Questions control our lives and our minds. Right now your mind may be saying “No they aren’t,” but that was a response to your subconscious asking: “Do questions control our minds?” Tony Robbins, a mentor of mine, often talks about the concept that the quality of our questions determines the quality of our lives.

I have a question you can use anytime to raise the quality of your day. It is a question that works when things are good and you’d like them to keep getting even better, or when things are not so good and you really, really, want them to change.

Here is the question: What is great about this? Ok. Maybe there are times you don’t want to even dignify that with a response. I get it. I’ve been there. So ask this: If there was something great about this, what would it be?

This is the magic sauce. If you can focus on the better or best parts of a situation, you can make it better. You can use those clues to get to a better result. I know from experience that if I sit for 5 minutes and brainstorm in a notebook 5, 10, or even 20 things that could be great about it, I feel better and less stressed. Right away! Sometimes the best I have is there is clean water to drink and my kids always have food, etc. but any situation could be worse.

More likely you will uncover the gift in the situation. Next time things aren’t exactly they way you’d hoped, ask: “What’s great about this?” and see what answers pop up!