8 Amazingly Structured questions that changed my life, And Yours too!

I started my own startup community with my friends a while back and as a founder, it’s quite difficult to make good decisions especially in times where a million decisions come at once(it always happens)

so this list is my personal favorite and I have personally tested and known it’s helpful in their respective ways.

To fully utilize the list, I’ve would suggest you add all your task to a trello board next to the list of questions, so when you are stuck on a topic, you can refer to your question guide.

Example Below:

thus without further ado, Let get to the questions

Things I ask myself (Questions collected from Tim Ferris and friends)


1)Which of these if done, will make the rest unnecessary / easier?


[works especially well with unorganized people]

When you have a very long list of things to do, this is by far the best way to sort out what is impactful and what is secondary. This is the first one that I put in the list and it has done wonders.

I am born unorganized so to cope with that, asking myself “which of these if done, will make the rest unnecessary / easier” helps filter antelopes and field mice (get to this in a bit)



2) How can I turn this into gold?


This is a good one:

This question is from Trump’s book, I forgot which one, the concept sticks with me.

This is a follow up of the last question, once you identify the antelopes, ask yourself, since you need to do this, how can you make this great, how can you turn this into gold?

With this question it fundamentally changes the way I think and approaches life, making my taught pattern in a more “improve this shit mode”


3) Am I Hunting Field Mice or Antelopes?


This is one of my favorite questions to ask, compared to question 1, it sees a bigger dimension.

From Words of Tim in his podcast:


A lion needs an antelope. Antelope are big animals. They take more speed and strength to capture and kill, and once killed, they provide a feast for the lion and her pride. A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope. The distinction is important.

Are you spending all your time and exhausting all your energy catching field mice? In short term, it might give you a nice, rewarding feeling. But in the long run, you’re going to die.

So ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I spend today chasing mice or hunting antelope?”


So to you, my friends, are you currently chasing mice or hunting antelope?


4) How can I throw money at the problem?


I used this quite a lot recently, as a startup, you will have to be lean on a lot of stuff, money is an issue, but what are the things that you can leverage money on?

What are the thing or things that with a bit of money, can make your life 10x easier?

Honestly, this question when I first added it in, it just sits there and I wanted to remove it, but when the time comes it really performs.

Now I would urge you to put it in even!


5) If I could only work 2 hours per week on my business, what would I do?


Here’s the deal:

This question is very useful when dealing with out of the box thinking

when there is a shitload of Task is in front of me, I always get too micro and end up tweaking with unimportant or unnecessary things.

This Question if I could only work 2 hours per week on my business always pull me out of the micro view back to the macro.

Another life changer question, highly recommend it.


6)What if I could only subtract to solve problems?


Not used often, but it seems useful

Will be updating it once i have more things to say.


7) No Hurry, No Pause


This is a reminding statement that reminds you to chill.

There is this one story about a biker by Tim Ferris which was really good

(just google “tim ferris no hurry no pause biker”)

[its late at night right now and I’m just too lazy to find the link]

The saying goes:

“When you rush, time shrinks. When you’re relaxed, time expands. This is true even though it’s very hard for the mind to get. When you’re relaxed and doing something willingly, you’re participating in life.” From “Freedom Is in This Moment”


8) What if I could only do the opposite for 48 Hours?


This is crazy helpful :

In 2000, I was selling mass data storage to CEOs and CTOs in my first job out of college. When I wasn’t driving my mom’s hand-me-down minivan to and from the office in San Jose, California, I was cold calling and cold emailing.

“Smiling and dialing” was brutal. For the first few months, I flailed and failed (it didn’t help that my desk was wedged in a fire exit). Then, one day, I realized something: All of the sales guys made their sales calls between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Obvious, right? But that’s part one.

Part two: I realized that all of the gatekeepers who kept me from the decision makers — CEOs and CTOs — also worked from 9 to 5. What if I did the opposite of all the other sales guys, just for 48 hours? I decided to take a Thursday and Friday and make sales calls only from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m.

For the rest of the day, I focused on cold emails. It worked like gangbusters. The big boss often picked up the phone directly, and I began doing more experiments with “What if I did the opposite?”: What if I only asked questions instead of pitching? What if I studied technical material, so I sounded like an engineer instead of a sales guy? What if I ended my emails with “I totally understand if you’re too busy to reply, and thank you for reading this far,” instead of the usual “I look forward to your reply and speaking soon” presumptive BS? The experiments paid off. My last quarter in that job, I outsold the entire L.A. office of our biggest competitor, EMC.

-Tim Ferris

Jarone’s Note:

Thanks for reading, what are the questions that have made a huge impact on your life in recent years?

Tell me in the comments below!


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