Imagine yourself thinking about doing something new in your life, something that stretches you beyond your comfort zone and opens the door to new possibilities. You would love to do it, you feel energized by the idea, but at the same time the idea of actually committing to doing it makes your eyes bug.
Which of these comes up most naturally for you “What if?” Or, “How?”
How and when you choose to apply those two questions can have an enormous impact on the potential your future holds.
“What if” on its own turns your brain into a fear factory. Left to its own devices, your brain will fill in the blank with an apocalyptic array of calamities. Asked as a solo question, what if is a recipe for finding a bazillion very good reasons to stay where you are.
“How” on the other hand, opens the door to multiple paths to that future. It creates clarity on the steps to take. It also acknowledges that obstacles are a natural part of the path and, rather than getting bent out of shape when you inevitably encounter them, it dives into figuring out how to find a way past them.
“How” is an inherently empowering question to ask. It gives you direction, helps you see what’s next, and enables you to effectively take action and get traction.
“What if” isn’t all bad, though. It can actually be a beneficial question to ask. It just doesn’t play well on its own. It needs to be paired up with another question, like “how.”
Asking what if allows you to explore the danger zones. What if this happens? What if that happens? The trouble comes when you allow those danger zones to gel into reality. But they’re not reality. They’re possible realities.
On the other hand, if you use what if to identify those danger zones, then follow it up by asking how (How could I deal with it if that happens? How could I avoid that happening altogether?), it becomes a tool to help you avoid bumps and bruises along the way.
So as you dream and scheme about the future you want to create, remember the power of “how,” and never let “what if” stand on its own.
[Hat tip to Henrik at the Positivity Blog for planting the seed for this post with How to Take Action: 9 Powerful Tips.]
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I would like to separate the initial what-if that explores the possibility of taking on a dream from those that arrive later as we explore that idea. The initial what-if is where we give ourselves the permission to dream.
I think the “how” questions cannot be generated without first asking the “what-if” question. What if is the seed planted, it is the creative beginnings whereas the how is the problem solving part. Each how question is a problem to be solved where the rubber meets the road.
The dream will not become reality without posing the what-if question: for me it was “what if I traveled by human power around the world?” then I had to figure out how to finance it, how to find the time, how to gain the necessary skills, how to sort visas, how to build the necessary partnerships to make it happen, etc.
The subsequent what-if questions fall in the risk management realm and have to be addressed carefully. These can open a can of worms that either provide the excuses to not begin, or to find the proper path. The path that we choose accordingly could be the path of least resistance or the most challenging — that depends on our skill sets and what we want history to register. I like to use my creativity to come up with all possible paths with all the what-ifs then to explore each one with the appropriate hows. At this stage, I assign a probability of success to each such path and decide to apply all my resources toward one that is likely to succeed. As I continue down the path I have chosen, I continue to reevaluate on a periodic basis and remain flexible to adapt to the conditions I find around me. These could be the unknowns revealing themselves, or the anticipated complications par for course.
It is important to note that for proper risk assessment, awareness of potential problems and upcoming challenges is essential which in turn is only possible by relevant knowledge. My research involves books, people with such knowledge, those who had done similar things and the humility to accept that I do not have all the answers. Then it is a matter of my willingness to commit despite the unknowns.
The possible futures can involve a repetitive loop of what-ifs and hows that feed each other. What-ifs help us explore the possibilities while the hows provide the solutions to the problems. They go hand in hand.
I could write a book about this, and I should!!!
Excellent distinction, Erden!
So, to nutshell it, there are three potential uses of “what if” (two of them productive, and one limiting).
* What if as a dreaming / visioning / ideation question – “What if I did this? What could that look like? What would happen then? What doors would that open?” etc.
* What if as a risk management question – “What if this happens? What would I do then? How would I deal with it? How could I minimize the risk of that happening?”
* What if as a show stopper – “What if that happens? I don’t want that to happen. Uh oh. Never mind. Bad idea.”
I wasn’t thinking of the first application when I wrote this. Good addition to the mix!
And for those of you who don’t know who Erden is, let me say that he is one of the most qualified people I know to be talking about putting “what if” and “how” to use to make big things happen.
He recently concluded a human-powered circumnavigation of the world. Human-powered, as in on foot, by bicycle, ocean rowboat, and kayak.
I watched his journey unfold from the very beginning, and his ability to put those questions to use to do something as huge as that was inspiring.
Here’s an article on him in Outside Magazine:
http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/Around-the-World-in-1026-Days.html
And here’s a short 4-minute news story:
http://www.king5.com/on-tv/evening-magazine/An-incredible-journey-around-the-world-189837201.html
Thank you for your introduction, Curt.
Erden already came in to the rescue of “What If?”
As a creator of Fiction, I am very familiar with the “What If?” side of things. It’s the core of Fiction. It is about opening the mind, about alternatives and new ways.
I do agree that it does need to be balanced with “How?” – the real trick to writing compelling fiction is not the idea alone, but also its execution.
Ideas are like clouds of light. Creation is like a lens, focusing the light into a tight beam. The lens will not create anything real without the clouds, but the clouds alone are just dreams.
Martin Spernau recently posted..the right time to write
Thanks Martin. I love having you guys expand on my ideas! I’m guessing there are a lot of lessons you learn in writing fiction that are applicable to life in general.
Great light analogy. I had never thought of it that way, but it totally works.