The Miracle Question
by Daryl Daughtry, Publisher
– Listen to this article here.
What if you couldn’t fail?
What would you do with your life if you truly couldn’t fail at anything? How would such an amazing situation change your life? Would you move toward your goals with stronger purpose and relentless determination? Would you laugh at obstacles and challenges? Would you ignore negative comments from other people in your life?
Life coaches call this technique asking the Miracle Question.
Imagine that anything you wanted right now was available to you, and there was no possible way you could fail in your attempt to get it. How would that have changed the goals you’ve set in the past, and how might it change your current goals? What is some great big thing you would pursue that is perhaps wild and crazy, yet it’s beneficial to you and to other people.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t meant to explore childish or selfish play times. It’s designed to be a serious attempt of self-discovery.
If you’re like most people, this exercise may help you realize a few things:
1 – You’ve been playing small. You may have doubts about your ability to achieve the goals you really want, so you settle for smaller goals that you know you can handle. The problem with doing this is that you’re not working toward goals that really keep you motivated.
2 – What if failure isn’t your biggest fear and success is? Staying where you are might seem more appealing than going after big goals because at least your current situation is familiar and comfortable – if not very satisfying. A funny thing happens when people achieve an important goal – they realize they are capable of handling much more than they ever suspected before. They realize that their fears were groundless and they’re grateful that they pushed forward despite them.
3 – Failure doesn’t exist until you say it does. When you look back at your past failures, you’ll probably notice a couple of things: failure occurred when you refused to try; and failure occurred when you quit trying… plain and simple.
I’ll share a fourth benefit of the “miracle question” right after this message…
4 – You can find passion clues in your dream. Even if you never pursue your wild and crazy dream, you can still use it reveal clues about your passions. Let me share a real-life example.
There once was this woman I know who came up with the wild dream of building an orphanage somewhere in Africa. However, she realized, that due to her circumstances and finances, this was probably not going to happen in the foreseeable future. But, she did come away with two important passion clues. 1… she has a heart for orphans, and 2… she loves Africans.
So, instead of getting discouraged and quitting on her awesome dream. She tried to think of what else she could do for African orphans. To make a long story short, she and her husband arranged to fly to Africa and adopt two orphan girls. Even though she hasn’t been able to build an orphanage yet and may never do it, she has dramatically changed the lives of two dear children forever. She took her two clues and did something instead of getting discouraged and doing nothing.
So, what would you do with your life if you couldn’t fail? It’s the Miracle Question.
