This is a question I want to encourage you to get good at asking. There are plenty of opportunities right now to ask it over and over again. Right from the start of this blog, and as you are reading, I want you to reflect on the one thing that is causing you the greatest angst. By the time you get to the end, I hope you can answer the question, So, what is good about this? And, come up with lots of amazing answers.

As I was talking to Jamie Ryder in this week’s podcast called, See the solution, I was amazed about what he said as he discussed going bankrupt. He said he sat and reflected and came up with over one hundred reasons to be grateful for what seemed to be a devastating event. Over one hundred! Yes, you read that correctly. Sometimes I have trouble coming up with even one or two reasons to be grateful for some small challenge in my life. It was so inspiring to hear his story, and I encourage you to listen to the podcast.

Have you ever noticed, when you ask yourself a question, you answer it? I know that sounds incredibly obvious, but it’s actually very profound. It means that if you ask yourself the right questions, you will get the answers you want, and vice versa. If you have ever asked, what’s wrong with me? You will answer it and probably not like the answers. Even worse, as you answer that question you are affirming what you don’t like about yourself and increasing the chances that nothing will change. So, the questions you ask yourself are critically important. Instead of asking, what’s wrong with me? What about if you asked, what’s great about me? Or, what can I learn from this? Can you see what will happen if you ask the right question? It will unlock answers, ideas and solutions that will inform, create, and determine the amazing life that is available to you.

I am disturbed and agitated by the number of people who are suffering and struggling at the moment. I wish I could wave a magic wand and take away people’s pain and suffering, but I can’t. All I can do is encourage people to ask themselves the most powerful question I believe they can ask themselves when an undesirable situation arises. That is simply, what is good about this? I mean, if Jamie Ryder can find over one hundred reasons to be grateful for bankruptcy, then I am sure you and I can find some good things about any situation or circumstance. If you ask yourself the question, you will answer it.

Over the last month or so, I have missed out on a couple of amazing opportunities for corporate speaking jobs that I would have loved to have got. When they happened, my initial response was self-anger, disappointment and frustration. Then I asked myself, so, what is good about this? Incredibly, as soon as I asked myself, I also answered myself. I said to myself, this is good because I am learning better ways to approach companies, and how to talk to them. This is good because it opens up the space for even better things to come into. This is good because I am getting better every day. This is good because I have more time to write my next book and record my next podcast. And so on.

Right now, I want to encourage you to complete whichever of the following sentences are appropriate for you. What’s good about COVID is… What’s good about being in lockdown is… What’s good about my health challenge is… What’s good about losing my job or income is… What’s good about this conflict is… What’s good about this particular challenge is… What’s good about the bad weather is… What is good about my fear and insecurity is… Got the idea?

How did you go? Did you do it, or just skim over it and tell yourself you will do it later, or that you don’t need to do it at all? If you did it, and I hope you did, do you feel better about whatever the challenge is? When you get good at asking this question about any and every challenge in life, you will become a happier and more fulfilled person. You will realise that success is not an outcome, but a wonderful adventure though the messiness of life. With persistence, you will get to the point when you believe in your heart that everything that happens is for you to become better. All you have to do, every time some kind of adversity strikes, is ask, so, what is good about this?