Most of the time the answers you seek, or at least the first step in the right direction, is right under your nose. The trouble is being the fish in the water you can't always see it. This exercise, if you do it, will expand your vision of what is really possible for you and vastly improve your interpretations of life around you. You can also use it to come up with new ways to make your presentations more engaging and compelling. This exercise is a variation on one suggested in The Architecture of All Abundance by Lenedra Carroll, a book I highly recommend for expanding your sense of prosperity. 

The 12 What If's

Here's what you do. Take a situation that is troubling you and summarize it in a sentence or two.

For an example, let's say you are worried about not finishing a project by the deadline and that could make your client angry and you could lose an important account. Writing down 12 what if's, or possibilities related to the situation, will increase your awareness of your own perspectives and hidden assumptions.

What are 12 possibilities related to this problem that could leave you better off than you are right now?

Here are my hypothetical answers.

1. What if I called the client and found out it was no big deal to extend the deadline?

2. What if I hired YuDu (or some other concierge service local to you or a teenager) to run some errands for me to free up some time for me?

3. What if I brought on someone else to make this project even better?

4. What if I did turn it in late, lose the client, and I got a much better client right afterward?

5. What if this experience emboldens me to double my prices in the future?

(About now is where it starts getting challenging to come up with the rest of the 12.) 

6. What if I find a way to turn in part of it later?

7. What if I decide to hire someone to organize my office so I can work better?

8. What if I decide to send the deadline to hell and go to the beach for the day...or take a nap? 

9. What if I commit to giving myself much more wiggle room on all future projects?

10. What if I just shut up and get the project done on time?

11. What if I leave out a third of it that doesn't really matter anyway?

12. What if I hire a virtual assistant in India to do part of it?

What do you think?