PhotoCredit: Breakfast
When I’m talking with someone who is about to travel to New Zealand, I always ask them what they plan to eat first. New Zealand does food well: from the classics of fish and chips and meat pies at one end of the spectrum to the best oysters and lamb in the world at the other end. And everything in between. It’s always a question that reveals a lot about the other person and inevitably comes with a story. It’s not just about the lamb, it’s the way your mother makes it. It’s not just about the fish and chips, it’s the special place you go out of your way to get them from.
Obviously I don’t get to ask this question with much frequency any more. However I did get to ask it before the holidays and I was given an answer I had never heard before. “A Big Mac” was the answer.
I immediately said, “I’m not judging, but why a Big Mac”? I was SO judging. My little health-meets-culinary-snob kicked in as I pondered what to make of this answer. He said, “Big Mac’s taste different at home.” And I was instantly transported back in time to eating a Big Mac sometime in my past and how delicious it really was. I got it. Big Mac’s are not worth considering in the US but #downunder, there is something indulgent and escapist about them.
I love asking questions like this that help me uncover hidden gems of personality in people. Seemingly light questions that have hidden depth. Questions that make people think from a place of heart and soul rather than academically. Instinctively, not intellectually.
Moving questions from our brain to our heart is a power move. It can reveal hidden information. One of my recent favorites is the question “what is your McDonald’s?” Not a culinary or calorie question but a question about competition. Who is your real competitor? Who, or what, is competing with you for your audience’s time, attention or money?
I have coupled this with “who is the person, past or present, that you most want to be in the world?” to help me think about my mission and vision. An inquiry I always make academic but which really demands a soul perspective.
Thinking about goals and vision can be really hard and esoteric. Grounding the question in who your hero is and what is competing with that aspiration breathes life and soul into the inquiry. Whether it’s personally or professionally, or both. As you filter through people that you most want to emulate, you get clear about what you really care about and need to prioritize. I found myself questioning the business models, ethics and the depth and substance of the work of the people I admired. It helped me get clear on what I care about and how I want to participate in and contribute to the world.
The next step is then simple, sort of. What is the one action you can take today to move you forward? Big steps are great but the small steps are often more powerful and much more sustainable. If you ask yourself this everyday, you will start to move yourself forward.