- *What are the consequences of that assumption?*
- *What am I implying by that?*
- *How does ... affect ...?*
- *How does (X) tie in with what I have learned before? *
- What effect would that have?
- *Could that really happen or probably happen?*
- *What is an alternative?*
- *If that happened, what else would happen as a result?**
- *Why?*
​Reason and evidence questions
- *What would be an example?*
- *Why do I think this is true?*
- *What other information do I need?*
- *By what reasoning did ___ come to that conclusion?*
- *Is there reason to doubt that evidence?*
- *What led ___ to that belief?*
- *What is .... analogous to?*
- *What do you think causes to happen...? Why:?*
- *What evidence is there to support this answer?*
​Origin or source questions
- *Is this my idea or did I hear if from some place else?*
- *Have ___ always felt this way?*
- *Has ___ opinion been influenced by something or someone?*
- *Where did __ get that idea?*
- *What caused __ to feel that way?*
--- ​Questions about an initial question or issue
- *Why is this question important?*
- *Is this question easy or difficult to answer?*
- *Why do/does __ think that?*
- *What assumptions can we make based on this question?*
- *Does this question lead to other important issues and questions?*
- *What answer can I expect by asking the question in this particular way?*
- *What was the point of this question?*
- *Why do you think I asked this question?*
⁠

Business

Questions to Uncover Different Systems Archetypes

Fixes That Fail
Have actions been taken to respond quickly to a crisis without much consideration of long-term consequences?
Have similar actions been taken in the past in response to similar crises?
Shifting the Burden
Are actions taken to alleviate problem symptoms shifting attention away from more fundamental solutions?
Are there additional consequences that systematically erode the underlying capability of the organization?
Limits to Success
Are once-successful programs experiencing diminishing returns?
Are there limits in the system that are constraining the growth?
Drifting Goals
Are there goals or standards that are eroding over time?
Are people focused on achieving the goal or on reducing the discomfort of not being at the goal?
Are some goals being met at the expense of others?
Growth and Underinvestment
Do investments tend to be made as a reaction to growth rather than in Underinvestment anticipation of growth?
Do problems created by growth, rather than long-range planning, act as the organizational signal to invest?
What would happen if investments were made earlier, in anticipation of limits to growth?
Success to the Successful
Is there a resource for which allocation decisions are in a zero-sum game?
Does the success of each party depend on receiving the same resource?
Does allocation of the fixed resource depend on success of the parties involved?
Escalation
Are there two or more players whose individual actions can be perceived as a threat by the others?
Does each player have the capacity to respond to a sense of threat with actions similar to the other party’s?
Tragedy of the Commons
Is there a large number of players who have free or equal access to a common and limited resource?
Is the system set up to be self-regulated, with no overarching governing body?
Is there any regulatory or coordinating mechanism for managing the commons? If so, is it effective?

Testing-the-Impossible Questions

What if I do the opposite of what I normally do, for 48 hours?
For business ideas: what do I personally spend a lot of money on?
If I had $10 million, what would I be doing differently? Do I really need $10 million to get this lifestyle today?
What’s the worst that could happen? If it did happen, could I recover?
If I capped my working time to 2 hours per week, what would I do?
Delegation: What if I give complete freedom for decisions up to $100? $500?
What’s an underrated channel for marketing or promotion?
Marketing: What if I don’t pitch my product directly?
Education: Instead of a formal degree, what if I made my own degree?
If I lost something, do I need to make it back the same way?
How could I solve this problem by simplifying and subtracting ONLY?
How can I disappear for 4 to 8 weeks without having my business or work crash?
Am I hunting lions or mice?
Might I actually be completely content?
What would this look like if it were easy?
How can I use money to solve this problem? How can I use money to improve my quality of life?
Can I take it easy and achieve nearly as much?

Breakthrough Innovation Questions

Examine binding constraints
What is the biggest hassle of purchasing or using our product?
What are some examples of ad hoc modifications that customers have made to our product?
For which current customers is our product least suited?
For what particular usage occasions is our product least suited?
Which customers does the industry prefer not to serve, and why?
Which customers could be major users, if only we could remove one specific barrier we’ve never previously considered?
Imagine perfection
How would we do things differently if we had perfect information about our buyers, usage, distribution channels, and so on?
How would our product change if it were tailored for every customer?
Revisit the premises underlying our processes and products
Which technologies embedded in our product have changed the most since the product was last redesigned?
Which technologies underlying our production processes have changed the most since we last rebuilt our manufacturing and distribution systems?
Which customers’ needs are shifting most rapidly? What will they be in five years?
Look beyond the boundaries of our business
Who else is dealing with the same generic problem as we are but for an entirely different reason? How have they addressed it?
What major breakthroughs in efficiency or effectiveness have we made in our business that could be applied in another industry?
What information about customers and product use is created as a by-product of our business that could be the key to radically improving the economics of another business?
Explore unexpected successes
Who uses our product in ways we never expected or intended?
Who uses our product in surprisingly large quantities?
“De-average” buyers and users
Which customers use or purchase our product in the most unusual way?
Do any customers need vastly more or less sales and service attention than most?
For which customers are the support costs (order entry, tracking, customer-specific design) either unusually high or unusually low?
Could we still meet the needs of a significant subset of customers if we stripped 25% of the hard or soft costs out of our product?
Who spends at least 50% of what our product costs to adapt it to their specific needs?

8 Category Levers

Different Benefit
What is a radically different benefit we can offer the customer/end user?
Different Experience
How can we make the experience so distinct that it is worthy of a price premium?
Different Price
How can we change the way consumers perceive value that is radically different?
Different Manufacturing
What radically different way can we make what we market?
Different Distribution
How might we distribute/sell what we offer in a totally unique manner?
What hook can we create that drives our most evangelistic customers (aka our Superconsumers) to spread our new category and offering virally and organically?”
Different marketing
How might we drive category awareness/consideration in a way no one else does?
Different profit model
How can we make money that is radically different from others?”

Reflection

What are the 3 things going well?
What are the 3 things to improve?
What should be getting done, that's not getting done because I'm doing the minor, not the major things?
Which activities I could stop doing and no one would notice?
What have I been procrastinating on doing that would help me get traction on the goal/project?
Where have I been active but not productive?
What are the three least productive things I'm doing?
What are the 20% of things I'm doing that are driving 80% of the results?

Outcomes & Priorities

What are the few specific measurable outcomes I’m optimizing for? Clear, measurable target on the wall?
What are the specific expectations I have on what the outcomes look like when they are achieved? What does success look like?
How do I successfully communicate these outcomes and create 100% clarity with my team about my expectations?
What one meaningful, specific outcome if I achieved it, would have a significant impact on my <area of life>?
What are the specific obstacles standing in my way of making significant progress towards that outcome?
What specific activities must I prioritize to make measurable progress towards that outcome?
What resources would need to be acquired or reconfigured to move the needle on this priority?
What are the 3 most significant things I can do this week that will kick the can and close the gap closer to my major priority?
What are the 3 things I would need to stop doing to make room for this major priority?
How do I regain control of my calendar and minimize the “got a minute” interruptions sabotaging my time?
How much time should I spend thinking about what I should prioritize and spend my time on?
What's the one thing that if accomplished would make everything else easier or unnecessary?
How can I move the needle with least amount of wasted motion?
How can I be more efficient with my prioritization and activities?
How can I be smarter and more competitive?

Structure

What is the structure we need to create the progress I want?
What are the missing structural components required to produce a consistent execution of critical drivers?
Where do we have disorganization, inconsistent execution, and chaos?
What is the structure of my calendar slipping that is preventing me from taking consistent action on my major initiatives?

The Machine

What is the specific plan that will serve as a roadmap and guide on closing the gap so we always know where we are in relation to the desired outcome and have clarity on what needs to be executed and connected
What are the specific measurable tasks that need to be created to deliver these outcomes?
Who will perform this task?
What are the skillsets and execution intelligence required to perform this task?
What are the resources/time/money/people required to successfully execute this plan?
What is the projected outcome and specific target date for the completion?
What are the interim milestones, dates, and progress points that will tell me if we’re on track for hitting the completion deadlines?
What is my strategy to overcome the primary obstacle in our way?
Check my assumptions - What am I really capable of doing?
What is the core problem I’m trying to solve?
What is the primary obstacle preventing me from achieving what I want to achieve?
How much of my lack of progress is the result of inconsistent execution?
Where have I built a strategy that we simply cannot will not execute?
What can I do today to improve my situation?
What are the existing or easily acquired resources, strengths, or under-utilized assets at my disposal?
What would I do if I only had $1,000 to spend on the solution? $10,000?
Where have I allowed my lack of resources to become the roadblock for my lack of resourcefulness?
What strategies have I tried in the past, that are viable but are not getting executed?

Measuring

Where are my results weakest?
What keeps me up at night and what am I measuring to identify the problems and improve the situation?
What are the 3-5 critical drivers I need to measure to ensure the progress I want?
What is the standard of each critical driver and are these standards clearly communicated to the person responsible for achieving them?
What are the hard conversations I need to have based on the results we’re getting so that we can correct and improve?
Based on our measuring, what is the training needed to raise our performance and improve our results?
Where exactly is our consistency of execution deficient and what needs to be done about that problem?
What is a dashboard I need to create so my measuring, creating drivers, and standards are all in one place and easy to digest?
Based on the optics I receive from my measuring where have we settled for mediocre and average instead of demanding excellence?
What needs to change to hit our standards and produce excellence?

Excellence

What is my vision of excellence?
Where is my level of engagement and focus inconsistent with the outcomes I desire?
What needs to happen for me to become one of the top 10 experts in my field?
Where am I dabbling?
If my vision of excellence is mastery, what needs to change, and how would I live my life?
What do I need to be executing on a consistent basis that will allow me to get better and achieve mastery?
Where have I focused on success, getting there, and I’m missing the distinction of excellence?

Problems Deferred

What decisions have I been postponing in the irrational hope that the problem will solve itself?
I am aware there’s one primary decision in my business that I have been avoiding and that this decision is the thing that’s holding me back. What am I gonna do about it?
What is the decision I know I need to make?
What am I tolerating in my business that is sabotaging my results or is incongruent with my standards?
Where am I stuck?
What have we done in the past that has worked in solving this problem?
What is my largest competitor doing to address this issue?
What do I know I should be doing but I’m not executing or not executing on a consistent basis?
Where am I paralyzed because I’m looking for an easier answer instead of doing what I know?
Where have I allowed the need for perfection to get in the way of possible?
What can I do today to improve my situation?
If what I know is insufficient in making forward progress, what new strategies and skills do I need to learn?
Who do I need to learn them from?
What books, courses do I need to take?
Where is my shovel and why am I not using it?

Culture

What culture do we have now?
What is the culture we want to create?
If this was the most toxic place to work in, what would the culture look like? (Think opposites)
What would the culture look like if we were to become the employer of choice
What are the beliefs employees must have that has led to the culture of now?
What are the specific rituals we can create which will help to create and memorialize our new culture?
What are the difficult conversations I need to have to reset the culture?
What are the simple rules of the game which we must adapt to create a culture in which people are committed to excellence and do the best work?
I know apology speech is just the beginning, what are the follow-up initiatives to make sure it sticks?
What are the rituals I must create to help us reinforce and follow through on this message?
How can I instill ownership of those rules in my employees?

Plan

Am I currently executing an idea or a plan?
If it’s an idea what does the plan need to look like?
Where have I let my ideas become the substitute for my quarterly and annual plans?
Since a plan is always executable, do I know which actions to perform next week, month, next quarter to move the needle toward my outcome?
Does my team know what they are supposed to be doing to get us from here to there? If so, what specifically?
Where are my current results deviating from my plan and what are our critical driver performance metrics that must be monitored in light of variance?
How does my budget vs actual financial comparison stack up?
Were there some faulty assumptions in my plan? Where?
Was I overly optimistic about the timeframes? Where?
Has the environment changed and thereby rendered my plan obsolete? If so, where and what needs to be done about it?
Was the original plan a good one, and the problem is lack of consistent execution. If so, where?
Where is the gap between our plan and results in a reflection of a mediocre team or weak players?
Is the team sound but the problem is a lousy culture, lack of training? Where?
Maybe training is good but the problem is - no one is measuring the critical drivers and taking immediate corrective action? If so, where?
How do I know which of these might be true and what needs to happen to correct this situation?

Sales/Profits

Why isn’t my business model more profitable on the amount of sales I’m currently producing?
Where are we incurring costs that do not support either keeping customers we got or getting new ones?
Where is the investment I’m making excessive for the returns I’m getting?
What must happen to reduce the investment and simultaneously increase the returns?
Is it possible I need to tweak my business model by redesigning the machine?
Knowing what I now know, starting with a blank piece of paper, what machine would I design and how would I run the business?

A-Players

What is the scorecard I’ve created for each person on the team?
In evaluating my team, where have I settled for mediocrity?
When I really look at the quality, capability, and performance of the people I have on my team - where is there an opportunity to reset expectations, train, upgrade or replace?
Knowing what I know, are there any people on my team, I would not re-hire? What am I prepared to do about it?
Where are the weak links?
What can I do to upgrade the quality of my choices for enhancing the number of A-players on my team?
Since the team I have represents the vast majority of leverage I enjoy, what needs to be done to guarantee their success?
Is part of the problem with my team, a reflection of the culture I have created or tolerated?
What are the changes I must make to the culture and how am I going to do that?

Internal Strengths & Under-leveraged Assets

What skills, knowledge, competencies do we have?
Do we have any special or leverageable relationships or alliances in our network of contacts or customer lists that could give us access to groups of potential buyers?
What are the key alliances, testimonials, or influencer relationships we could develop that would influence potential buyers?
Competitively, why do customers buy from us?
Why isn’t this strength sufficient enough to cause more buyers to stop doing biz with the competition and instead do biz with us?
What is the key positioning statement or compelling promise of our brand?
What is the excess capacity we currently have, excess resources we currently enjoy that are underutilized?

External Needs, Environment, Competition & Pains

What is the niche I need to focus on that has the need/pain I could solve?
What are the primary pains or problems within this market?
What is this market most afraid of or frustrated about?
Where is this group of customers frustrated by the gap between what they want and what the competition is delivering?
What specific problem do they need to have solved?
What is the primary gain this target market wants to get?
People buy products to meet their needs, what is their need?
Where is our competition weak or deficient in delivering the outcomes and value or success proposition this target market demands?
Who are the decision-makers and what is the best way to access and communicate with them?
Are there any unique circumstances or market segments that would require special communication or decision-making considerations?
Are there any attractive market segments I can penetrate by finding a large group of potential customers that have a common problem and are already in close proximity?
“If I’m selling running shoes, can I access the local running club?

Opportunity

Based on our internal leverageable strengths and external competitive environment, what are the specific rupe market segments we have identified as ideal target customers?
How is this target different from our current customer base?
What are the additional resources, money, manpower, skill sets, expertise we need to acquire to successfully get traction with or penetrate this market segment?
Does our organization chart have some holes or upgrades that need to be filled in light of this new strategic opportunity?
What risk does this new opportunity represent?
What could go wrong?
How much capital needs to be invested to adequately fund this opportunity?
Can I live with the consequences should the risks occur?
What is the clear positioning statement or compelling priming that must be communicated to the target market segment?
What are the specific communication channels required to successfully reach these decision-makers?
What are the core activities that must be prioritized to ensure the success of these growth initiatives?
What are the non-core activities that need to be eliminated or deprioritized?
What are the clear strategic priorities or projects that must be implemented this quarter?
What are we optimizing for?
What are the specific numerical targets this new initiative is projected to achieve?

Keep More Customers

Why do people buy from me in the first place?
What value do they seek, expect, hope for?
What is their true problem, pain, frustration?
What is the compelling promise of our brand?
Is the message or promise I’m delivering to customers clear on what we can do for them, that the competition cannot or does not do?
What must happen to cause a customer to buy from me?
What must happen to keep the customer coming back?
Does the value we’re delivering exceed the price we’re charging? How do we know?
What changes do I need to make to my business to ensure my continued relevance to my customers?

Increase Referrals & Repeats

What % of my business comes from repeat customers?
Is that % growing? By how much?
What are we doing to ensure our customers keep coming back for 2nds?
What could we do that we were not doing to cause our customers to want a 2nd helping of what we’re serving?
How can we get them to come back more frequently?
How would I run my business if 100% of my future growth was by referral and repeat customers only?
What promise do we make to our customers?
Where do we need to re-align our internal operations to consistently deliver this promise?
What Can I do to delight and amaze my customers?
What can I do for my customers to get addicted to buying from me?

Option Analysis

What major outcome am I optimizing for? Specificity is my friend.
What are the various options I’ve created or found?
For each of the options I’ve created, what is the estimated time between now and the attainment of this outcome?
How many hours or what % of my time is required?
Which activities would be reduced or stopped to be able to add this option to this execution agenda?
What must be sacrificed?
Do we have the expertise and execution intelligence or competence to successfully perform the task required?
What is the probability of failure?
IF this option fails, what is the financial or lost opportunity cost?
Is the price of failure worth the risk?
IF this option succeeds, what is the monetary pay-off?
When the lapsed day from today will we receive the pay off from executing this option?
In evaluating all the input and output factors about each option and comparing these various data points, which option appears to be the most viable and attractive?
Are there any input categories that deserve to be weighted differently that might skew my analysis and thinking?


By Context:




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