The Power of Questions

Learn From Others, Grow, and Form Healthy Relationships

Author

Camden Shuman
September 28, 2023

❝

Children ask questions. They are endlessly inquisitive. They lack adult inhibition, and so they learn and grow at an extraordinary rate.

Jonathan Lazear - Publisher

What is a question? See what I did there…anyway, it is a request for information. Asking good questions allows you to learn from others’ lived experience, connect better with people, and form healthy relationships.

1. ❓️ How to Ask Good Questions

There is an art to asking a good question. Here are some things to consider next time you form one:

  • What is your goal? Are you seeking information, starting a conversation, or solving a problem? Clarify your why.

  • Be clear and specific. Design your question with simple concise language.

  • Have an open mind. You may hear an answer you are not expecting.

  • Listen to the answer. This seems obvious, but it can be easy to focus on what you are going to say next instead of the answer.

  • Practice empathy and humility. You are speaking with a person and must treat them like one.

  • Maintain eye contact. When you are looking at someone, it is much easier to pay attention. Also it makes the person you are speaking with feel respected, heard, and understood.

2. 🧑‍🏫 You Need a Mentor

Life is hard and there are too many lessons to learn them all by yourself the hard way. Find people who have done what you want to do, are where you want to be in life, and are wise. They are your shortcut to learning. Implement their advice and do what they would have liked to have done differently.

The beauty is that their failings and experience can prevent you from pain, wasted time, and mistakes. Have a mentor instead of going through life figuring things out by yourself.

3. 😄 Build Healthy Relationships

Asking questions are the foundation of all relationships. They slowly reveal the hopes, dreams, interests, fears, and beliefs of another person. Layer by layer is peeled away and you can begin to understand who they are.

If you are trying to get to know someone, ask genuine questions and discover what they are passionate about.

Cool Photo of the Week:

Hisma Desert, Saudi Arabia shot by Neom Nature Reserve

Final Thoughts

What questions have been the most useful to you? Who in your life can you mentor or be mentored by? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Enjoy this: Please tell a friend about it.

Rock on,

Camden

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