The simple question, two words that if said separately don’t have much power. Combining them to “What if “might create fear, failure, the worst outcomes, but on the other side it may open success in the power of your thoughts. If you are a business owner, mother, father, student, investor or athlete, what affect could asking these simple words have on you and your daily interactions?

Let’s review a few examples for context:

Family Office Financial Professional– If you are evaluating a deal or an investment opportunity for a family office client, what if the deal goes bad and the investor loss is 100%, what if the manager of the investor firm dies suddenly, what if the investment returned 20X or the company goes public? What if you submitted your next proposal or work project 3 days before the deadline date?

Taking “Failure Risks” – What if you decide to take a chance at a new business opportunity and fail? What if you take potential risks that could change your life?

Athlete – What if you attempted and succeeded or failed to lose 30 pounds or gain 10 pounds of muscle? As a personal example, I asked this question for an event I will attempt this June – the 4,400 mile Trans Am Bike race. What if I finish? What if I don’t finish? What if I could inspire children around person passion of Leaders are Great readers and Great Speakers with my non-profit organization?

Business Owner – What if you spent an extra 10% of time with your best clients? What if you called all the prospects that you have lost proposals in the past 2 years? What if you asked 3 clients for 2 referrals every week of the year? What if you sent out 1 handwritten thank you note per day for the entire year? What if you decided to disrupt a sector and it fails and you go bankrupt?

Student (or a person looking for the next career opportunity) – What if you sent out five 1-minute elevator pitch introduction videos per week to every person you know who is connected with your target audience?

Stay at home parent entering the entrepreneur world – What if you branded yourself on social media channels and delivered a great message? What if you sent out individual invitations to great leaders on Linked In every week?

First time author venture– What if you actually wrote 500 words every day? What if you wrote a book about your passion and only sold 20 books? What if you launched the book and opened up another passion of speaking to other writers?

Life Changer – What if you got up at 5AM every day for 1 week and read a biography of a leader? What if you eliminated all complaining, gossiping, watching TV and NO BS for 5 days and failure means paying $150 into a pool with two of your best friends. The winner gets the cash. What if you did nothing but 10 minutes of mindfulness are read Seneca Stoicism or Joseph Campbell?

These two words can offer deep thinking into your life. With the questions of Who, What, Where, When, Why and How just add “What if” and it might open significant possibilities to you every aspect of your life and it’s not always about failure, risk and fear!