Asking, “What’s the real challenge here for you?” Good.
Adding, “And what else? What else is a real challenge here for
you?” Even better.
Build Your New Habit Here
WHEN THIS HAPPENS...
Write out the moment, the person and perhaps the feelings that are
your trigger.
The pattern we’re breaking here is overworking the wrong
problem, so the trigger is any time you start to focus on a
particular challenge. Coming up with ways to fix things feels more
comfortable than sitting in the ambiguity of trying to figure out
the challenge, but that’s where the power of this question lies. So
the trigger could be when your team is discussing a challenge or a
project and the conversation has already moved to solutions, or
when someone on your team is wrestling with a problem but
you’re not really sure if he knows what the challenge is, or when
you’re feeling scared or anxious or uncertain about a challenge
you’re facing.
INSTEAD OF...
Write out the old habit you want to stop doing. Be specific.
The Foggy-fiers are the old habits you’re trying to break. So the
“instead of ” here might be when you decide that the first
challenge probably is the challenge; or when you leave the
challenge a little high-level and abstract so people kinda know
what it is, or so you assume; or when there are lots of challenges