The #1 Career Question You Should Be Asking

The 1 Career Question You Should Be AskingThe 1 Career Question You Should Be Asking What if I told you that a single question could make or break yur career? What if I told you that one word could separate you from thousands of other men and women in your industry? Would you believe me, or would you write me off as a weird crackpot? That single, life-changing, career-altering, utterly-distinguishing question isAlways asking, Why? demonstrates that you have 4 characteristics that will set you apart. Curiosity is how we grow. If youre not constantly curious, you fruchtwein likely wont grow, personally or professionally . Asking, Why? shows that you want to know why something works, how it works, and what you should learn from those facts. The marketer who asks, Why? wants to know why people buy certain things at certain times. The CEO who asks, Why? wants to understand why his competitor is so successful and how he can emulate that success . The student who asks, Why? wants to push beneath the surface of a subject and master the details.Simon Sineks well-known book on the impact of curiosity, Start with Why , encourages readers to find their career by identifying their purpose. Constant learning is what sets the massively successful apart from the staunchly mediocre. Productivity guru Brian Tracy saysThose people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.Key Takeaway If you want to be a mover and a shaker, you must be curious. The curious always ask, Why?2. Dissatisfaction with The Status QuoThere are two types of people in the worldThose who question the status quo wonder (not insist) if there might be a better way to do things. They say, Why have we always done it this way? Is this the best way to do it? Could we see better results if we changed things?Being dissatisfied with the status quo isnt about being a crazy rebel or trying to be disruptive for the sake of disruption. Its about constantly striving for excellence, constantly pushing to grow , and constantly looking for ways to improve. In his classic book Good to Great , Jim Collins writesGood is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We dont have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We dont have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.When you consistently ask, Why? youre stating that youre not going to settle for just good. Key takeaway Those who strive for excellence always ask, Why? They refuse to settle for the status quo. Those who are dissatisfied with the status quo also have the ability to look to the future and visualize what might be. They can see possibility where others see not hing. They can see past the challenges of change to the possibilities of change. All great leaders, visionaries, and entrepreneurs possess this ability to trust themselves enough to look forward. When the founders of AirBnB looked at the hotel industry, they didnt say, That will never change. Rather, they said, Why does it have to be that way? What if we did something utterly different?The founders of Warby Parker saw a future where glasses didnt cost $700 per pair. Elon Musk and SpaceX looked at an industry that hadnt changed for decades, and saw the possibility of creating something infinitely better . Key takeaway Why? unlocks the future, allowing you to see possibility where others cant.Those regularly deploy the word, Why? are willing to admit their mistakes , which is absolutely essential in our rapidly changing world. A person with a fixed, rigid, immovable mindset refuses to admit they could ever be wrong. As a result, they often end up pursuing destructive, unproductive courses of action. The curious person, on the other hand, has a mind thats open to new perspectives. Theyre willing to admit that there could be a better way to sell, keep records, build a website , manage employees, or any other activity. They recognize that they could indeed be wrong. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Al Pittampalli says Alan Mulally, the vaunted CEO who saved Ford Motor Company, is, for example, exceptionally skeptical of his own opinions. Ray Dalio, one of the worlds most successful hedge fund managers, insists that his team ruthlessly second-guess his thinking. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, seeks out information that might disprove her beliefs about the world and herself. In our increasingly complex world, these leaders have realized that the ability to consider emerging evidence and change their minds accordingly provides extraordinary advantages.There are few questions mora powerful than, Why? The question reveals something deepe r about you. Its a window into how you think and what drives you . Its also a portal into your future. Those who are willing to constantly ask questions can predict a bright future for themselves. Those who refuse to rock the boat will eventually find themselves left behind. Have you unleashed the power of, Why?Alex Jasin is a speaker, entrepreneur, and CEO of Metapress and X3 Digital. Connect with Alex Jasin directly on Twitter , Medium and LinkedIn . Read more of Jasins writing on Business Insider , Entrepreneur , The Huffington Post , CMI , Internet Retailer , The Next Web and other major publications.