Last weekend I took some time away from my to-do list to contemplate a series of questions that had the potential to rock my world.
I learned about the “Three Questions Spirit Quest” on a recent episode of the Free Agents podcast with David Sparks and Mike Schmitz. Mike shared how he periodically clears his schedule and spends a day mulling over all of the roles and responsibilities in his life. He then applies three simple questions:
- What do you need to start doing?
- What do you need to stop doing?
- What do you need to keep doing?
Mike admits that when he first tried this practice he had low expectations. But every time he’s taken the effort he’s come away with an amazing level of clarity.
My Experience with the Three Questions Spirit Quest
So anyhow, last weekend I went to the beach with a notebook, a jug of sunscreen and several thermos-bottles full of ice water. I thought, prayed, wrote down ideas, made doodles and diagrams. I spent a fair amount of time walking along the water’s edge. Finally I came up with an action plan for the next twelve weeks.
I’ll have to say the exercise was well worth doing. I came away focused, clear-headed and surprisingly hopeful.
To be honest the three questions themselves were just one part of the magic sauce of my mini-retreat. The questions didn’t lead to any sweeping revelations and they didn’t lead to any radical direction changes — though your mileage may vary. Instead they provided a framework for developing a simple action plan:
- Start shipping (delivering completed projects)
- Stop staying up so late
- Keep working on fiction projects
There were two other parts to my goal-setting spirit quest that made it feel worthwhile – taking a “bird’s eye view” and thinking in terms of a “12 week year.” I’ll get to those items in a couple of follow-up posts but considering the Three Questions at a high level over a manageable chunk of time did indeed give me a great deal of clarity.
That said, I would heartily recommend the process. All it takes is a notepad, a pen and solid block of unbroken time to contemplate the three questions and how they apply to your life.
