The Power of Questions

Albert Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

A study by the Harvard Business Review found that the most successful leaders are those who ask the most questions. These leaders are more likely to uncover innovative solutions and inspire their teams to think critically.

Research published in the Journal of Educational Psychology highlights that students who ask more questions tend to have higher academic achievements and better problem-solving skills.

What are some benefits of asking questions?

There are many benefits. Asking questions can:

challenge assumptions and ingrained beliefs,
foster curiosity and drive innovation,
support informed decision-making,
enable the exploration of diverse perspectives,
improve communication and build shared understanding
enable self-reflection and learning,
encourage deeper thinking, and
aid in problem solving.

Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, exemplifies this with her mantra, “The more you ask ‘why,’ the more things become normal. When ‘why’ becomes normal, you start thinking differently, coming up with new ideas, new ways to solve problems.”

Are there good questions and bad questions?

Rather than ask Yes/No questions, we’re encouraged to ask open-ended questions, those that start with WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN and How. The latter are considered powerful question because they open the conversation, whereas closed questions, those leading to Yes/No answers, close the conversation

The magic of questions is in asking boldly and listening deeply. And to get better at asking questions, just ask more questions. Try it and see how much insight you get.

As Tony Robbins says, and I paraphrase, the quality of your life depends on the quality of your questions.

About thinking patterns

Did you know that your brain spends 90% of its thinking time focused on the same set of thoughts?

As in, 90% of our undirected thoughts are repeat thoughts, and only 10% are new thoughts. This is based on studies done in the neuroscience and cognitive psychology fields.

This insight is very surprising to me. I thought I was spending my thinking time on expanding my ideas. But what studies are saying is that the brain likes efficiency and therefore forms neural pathways from past experiences and ingrained patterns that lead to repeated thoughts and behaviours.

Our brains, when not directed to a specific task, have a default mode… of thinking about the past, but of the same past events and for creating visions of the future, but it’s the same future vision on repeat.

When we don’t direct the brain to specific things to think about it goes into automatic thinking. The consequences of automatic thinking include reduced creativity because creativity relies on exploring new perspectives. Another consequence is overthinking things and worrying about potential future events or ruminating on past events, which in turn affects our mental wellbeing.

But surely repetitive thinking is good for building knowledge and cementing habits you say. Yes, indeed it is. However, this happens with awareness. When you’re aware of your thinking, you can direct it to productive activities. However, an idle brain will default to repetitive thinking.

The lesson here is to develop self-awareness so you can redirect your brain from the mindless default thinking it does 90% of the time to the more directed thinking that will lead to knowledge, creativity, habit formation and support positive mental health.

Is that what mindfulness and being mindful is all about?

I wonder!

Come on brain, let’s do some directed thinking, the 10%.

Don’t Quit

By Edgar Albert Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit-
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.