I met Ana Ferraria during one of the adventure trips I was leading to Morocco in 2017. Since then, our friendship has blossomed and I have followed her remarkable journey with admiration. Originally from Azeitão, in Portugal, Ana is a true connoisseur of life’s pleasures and possesses impressive strength and resilience.

On her journey of personal development, Ana has discovered her true purpose: to inspire others to embrace the vision that they can achieve anything they desire. Through her experience, she turned challenges into opportunities and created QuestionAr-t, a platform that reflects her passion for bringing design and coaching together to promote personal growth.

Ana Ferraria is more than a designer, coach and entrepreneur; she is a source of inspiration. With courage and determination, she demonstrates that it is possible to realise dreams and live a fulfilling life. I pay my sincere respect to her as a woman and as an example of empowerment and fulfilment.

Today, the voice that is heard is from Ana Ferraria!

What inspired you to create QuestionAr-t and how did you come up with the ideas to turn personal development exercises into practical tools?

QuestionAr-t was born out of a fear: the fear of being unemployed and impoverished again! I wanted to set up my own business so that I wouldn’t depend on the job opportunities others decided to give me. That was the first step. The second was realising that I didn’t want to stop being a designer or a coach and that this business would have to unite these two passions.
When I learnt how coaching and achieving goals worked, I realised many courses and books were telling you how to do it in theory and a few tools to put it into practice in people’s daily lives. As a designer, I had already been designing my planners for many years and realised that this was the ideal place to create a practical goals plan: inside a planner. That’s when I realised I could bring graphic design and coaching together – uniting powerful questions and transformative exercises into beautiful tools that people could use daily.

QuestionAr-t was born out of a fear: the fear of being unemployed and impoverished again! I wanted to set up my own business so that I wouldn’t depend on the job opportunities others decided to give me.

Can you talk about the dark periods you’ve faced, such as depression and unemployment? How have these challenges shaped your outlook and approach to personal development?

Depression set in because I found myself without a job and, above all, without hope. The crisis was raging in Portugal and unemployment was at an all-time high. Everywhere I looked I couldn’t see any way out and without realising it, the depression began to hurt my body and soul. It was also because of this anguish that I tried to get out of that dark place and it was in this search that I came to personal development. Basically, it was about bringing myself a strong mentality, capable of dealing with all the negative emotions and the pessimistic environment around me. Then Bioenergetics helped with the rest: me releasing negative emotions safely and channelling that energy towards my goals.

How was the transition from graphic design to personal development and coaching? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

I didn’t make the transition from graphic design to personal development and coaching. I came to coaching because I wanted to learn how to deal with people to progress in graphic design and become a creative director. When I started putting coaching into practice, I fell in love with it too. And I never wanted to separate these two passions. That was always very clear! I didn’t want to stop being one thing and become something else. QuestionAr-t was born out of these two passions.

What attracted you to coaching and how has it transformed your life? Can you share some of the most significant changes you’ve experienced thanks to coaching?

What attracted me to coaching was realising that there was a methodology that could take me from where I was (my reality) to where I wanted to go (my dream) and that if I followed it, I would have a chance of succeeding. I tried it and I succeeded! From that moment on I realised that I could do anything I wanted and that my purpose would be for more people to have the same vision. That’s why I created QuestionAr-t’s practical tools.
The big changes were mainly in taking responsibility for my life, self-knowledge as a source of strength and a shield against threats, and the goals plan as a daily practice of focus, discipline and motivation.

Many people see coaching as ‘snake oil’. How do you view this perception and position yourself so people trust your work and want to work with you?

Coaching is commonplace in the world of companies – they all have annual objectives, monthly, quarterly, and weekly targets… they all have strategies for achieving them… and life coaching has brought the same methodology to the personal world, to personal achievements and each person’s dreams. The term ‘snake oil’ is very funny because it refers to something miraculous that cures all ills! I wish coaching could cure all ills, but it works on many ills common to many people: discouragement, lack of motivation, people not knowing their talents, their values, and the beliefs they believe in which sabotage their changes and achievements… they also don’t know the methodology for achieving goals. Nobody teaches us this at school and it’s a shame because we all lose out. Human beings tend to doubt the new and the entry of coaching in Portugal has broken with something very culturally implemented by decades of dictatorship: honesty associated with hard work, fado, suffering, and the strong presence of the Catholic Church… in short… external punishment. Coaching is about the opposite! It’s about you, the inner you, and that is still perceived as selfishness and individuality – therefore negative. I don’t evangelise anyone into coaching. I communicate and show that it worked for me and that you should try it out to see if it works. I believe that it works and transforms lives. It happened to me.

I don’t evangelise anyone into coaching. I communicate and show that it worked for me and that you should try it out to see if it works.

How did you come up with the idea of creating the QuestionAr-t Planner and what makes it unique compared to other planning and personal development tools?

I mentioned that earlier, didn’t I? The Personal Coach Agenda is an annual plan for achieving goals, and within a planner, it makes it easier for you to balance these goals with routine day-to-day tasks. The great advantage is having everything concentrated in one place: time management, prioritising, and practising habits that allow you to have energy, stay focused and always have a clear eye on everything. It was designed and produced in Portugal, in Portuguese, by a Portuguese woman and since it’s a physical journal, it becomes an anchor that’s always by your side to support your organisation.

You mention the importance of pen and paper in mental reprogramming. Can you elaborate on that and why you think a digital application wouldn’t have the same impact?

Yes, because when we write by hand we are activating several parts of the brain and body simultaneously: reviewing (memory), deciding, prioritising, practising, devoting attention, and recording by hand as a commitment… It sounds simple, but it activates a series of internal resources that help us make this commitment to ourselves. Fortunately, more and more people are familiar with mindfulness (attention in the present moment) and journaling (free writing to process feelings and emotions)… the Personal Coach Agenda is all this plus task management, time management and an objectives plan. All in one place and practised simultaneously. Digital is great, but it’s the opposite of that: it’s for recording and removing from your mind; it’s for moving on to something else… something will beep at some point to make you take action. The danger is that we often silence the notification and don’t act, because the effort we put in isn’t the same. I use both tools to ensure that I benefit from both. One for my commitment to myself, for my management of priorities and tasks, to define my objectives and where I record the plan to achieve them, and the other for the alert and timer. Dedicating time to each task helps you get more done and save time. It’s healthy to know how to use the positive sides of everything.

What are QuestionAr-t’s main products apart from the planner, and how does each contribute to personal empowerment and human development?

QuestionAr-t has a series of tools, all with the same purpose and complementary to each other. They all promote self-knowledge, work-life balance and autonomy. They are all practical, with the minimum essential theory to lead to practice and to see results quickly, without wasting too much time and with little financial investment. Some are physical tools such as the Personal Coach Agenda, the Sumo notebook or the ConectAr-t card game, and others are digital, such as the discovery of talents, values and beliefs. They are all easy-to-use tools accessible to anyone who wants to invest in themselves and in living a more meaningful life. They are also excellent for therapists, psychologists, trainers and people working in the field of personal development.

How do you see QuestionAr-t’s growth from its inception to now and what are your plans for the company?

QuestionAr-t has evolved and improved over the years since it was founded. Feedback from our clients is very important to this evolution. All comments are analysed and if they make sense in terms of the purpose of the tools, they are implemented. All tools are imperfect and unfinished. They are plastic and under constant construction. They follow a purpose and that is always the main focus. The future is part of QuestionAr-t’s essence. That’s where we want to take our dreams and monthly goals: to implement self-knowledge, management, action and personal satisfaction in the lives of as many people as possible. I know a therapist who says ‘It’s about trying to lead a less cretinous life!’ I agree!

Apart from the QuestionAr-t Schedule, what other services do you offer to people who want to work with you? How can people benefit from your work and how can they get in touch to start this process?

At the moment I dedicate myself to Personal Brand Mentoring – for people who already have a product or service and want to amplify their results with strategic and effective online and offline communication; or for people who want to put their services or products on the market with a consolidated and intentional strategy. I also do Entrepreneurship Mentoring for those who want to create a business from scratch from its essence and I also have an author programme called ResgatAr-t – a programme of self-knowledge and personal power to deal with any path and life choice. As well as the usual coaching sessions. You can find me on the QuestionAr-t website at www.questionar-t.com or my Ana Ferraria at anaferraria.com.

What lessons have you learnt along your personal and professional journey that you think are most valuable for other women facing difficulties?

If you don’t become antifragile, you’re at the mercy of the will of others and of what the world around you dictates! That self-knowledge is what gives you this antifragility and it’s everything that no one can take away from you, that when you know your shit no one will be able to offend you or devalue you. I would say to any woman (and man): know yourself better than anyone else so that others don’t surprise or belittle you. You’ll always know your worth, your qualities, and your weaknesses and with that, you’ll know which paths are or aren’t aligned with you. From that moment on, whatever comes your way, you’ll know what you’re made of and you’ll be able to set your boundaries in your personal and professional life.

…when you know your shit no one will be able to offend you or devalue you. I would say to any woman (and man): know yourself better than anyone else so that others don’t surprise or belittle you.

What advice would you give to women struggling to find their purpose and who want to transform their lives, just like you did?

Talk to me! I’d be delighted to help them achieve this in a short space of time, without much investment and with great results. If that is what they wish!
If every morning they write down 3 priorities for the day and do them one at a time, and at the end of the day they are grateful for the little things, they will change their energy (and results) a lot… and if you add to that the risk of doing one new thing a month… no matter how small, it will already stir up a lot of positive things inside them!

One of your big investments is in books. Is there a particular book you’d like to suggest to these women?

Wow… choosing one is impossible for me as I love books and learn from everyone I read! I’ll tell you two that were essential for me to change just by putting them into practice and one on coaching:

•  You Can Heal Your Life – Paperback by Louise L. Hay – cheap, with some pictures that I used to say every morning and helped me look at life positively!
• Nonviolent Communication – The secret to successful communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg – should be a subject at school! Most people don’t know how to communicate! And they pay high prices in life because of it. This book is quick and easy to read and mandatory to implement.
• and the must-read coaching book: Awaken the Giant Within – How to Control Your Mind and Your Emotional, Physical and Financial Life by Anthony Robbins – talks about the basics of coaching and how to apply it to your life. It’s a big book in terms of pages, but I find it easy to read.

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