The QBQ!Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've been here. I didn't intend to stop blogging, but I guess I've gotten busy and Xanga just kinda fell by the wayside. It's nice to see you all again! So I picked up the book QBQ while I was in the bookstore today. You Dave Ramsey fans know that he highly recommends this book, and in fact had John Miller on his TV show recently. I read it in about an hour, it's a very easy read, and it is excellent. QBQ stands for The Question Behind the Question. We're all very good at asking questions like "When is he going to be a better boss?" "When is that department going to get off its butt?" "When is she going to do her job right?" "Why won't my kids listen to me?" "Why can't my husband act the way I want him to?" "Why is this happening to me?" It all comes down to "Who can I blame?" and "It's someone else's problem and someone else's fault." Poor me. John Miller proposes that these are the wrong kinds of questions. They're unproductive and encourage blame, victim thinking and procrastination. The right questions are "What can I do?" "How can I help?" "How can I make a change?" "How can I add value?" "How can I serve my spouse?" "How can I understand my child better?" It all comes down to "I can only change me, I can't change anyone else, so what am I going to change about me to improve things?" Personal accountability. At the risk of sounding immodest, I see how this works in my job. I've done it. I came across a case not too long ago that had been sitting for 2 years with no action, which is totally ridiculous. I would have been filing a complaint if I had been that mother. Anyway, in a matter of 30 minutes or less, I was able to get that case moving, and with a little help from the call center, that mother is now receiving support for her child each month from her ex. Imagine what a few hundred extra dollars each month can do for that family! It was little effort for me to work that case up, but I'm sure it's making a big difference for that woman while she raises her child. With a caseload as large as we have, it's easy to say "What can I do to get this case off my desk as quickly as possible?" but it always makes a difference to someone somewhere to say instead "What can I do to collect money on this case?" or "What can I do to resolve the problem on this case?" or the one I ask the most, "How can I prevent the call center from saying "Allow more time" the next time this participant calls?" lol. The answer is work the case now, myself, instead of pushing it off on someone else, or until tomorrow. Just imagine what would happen if we applied this principle to every area of our lives! What would it change about your family? My job? That church? Their marriage? Her child? His parents? It'd be awesome! | 
