Dare to Live Without Limits
Ask Questions

At a family reunion one summer, Alice, an eight-year-old, watched while her mother Fran prepared a roast for the oven. Alice observed Fran trim about two inches from each end. After Fran had put the roast in the oven Alice asked, "Mom, why did you cut the ends off?"

Fran thought for a moment then replied, "That's what my mother always did and so that's how I do it now." "But what's wrong with the meat at the ends?" Alice retorted. "I don't know. I never really gave it much thought. Let's ask your grandmother," Fran responded.

Alice and Fran went outside to find Grandma. "Grandma, why did you always cut the ends of the roast off?" blurted Alice. Grandma laughed and answered, "That's because the old oven that I had was too small to fit the whole roast."

Do you understand why you do the things you do? Do you take a particular approach to life because that's what you've always done? Do you comprehend the reasons for your actions? Do you continuously search for ways to improve your life? Everything is open to change and improvement.

Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, spent his child- hood asking questions. By the late 1940's, polio was killing or disabling more than 40,000 Americans a year. Other researchers hadn't been able to develop a vaccine.

Dr. Salk, at a meeting of scientists, questioned the research methods being used. He was reprimanded, "You should know better than to ask a question like that!" Had Dr. Salk not asked the questions he did, he probably wouldn't have developed the polio vaccine and saved so many lives.

Rod Serling created "The Twilight Zone" television series in 1959. He had been asking why there were no TV shows on important, serious topics such as bigotry, the cold war and alienation. His colleagues thought he was crazy when he left a $250,000 movie-studio deal to develop his TV show, which addressed those themes.

The founder of Avon, David Hall McConnell, observed that because women at the time (late 1800's) worked primarily in the home, they couldn't get to the stores often to buy beauty supplies. McConnell asked, "Why not bring the store to them?"

Asking questions enables you to determine whether you are on the right course or if corrections are needed. Questions allow you to decide why, when, where and how. Without this information it's difficult to have a direction, purpose and focus.

Life is cause and effect, action and reaction. Questions enable you to identify the causes. For different results you must take different actions. There are no shortcuts. You don't want to blindly stumble through life feeling as if you have no control. Questioning forces you to open your eyes and develop an awareness of why you are where you are.

When it involves you, ask others why things are done a certain way. Some people may get offended if you question why. If they do, it's their problem, not yours. Those who are secure and confident in what they do don't get offended or develop an attitude when questioned.

Learning, growth and innovation occur because questions are asked and answers are sought.

NOW AVAILABLE: "Dare to Live Without Limits," the book. Visit www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at bryan@columnist.com or write him c/o this paper.