This Wednesday I wrapped up LiveHard Phase 2. One of the books I finished along the way was Reset by Dan Heath. His work reminded me of a powerful tool from solution-focused therapy that is just as useful in business and life as it is in a counseling office: the Magic Question.

The Magic Question has several versions, but goes something like this:

“Pretend you go to bed tonight, and while you sleep everything that is stressing you out is solved. All your problems are gone. You are on the path you most desire. When you wake up tomorrow, what do you notice? Not just how do you feel, but what do you see, what do you experience, how does your day progress?”

The question originated in the late 1970s with Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, two therapists who pioneered solution-focused brief therapy in Milwaukee. They wanted to help clients stop circling endlessly around problems and instead picture a specific, detailed future where the problem no longer existed. The idea was not only therapeutic but practical: when people could describe what life looked like on the other side of their struggle, they often started taking steps toward it right away.

In Reset, Heath explains that our brains default to problem-tracking. We over-focus on what is broken. The Magic Question flips the script. Instead of asking “What’s wrong?” it asks “What would right look like?” Heath puts it this way: “A good reset doesn’t just diagnose problems. It imagines a better normal and makes it tangible.”

When I used this exercise myself, the answers were not abstract. I could see specific moments, how I would start the day, how I would connect with my kids and important relationships, how my work would flow with focus and clarity.

In business, the same clarity shows up. If marketing were working the way you wanted it to, what would you notice? If your team were thriving, what would you see?

The shift is subtle but huge. Instead of grinding away at problems, you begin building toward a vision that already feels possible.

This week’s solution: Take ten quiet minutes to ask yourself the Magic Question. Do not stop at feelings. Write down what you see, hear, and do in that better tomorrow. Then circle one of those details and put it into practice today.

Momentum does not come from fixing problems. It comes from living pieces of your better future right now.

See next Saturday.

Drop a comment or DM with any insights or breakthroughs you experience using this small-but-powerful question.