“Ohm........” Meditators use sounds like this one to help them find peace, harmony, and direction. These sounds are repeated over and over again until they become ingrained. In the meditation process, the day’s irritations-sirens, horns, slips, spills, criticisms, etc.-slip away.

Guiding questions can have a similar harmonic effect. They can make sorting through distractions and options much easier. Not surprisingly, many leaders find them invaluable. Greg Farrell, President and CEO of Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, said to me, “You know, Gary, the question I am wrestling with is not should I work with a guiding question, but what guiding question should we work with when setting up each expeditionary learning model?”

When I decided to write a book, I knew I needed a guiding question. What was I looking to answer? After much thought, I settled on, “Why is it that exceptional leaders spend so much time asking questions?” Now I can always come back to the question and ask, “Am I writing the right material to answer that question?” Writing a book, like building a business or organizing an event, is filled with so many interesting distractions. I wanted to read every book on leadership and the art of questioning. I wanted to interview as many leaders as possible. Without my guiding question, I might have been redirected by my research and curiosity and wound up writing a book on pet grooming or, worse, a forty-volume encyclopedia. Instead, when I reached a crossroad, I returned to my guiding question. No matter how interesting or important the new information was, I made sure it helped answer my overarching question. If it did not, I set it aside or filed it away for future projects.

When you are writing a book, the consequences of your decisions are largely yours alone to suffer. In an organization, many more lives are affected. Do not make your subordinates follow your every whim. What overarching question are you trying to answer? Once you have settled on a question, let it guide you. Repeat it daily like a meditation sound. And, periodically, ask, “Am I asking the right question?” Keep asking this question until your heart and mind come together.