What “could” you do?

How to face any dilemma head-on

If you’re facing any kind of dilemma, from what to do next in your career to where to go on vacation, you need to ask yourself a question……

The idea comes from Harvard……And it’s this: Don’t ask yourself what you SHOULD do – ask yourself what you COULD do!

According to the Harvard researchers, you can significantly improve your decision making by changing just that one word. 

They found that when people made that verbal shift, from ‘What should I do?’ to ‘What could I do?’ they produced better solutions to any problem. 

That’s because should is a “narrowing word.” It narrows down the possible actions we can take to just the ones that seem reasonable, like things we’ve done before. But when you use the word could, that’s a “widening word” that enables our brains to think more broadly and creatively to come up with all kinds of possibilities! 

So try that mindset shift the next time you need to come up with great ideas, or to solve problems. Ask yourself “What could I do?”