As entrepreneurs, we ask ourselves questions all the time – how we can get more customers, how we can get more money, or even… how we can get more expenses to qualify as a legitimate tax deductions (come on, we’ve all done it). But when it comes to asking ourselves questions, we would be better served if we asked better questions. By doing so, we may just find that we are also given better solutions.

Get Better

Bill Gates, for example, didn’t sit around and ask, “How do I write a computer operating system?” Instead, he asked, “How do I write a computer operating system that will be on every single PC in the entire world?” He asked a better question, and he got a better answer. You see, our brain is constantly thinking of answers. That’s its job. It is constantly answering questions. Think about it – if you hear a weird noise upstairs, and no one else is home, your brain starts cranking away. Your brain tells you it must be that strangler who scales to the second floor of houses, and comes in through the bathroom window to hide in your shower for the next five hours, waiting until you are asleep, and then… Don’t deny it. Your brain has told you these bizarre stories, and you believed them. You probably even slept on the coach, instead of risking the trip up stairs. But here is the good news. You can harness this brain power and turn it to your entrepreneurial advantage.

You do this by asking yourself great questions. Then simply let your brain go to work. Big questions get big answers. Don’t worry about finding immediate answers. It rarely happens that way. It may take days or months or whatever. Just keep asking the question – that’s the key – the answer will come in due time.

Go Big

Since your brain is always eager to give answers, you need to make sure to avoid asking it bad questions. Bad questions will provide limited answers. For example, don’t ask “Why does my business struggle?” because your brain will tell you why (and you will believe it). Instead, ask “What can I do to make my business thrive?”

And you want to make sure that you ask yourself questions that are big. Good, big questions will give you good, big answers. Don’t ask, “How do I make more money?” since your brain may simply show you how to make a dollar more. (After all, that is ‘more money.’) Instead, ask “How do I make $1 million this year?”

You may be a little skeptical at first, but you have to trust that the answers will come unexpectedly, out of nowhere. Maybe it will pop into your mind as you are showering and all of a sudden “Whammo!” there is the answer. Or just maybe you hear a strange noise upstairs and this time your brain says, “That’s it!” That is it. It isn’t a strangler; I have actually found the answer to cold fusion!