I like to think of a human brain as a huge processor with a massive search engine. With the colossal amount of information being stored at any point in time it can promptly generate a list of search results to lots of queries.
But do you ask the right questions?
First of all, let’s touch upon the most user-unfriendly question. And the winner here is …why. Specifically, its varieties such as:
- Why does it have to be me?
- Why now?
- Why can’t I be like everyone else? etc
So which questions enhance your decision making and encourage a growth mindset?
1. What else does this mean?
Very often events/situations/feelings can have a few meanings, however, a human mind will always tend to pick up only one of them and focus exclusively on it. What happens next? All opportunities to get a valuable insight from changing a prospective are promptly dismissed.Asking this question will allow you to step aside from the assumption that there can only be one meaning and one interpretation of anything and train your mind to search for alternative versions of truth.
2. What can I learn from this?
Getting used to ask this question you will train your mind to extract lessons and wisdom from any situation. And it becomes even more valuable when looking at your not so successful experiences: even though it seems they don’t present anything positive there’s always a take-away from any situation that will enable you to get a better outcome next time.
3. How can I use it?
The potential of this question is genuinely enormous as it allows you not only to go above and beyond the regular way of doing things but will prompt creativity and innovation. Leaning to ask this question on a consistent basis will enable you to find extraordinary solutions to everyday dilemmas and benefit from cross-application of concepts from different areas.
And remember: to get a smart answer one must ask a smart question. Happy asking!
