\nIn coaching, questions are the primary tool: the probe, the lever, the dynamite that can explode a story, the key to unlocking awareness.\u00a0 What sort of question, I thought, could take ten years to answer?\u00a0 That would be a powerful question, indeed!
\n“So,” we asked eagerly, pencils poised above our notepads and journals, “what is the 10-Year Question?”
\nFact is, a question that powerful does not come from the coach, it comes from the client.\u00a0 Here’s the question I can ask as a coach: “what is a question that is so big that it will take you 10 years — or more — to completely answer it?”
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![\"questionmark1\"](\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/files\/2009\/12\/questionmark1-300x289.jpg\" "\\"questionmark1\\"")
Are you getting it, now?\u00a0 It’s YOUR question.\u00a0 It’s the question you have not dared to ask yourself.\u00a0 It’s the deep question that you’ve probably ignored in the busy-ness of getting things done.\u00a0 It’s the question that does not have a clear answer.\u00a0 Indeed, it may not have any answer.\nWhat is point of asking a question that does not have an answer?\u00a0 Practice. practice holding the question and notice how the question affects everything you do — the decisions you make, the paths you take, the conversations you find most compelling, the things you become curious about, the part of you that choose to explore.
\nI met a friend for lunch; I gave her the 10-year question as a \u201cgift\u201d and she sent me a lovely magnet with the following quote, which eloquently captures the spirit and power of a 10-year Question:<\/p>\n