Scary stories: don’t let these 5 questions spook you

Great stories begin with challenging questions. Sometimes they’re downright scary. But if you’re brave enough to face them, I promise they’ll make your work better.

Here are a few worth taking to heart.

“How can we make this better?” This is a scary question because it doesn’t settle for mediocrity. It puts us on the hook to do better work. It challenges us to see the limitations of the methods and the work we’re comfortable with, and it asks for more. 

“Who does this story serve?” This question is scary because it challenges us to think beyond our own story, our own objectives, our own desires. It demands empathy, big-thinking, and perhaps most frightening of all, the decision to believe that we can make a difference in the world. 

“Who do I need to help me do this?” It can be scary to realize you’re onto something that’s bigger than you, and that you need support to make your vision come true. Will your collaborators understand, value, and care about the project like you do? This question puts us on the hook to commit to our project, go beyond our current circle, ask for help, and build something bigger.

“Will it be worth it?” This question can really cause a cold sweat, because it faces the fact that making great work and sharing important stories will be challenging. Whatever you’re working on, it very likely requires an investment of time, money, energy, commitment, and caring. This question invites us to show up anyway.

“Is NOW the time?”  This question can be reallly scary because it asks us to take action. Not someday. Not later. Right now. It  asks whether we have the guts to decide that our work really matters and that it cannot wait.

And finally, the scariest question of all…

…”What if we never bothered with any of the questions above?”

I hope you agree that that’s the scariest question of all. That doing nothing, or settling for less, or continuing to choose later, or being held back by fear is way scarier than taking the plunge, committing, and going all in.

Are you brave enough to do your best work? I think you are.