Are you a Learner or a Judger? Try the Choice Map
Imagine it’s you who’s standing at the crossroads on the left side of the Choice Map. Something has just happened. Now you have to solve a problem or make a decision. Maybe it’s related to an important goal in some area in your life. Perhaps it’s with your business or career. Maybe it’s in a relationship with family, friends, or colleagues. Maybe it’s about your health, finances, or plans for the future.
Do this experiment while you think about that situation.
First, ask yourself Judger questions (see below) and notice how they affect your mood and confidence.
Now, breathe, switch and instead ask yourself Learner questions (see below).
- What was it like the second time?
- What about your mood and confidence?
- What solutions and possibilities can you see now?
- You really can change your questions and change your life.
When you find yourself in Judger and want to be in Learner instead, ask yourself Switching questions and “reset” to Learner, including:
- Am I in Judger?
- Is this how I want to feel?
- Where would I rather be? and
- How else can I think about this?
Judger Questions include:
- What’s wrong with me?
- Whose fault is it?
- Why are they so stupid?
- How can I prove that I’m right?
- Haven’t we been there, done that?
- Why bother?
Results of Judger Questions:
- A mood of pessimism, stress, and limitation
- A mindset that’s judgmental, reactive, inflexible
- Relating with “attack or defensive” behaviors
Learner Questions include:
- What do I want?
- What works?
- What are the facts and what can I learn?
- What are my choices?
- What action steps make sense?
- What’s possible?
- Is this how I want to feel?
- Where would I rather be?
- How else can I think about this?
Results of Learner Questions:
- A mood of optimism, hope, and possibilities
- A mindset that’s thoughtful, understanding, flexible
- Relating that is connected and collaborative
- We all ask both kinds of questions and we have the capacity to choose which ones to ask — moment by moment by moment.
The Choice Map is from the best-selling book: Adams, M. G. (2004). Change your questions. Change your life: 7 powerful tools for life and work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Retrieved from http://bkconnection.com
Visit The Inquiry Institute’s website to download free copies of the Choice Map; you can also send it to colleagues, friends, and family. Adams is also president of the Inquiry Institute.
The website is filled with other free resources as well as Question Thinking™ offerings such as tele-seminars, workshops, executive coaching, coach training, keynotes, and Q-Storming® that can make a positive difference for you—at work and in life.
http://www.InquiryInstitute.com • Info@InquiryInstitute.com • 800-250-7823
Use the Choice Map™ as a powerful tool for getting better results. It’s simple and it works!
Copyright © 2009 Marilee Adams, Ph.D. Change Your Questions, Change Your Life
This material is by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright © 1998 by Marilee Goldberg. Ph.D. Adapted from The Art of the Question
The Choice Map™ and You Am I in Judger?
