Great Question

by Johanna Schnüpke

Monday, 22nd of May 2023  

Introducing you to the power of asking questions one Great Question at a time.

Where you going?

What the question means to me:

This week was all about "exits" and "directions" that thought me some great lessons. But let me start from the beginning.

My week in a nutshell: New York, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Reno, Los Angeles, New York. All within 5 days. All work-related trips. I remember making fun of a camera man, who, a couple of month ago, answered, “I don’t know”, when the woman checking his bags asked him: “Where you going?”After the 4th trip in a row, he simply couldn’t remember. This week, the joke was on me. In Reno, the guy at the rental car station asked: “Where you flying in from?” I looked at my camera man, he looked at me, shrugging shoulders. Silence. The car rental guy started to smile and said: “That’s impressive. I guess you guys travel a lot.” He immediately sensed the reasons and the story behind.

Can’t be coincidence that a friend shared the Alice in Wonderland story just this week, when Alice doesn’t know where to go and asks the Cheshire Cat, that she meets along the way, for advice. Alice: “Which way should I go?” Cheshire Cat: “That depends on where you want to get to.” Alice: “I don't know.” The Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”

Everyone and everything out there tells us that we need to have a 5- year plan, a vision, take control of our life, see the exit signs. We need to know where we are going, need to be on a mission all the time. Do we really?

In San Antonio an Uber driver told us about his time in the military when he was based in Germany. Driving on the Autobahn for the first time, he saw a sign that said “Ausfahrt”, the German word for “exit”. He didn’t know what it meant and continued driving. 2 miles later he saw the next “Ausfahrt” sign, 2 miles later the next, 2 miles later another one and thought: “Wow, Ausfahrt must be a pretty big city. I need to visit one day.”

Although I like to have control of my life, the idea of occasionally miss an exit - intentionally or unintentionally is very intriguing. And sometimes it can be nice to not knowing where to go, trust the process and see where the ride takes you.

Action:

No matter if you have that 5-year plan, are lost on your way, don’t know where you are going, just enjoy the ride! Trust me, the next Ausfahrt is only a couple of miles away.

Sharing:

Where you going? And have you visited Ausfahrt yet? I would love to hear more about it.