The Only Sentence You’ll Need (Over and Over Again)

How a single sentence can be your most powerful tool in whatever you do

Welcome to the What If…? Power Sentence, a Curiosity-Based Thinking process

A botanical illustration of a powerful idea created using DALLE

Whether you are creating a culture of curiosity within your organization or within yourself, the What If...? Power Sentence is a perfect place to start boosting productivity with curiosity. Just like other Curiosity-Based Thinking processes, the What If...? Power Sentence is easy to learn, quick to use, and fun to repeat.

Enjoy and stay curious!

How to write a What If…? Power Sentence:

In a minute or less, write a one-sentence answer to each of the three questions and then plug them into the sentence. The What If…? Power Sentence can then be used for anything from students figuring out their topic and thesis to entrepreneurs communicating their value propositions, to executives developing their strategic plans.

While the writing of each sentence should take no more than a minute in order to discourage self-editing, feel free to prime each question with longer discussions around them before starting the minute to answer.

Step 1: What are you curious about?

Step 2: What are you passionate about?

Step 3: What is something you care enough about to find a solution?

Step 4: Fill in the following sentence with answers from Steps 1–3:

What if I combine my curiosity for____ with my passion for_____ to find a solution for_____?

Step 5: What are your next three steps to finding that solution?

Curious why more curiosity is great for whatever you are doing? Curiosity is a bio-hack. As Dr. Huberman points out, the act of getting curious releases dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine simultaneously to produce a unique effect on the human body and brain. Learning how to harness and leverage this “hack” gives you a tremendous advantage in getting more done in whatever you are doing and finding greater satisfaction in what comes from it. Curiosity can be so many things, it is easy to get lost in its power and potential. To simplify things here's a quick list of just some of what we know curiosity can do. Enjoy and stay curious!

• Curious people are less anxious

• Curious people are less timid

• Curious people are not as defensive during initial counters with strangers

• Curious people have less aggressive actions to perceived triggers

• Curious people have improved conflict resolution skills

• Curious people have enhanced motivation to put themselves in another's shoes

• Curious people have less attachment to their own ideas

• Curious people have an increased interest in others' ideas

• Curious people are more likely to receive social support at work

• Curious people are more effective at building connections at work

• Curious people are more effective at building trust at work

• Curious people are more committed to their teams at work

• Curious people discover more innovative solutions that increase one's sense of meaningfulness at work

Be sure to follow along with What If Curiosity as I will dive deeper with more specific examples and actions for how you can take a Curiosity-Based Thinking approach to learn, get, and enjoy more out of all you do. Let's chat to maximize the power of your curiosity!

Curiosity-Based Thinking Intro

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