We tend to focus all our efforts on seeking answers rather than finding the right question has been a recent a-ha moment for me. I had time on my hands for some introspection. What I realized is I spend more time looking for answers than finding the right question.
Before I get into what some of the right questions can be, let us understand how we need to find the right questions. A few pointers which I use are:-
- Am I trying to solve the symptom or addressing the root cause
- Is this only to protect my image which I had built since childhood or Is it to enable a makeover
- Short-term vs Long-term
- Does it change my direction or reinforce the current one
- Am I looking for divergent thinking or trying to converge
Once I understand how to frame the right question, it is very easy to see what benefits it would bring to me and how I can shift focus from finding an answer to finding the right question.
I would not delve into why we need to ask questions, as there has been enough literature on it right from Socrates to Feynman.
Some examples of how I tweak my questions are :
- Instead of asking which race to run, ask why do I want to run this race
- Instead of asking how can I get faster in running, ask what foundation I need to build, to be a better runner
- Instead of asking which degree/training/courses to enroll for, ask what I want to learn or better ask how do I want to apply the learnings
- Instead of asking how long I will live, ask what needs to change today if I have only ten years to live
- Instead of asking for more information, ask what information I can act upon today
- Instead of questioning others, ask what lies have I been telling myself
- Instead of asking why it is happening to me, zoom out and see if I am the only one who is going through this difficult situation and would it be relevant in the next decade
Hope this helps in clear thinking and I would love to know how you approach this in your daily life.