Can’t to Can Belief Busting, Freedom Questions and Modal Operators

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Questions within the Can’t to Can Belief Busting model are carefully crafted to stimulate changes in thinking. I often refer to two specific Can’t to Can questions as ‘Freedom Questions’ as they encourage the coachee to think about possibility and opportunity.

These questions are:

“What would happen if you could?” – a stimulus to think about a future state where a new reality exists.

“What would have to happen to make that happen?” – a stimulus to think about strategy to achieve a desired future state.

These questions originate from Transformational Grammar, a sector of linguistics which interrogates the surface structure of (particularly spoken) language. The TG description for these types of questions is ‘Modal Operators of Possibility’.

Examples of Modal Operators of Opportunity include:

“What if you did?”

 “What if you could?”

“What would happen if you …?”

 “What would have to happen for you to…?”

There is a flipside to Modal Operators of Opportunity, known as Modal Operators of Necessity. These are the statements made by people who have impoverished maps of their territory.

Modal Operators of Necessity statements might include:

“I can’t…”

“I mustn’t…”

“I shouldn’t…”

“I have to…”

Where we hear a statement which is a Modal Operator of Necessity we can use Modal Operators of Opportunity to unblock the limited thinking;

“What would happen if you didn’t?” (comply with that restriction)

“What would happen if you did?” (break that rule)

Modal Operators are a great way to unlock potential. That’s why Can’t to Can Belief Busting is so powerful!

Author: Guest Author

Published On: 31st Jan 2014 - Last modified: 5th Feb 2019
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