Ask
The Power of Questions and The Courage to Ask Them
Bradley Charbonneau
Contents
Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.
Jules Renard
Preface
I know. This book hasnt even started. But Im going to dare do the impossible: ask you a question.
See how easy that was? I didnt even write a page yet and Im walking the talk, Im doing the deed, Im daring to ask.
What you have in your hands is a book. Or maybe you have the audiobook and then its in your ears.
Although Im an author at heart, I see a trajectory of connection that goes something like this:
- Read (those things you read in a book or article)
- Hear (what we hear, voices, music, podcasts, audiobooks)
- See (we use our eyes to experience, we can see gestures, facial expressions, etc.)
- Feel (this can come from any of this list but its usually not physical, its how it makes your gut react)
- Touch (although this sounds like were shaking hands or giving a hugand thats part of itits more physiological than necessarily physical)
- Resonate (this one is in your heart, when this happens, it tingles the hairs on your arms and possibly releases a flock of butterflies in your belly)
If you have the book or ebook or audiobook in your hands, see how faror rather, not farwe are down this path?
I want to take it further.
This is possibly your first taste of Repossible and I want to invite you to more. Come on over to ask.repossible.com and sign up, for free, to go deeper down this trajectory of communication.
Well have audio, video, downloads, and a community of Repossible-istas to connect with, dare I say resonate with, and unlock the cage of butterflies and get those hairs standing on end on your arms and neck.
Repossible is a series of books, podcasts, and video. We are mini-courses online, Saturday afternoon workshops. We are people. We are creators. Were a 3-day Retreat to the Repossible long weekend. We are, together, a week in Bali for a Repossible Your Life getaway and life-altering experience. Several days in a place youve never beenIve never been. Yet.
I know, I could have just said:
Come join us at ask.repossible.com for free bonus content!
but as youll see, I tend to not follow too many rules and do things in a way that I think, although it might not make sense early on (OK, fine, it may never make sense), it will sink in.
Im in this for The Long Game. Im all for easy wins and quick victories but were not talking about one of the nine lives we have as a cat. I dont know about you but I have just one life and this is it.
See, I havent even started and Im already WAY out of my (former) comfort zone as I just asked you directly to come connect with us.
That wasnt so bad, was it?
But now you have a choice:
- Turn the page and continue reading
- Type in ask.repossible.com and sign in
You can choose the order but I challenge you to do #2 first.
Dedication
To those who ask the kids the three most delightful words of power we can transfer from one human to another:
Then what happened?
Its with those three words that I, together with my two boys, wrote one of my first books.
All I had to do was Ask.
Prologue
The fact that you are willing to say, I do not understand, and it is fine, is the greatest understanding you could exhibit.
Wayne Dyer
S ince Ive graduated from the School of Not Asking and am now in the part-time accreditation program of Asking All the Time, I need to revisit my days of fear.
Its a Friday afternoon as I write this. I just got a text from my 16-year-old son Liam that he didnt do very well on his German test.
His mother and I speak fluent German. I asked him yesterday (and over the past two years) if I could help him with studying.
- I asked.
- I begged.
- I pleaded.
But he wasnt having any of it. He wanted to do it his way. He didnt want our help. He said he was fine. He had a good study session.
Had he received a good grade, this would have all been fine. Had he any sort of grasp on German, Id be OK with this.
But he didnt and he doesnt.
- He didnt ask for help.
- He even refused help.
- Hes 16.
- Hes a boy.
I sent him a text after his test saying something along the lines of how asking for help was not a sign of weakness but rather those who are strong ask questions to become even stronger.
Yes, not only do I put brilliant quotes in the beginnings of chapters of my books, I also send texts to my kids.
You are voluntarily reading this book. Well, unless youre in a prison in Thailand and this was the only English book left on the cart.
But for my kids, I like to think that they hear me even if theyre not listening.
Maybe they want the answers even though they dont dare ask.
I have long gotten over my fear of asking. I ask for anythingand everythingthese days. No shame. No fear. No problem.
Sure, I get in trouble. But what I really want to do is begin the conversation.
Thats what Im doing here with you.
You see, I have no idea where you are along the spectrum of Ask.
- You dont dare
- You might ask but you dont really want the answeror want to talk about it
- You dont really want to know at all
- You ask a bitbut maybe just the easy stuff
- You ask the medium stuff
- You can deal the hard stuff
- You want the hard stuff and relish it
- Youre practically a mercenary ask professional who even asks for those who dont dare
But I want to start from the beginning. Its almost a birth or a seed sprouting from its little egg or shell orwhatever it is that a seed comes from.
See? Im asking questions already. Where does a seed come from? What does it break out of?
I dont know. Im asking.
Im not afraid to ask the silly stuff.
You know why?
Because its practice. Then I get more used to it and I can ask the harder stuff:
- What is this next paragraph about?
- What is this book about?
- What is the Repossible series really uncovering?
- Who am I to write it?
Wow. Dang.
Pipe down there, Pendergrass.
See how quickly things can get out of hand?
Lets stick to the easy stuff at first. For example:
Should we turn the page and get started with asking?
I even have an answer for that one: yes, please.
Foreword
By Mai Phutur Selph
What if the answer is yes?
Mai Phutur Selph (asking the present-day Bradley Charbonneau)
My name is Mai. It sounds like My. Last name: Selph. Grandparents were Scottish. Maybe a little skittish. Middle name: Phutur. I think there are some Vietnamese ancestors along the way somewhere.
I wanted to write this forward and address it to a certain Mr. Bradley Charbonneau back before he became an author.
I could keep this really short and just ask him the question I asked him all of those years back but I should give you a little back story first.
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