7 Questions to Boost your Life and Business

Posted by martin.parnell |
7 Questions to Boost your Life and Business

If I’m home for lunch on a Monday, I enjoy turning on the radio and listening to CBC’S “The Next Chapter”, hosted by Shelagh Rogers. It showcases the lives and works of Canadian authors. It also has a segment where a guest is invited to answer the program’s own version of the Proust Questionnaire.

According to Wikipedia,”The Proust Questionnaire” is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust.

At the end of the nineteenth century, when Proust was still in his teens, he answered a questionnaire in an English-language confession album belonging to his friend Antoinette, daughter of future French President Felix Faure titled "An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc." 

I thought it might be fun to answer this version myself, so I jotted down the questions and gave it a go. I also thought about how my answers might relate to business:

 

Q: Your favourite painter?

A: Salvador Dali. His creative interpretation of everyday items and images makes us stop and think. In business, being creative, allows us to rise above the crowd.

Q: Who are your real-life heroes?

A: Terry Fox. Terry had a goal and was totally committed to it. In business, there are no half measures. I once read that “Life is like a plate of eggs and bacon, the chicken participates, the pig is committed”.

Q: What is your favorite journey?

A: Running along a coastal or mountain trail in the fog. In business, it sometimes feels like that but when I know I’m going in the right direction, I just have to stick to the trail.

Q: What is your greatest extravagance?

A: Buying the best running shoes for the conditions. That means a pair of Salomon Gortex trail shoes for the ice, snow and rain. In business, the same concept applies. Which email marketing and Customer Relations Management package is right for you?

Q: What is your greatest regret?

A: Not always keeping in touch with family and friends. In business, it’s establishing, developing and maintaining relationships. This takes discipline and focus. It’s the glue that keeps things moving forward

Q: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A: To see my children and grandchildren grow and blossom. In business, it’s having an idea and, through hard work and perseverance, and seeing it come to fuition.

Q: What is your greatest achievement?

A: Through my six years of fund raising, I improved the lives of thousands of children around the world. In business, it’s working with clients to set and achieve goals in order that they can reach their full potential.

 

These seven questions reveal key insights into your personal and business wellbeing. Answers them today. Not only will they show where you are but are sign posts to where you need to go.

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