WHAT DO YOU WANT?

52 better questions than "what do you do."

How to play

"What do you do?" is the worst question in the English language. Everyone has a rehearsed answer and nobody wants to hear it.

These are 52 better ones. Draw one, ask it, and shut up for ten seconds longer than feels comfortable.

If you're the kind of person who loves to help, start with Wants. Every answer is something you can do.

Pass the deck. Fair's fair.

When someone tells you what they want, write it down. You'll know what to do with it.

The four suits

WANTS

What they're after. Start here if you're the kind of person who loves to help. Every answer is something you can do.

GIFTS

What they've been given, and what they'd love to be. Gift-givers, this is your cheat sheet.

EXPERIENCES & BECOMING

What they want to do, and who they want to be.

TWISTS

Questions about the questions. For when the conversation's already good and you want it great.

Not sure? Start with Wants.

All 52 cards

All Wants Gifts Experiences & Becoming Twists

Wants1 / 52
What are you working toward right now?
Wants2 / 52
What's the thing you're trying to make happen this year?
Wants3 / 52
If the next six months went really well, what would've happened?
Wants4 / 52
What are you hoping cracks open soon?
Wants5 / 52
What's the thing you're stuck on?
Wants6 / 52
What would make your life easier right now?
Wants7 / 52
What would you love to have happen?
Wants8 / 52
What's on your wish list — work or otherwise?
Wants9 / 52
I have a thing I do instead of "what do you do" — I ask what you want. So: What do you want?
Wants10 / 52
Can I ask you a better question than "what do you do"? What are you trying to get?
Wants11 / 52
I'm terrible at small talk, so I'll skip to the good part: What are you after right now?
Wants12 / 52
I'm good at helping people get things. What's something you're after?
Wants13 / 52
Tell me something you want and I'll see if I know anyone.
Gifts14 / 52
What's the best gift anyone's ever given you?
Gifts15 / 52
What's a gift you still have, years later?
Gifts16 / 52
What's the most unexpected thing someone's done for you?
Gifts17 / 52
If someone wanted to get you the perfect gift, what would they need to know about you?
Gifts18 / 52
What's something you'd never buy yourself but would love to be given?
Gifts19 / 52
What's on your wish list that isn't a thing?
Gifts20 / 52
Who in your life is impossible to buy for — and what would crack it?
Gifts21 / 52
What's a gift you gave that you were proudest of?
Gifts22 / 52
What's the best thing anyone's ever made for you?
Gifts23 / 52
What's a small thing that would make your week?
Gifts24 / 52
What do you collect, on purpose or by accident?
Gifts25 / 52
What would you want someone to bring you back from a trip?
Gifts26 / 52
Who's the best gift-giver you know, and what do they do differently?
Experiences & Becoming27 / 52
What's an experience you've been meaning to have for years?
Experiences & Becoming28 / 52
Where have you never been that you keep thinking about?
Experiences & Becoming29 / 52
What did you do as a kid that you'd pay money to do again?
Experiences & Becoming30 / 52
What's something you want to do once, just to say you did it?
Experiences & Becoming31 / 52
What do you want people to say about you when you're not in the room?
Experiences & Becoming32 / 52
What's a compliment you got once that you still think about?
Experiences & Becoming33 / 52
What's the best meal of your life, and who was there?
Experiences & Becoming34 / 52
What's the most alive you've felt this year?
Experiences & Becoming35 / 52
What's a tradition you'd love to start?
Experiences & Becoming36 / 52
Where do you feel most like yourself?
Experiences & Becoming37 / 52
What do you want to be able to do that you can't yet?
Experiences & Becoming38 / 52
What's a skill you'd learn if someone handed you the teacher?
Experiences & Becoming39 / 52
What's something you'd love to be known for?
Twists40 / 52
What question do you love to be asked?
Twists41 / 52
What do you love to talk about instead of small talk?
Twists42 / 52
What do people never ask you that you wish they would?
Twists43 / 52
What's something you know a weird amount about?
Twists44 / 52
What's the last thing you changed your mind about?
Twists45 / 52
What are you an unofficial expert in?
Twists46 / 52
What's the best question anyone's ever asked you?
Twists47 / 52
Who's the most interesting person you know, and why?
Twists48 / 52
What riddle are you trying to solve?
Twists49 / 52
What are you obsessed with?
Twists50 / 52
What nut are you trying to crack?
Twists51 / 52
What don't you understand that you wish you did?
Twists52 / 52
What should I have asked you?

Why I made this

I'm bad at small talk and good at helping people get what they want. For years I'd meet someone, ask "what do you do," and watch both of us go numb.

So I started asking a different question. People leaned in. Some of them got what they wanted. A few of them became friends.

Now you have the questions. Go find out what somebody wants.

— Robbe Richman

Want to do this for your customers?

The Gifts suit comes from my gifting company. If you're interested in a gifting service that keeps the customers you have and welcomes the new ones, that's Time to WOW!

Visit timetowow.com