Recently I heard a speaker talking about achieving your dreams and goals. They said the following “Asking “how” is a losing question. Asking “how” is something you should never do because it is a self-defeating prophecy. And, asking “how” will stop you from progressing towards any dreams or goals you may have.”

They went on to say “When JFK said that we were going to put a man on the moon and return them safely, the President didn’t ask “how?” Or, if an NFL football team wants to win the Super Bowl they don’t huddle up in a crowd and say, “Let’s win this game . . . but how?”

I disagree with this premise. I believe asking “how” is a good thing. It means you’re asking questions. It means you’re being curious. I see more and more people lacking in curiosity and asking questions.  Besides, most people know how to accomplish their goals or dreams. It’s really a matter of breaking things down, following through and actually achieving them.

For example, if your goal is to lose weight do you think you really need to ask “how?”  It’s pretty simple – eat less, eat better, and exercise more.  Done. If a small business owner wants to increase their sales do you think they would really need to ask “how?” Again, there are several ways right off the bat – make more phone calls, increase your advertising, or increase the price of your product or service.

See chances are in business and in life, and this is one of the good things about technology, chances are someone has done it. I don’t care what you’re facing someone has either done it, done an element of it or has written about it. What is amazing is that you can go onto Google and type in “How do I . . .” and get 1000 responses. Or go onto You Tube and punch in “How do I . . .” and chances are there will be videos about it. Heck, you can find out things you don’t even want to know about by simply typing in “How do I . . “

Now in regards to the speaker’s examples JFK wanting to put a man on the moon and an NFL football team winning the Super Bowl and not asking “how”.  First, JFK didn’t ask “how” because he had NASA scientist that had to ask those questions, think creatively and come up with a solution. They did and eight years later we put a man on the moon.  The player’s on an NFL team don’t ask “how” are they are going to win the Super Bowl that’s the job of the teams coaches. They are the ones who have to come up with the player match ups, their scheme and strategy to win the game. It’s the job of the players to execute the plan.

If you ask “how” when you want to do achieve dreams and goals even if there are no You Tube videos or answers from Google, if you’re committed, have clarity of purpose, you’ll get more creative and start figuring out how.

I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.