Regardless of the sport or profession, people hire coaches and trainers to improve their performance. Duh. In the world of business, wealth creation, or even the arts, more performance usually means bigger impact on the community or tribe being served. You know you're only using a small part of your brain, what's more challenging to figure out is how to use more of your own potential for achievement. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, whatever level of thinking that got you where you are today, you can never move forward unless you think at a higher level. One way to do this is to ask probing questions (and answer them!)

It's those powerful questions that help us break out of patterns that are invisible to us, and holding us back from achieving our potential. You can see the power of questions as a learning tool by talking to any 3-year-old for about 10 minutes. You'll get asked at least 47 questions!

Here are 20 questions you can use to coach yourself to move forward on a project, to drop some burden without guilt, to take better care of yourself or just to enjoy your day more. These are in random order and I suggest you answer one at a time.

1. What project would you take on, if you knew you could not fail at it?

2. What do you absolutely love about your job as it is current constructed?

3. What is the one goal that seems to always elude you? (Why is it important to you?)

4. What do you need in order to feel peace right now in this very moment?

5. What would you rather being doing right now?

6. What does your BFF or significant other most appreciate about you? (If you're not sure, ask him/her.)

7. If you had all the money you wanted, how would you feel and act differently?

8. What do you want more of, time or money?

9. If you were to guess at what's holding you back from greater success, what do you think that would be?

10. What was your greatest accomplishment during last year?

11. How would your life change if you never complained about anything ever?

12. Which part of your house or office is begging you to organize it?

13. What book has changed the way you think about life?

14. When you tell the story of your life, are you the victim or the victor? Or neither?

15. What's the one thing you'd really like to accomplish by next year this time?

16. If you were living the life you love, what would that look like?

17. What could you do so that you laugh more every day?

18. What have you always done for people for which they usually thank you?

19. Who would you most like to be your mentor and why?

20. What's a small little thing you can stop doing to have more free time? (For me it's checking email 184 times a day!)

Feel free to share any answers or insights you get from answering these questions -- inquiring minds want to know! Maybe you have an even better question to add to the list. Dealing with one question a day for 20 days is a good strategy to allow your inner wisdom to emerge.