Do You Ask Enough Questions?

July 26, 2010

I’ve realized something about my blogging. On both my personal blog and BrightFuse, I tend to ask a lot of questions. Questions that I don’t have the answers to. And it’s not necessarily that I expect you to have the answers (I do not mean that to discourage you from commenting and trying to give answers; in fact, quite opposite!) They’re just questions that surface in my mind and questions that I feel need to be asked. They’re questions that might change the way people think about certain issues.

When this realization hit me, I thought of this quote that has found its way to me on multiple occasions:

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” — Tony Robbins

I am in no way endorsing Tony Robbins; frankly, I have no idea who he is. But that doesn’t make that quote any less true.

Questions need to be asked, even if they’re completely rhetorical and theoretical and can never have one true answer.

How can we provide solutions if we’re never aware of the problems?

It seems that, at some point, many of us stop asking questions. Is it because when we ask too many questions as kids, our parents say “Because I said so”? Is it because when we question the fairness of a situation or judgment, people tell us not to worry about it and that it is what it is?

This is another question that I don’t have the answer for.

But that won’t stop me from asking. And I hope it won’t stop you either.

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Tagged as: Communication

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  • http://twitter.com/jeansarauer Jean Sarauer

    That's funny that you don't know who Tony Robbins is . . . before the age of the internet he was on tv infomercials constantly selling his 'Awaken the Giant Within' and other courses. Couldn't escape the guy if you tried. Wonder what he's up to now?

    I'm bit on questions. I'm super curious about people – what they like, how they do things, their experiences, etc Plus I'm curious about myself . . . why am I doing things a certain way, what's really going on inside, etc. There's no end to the things you can find out by asking.

  • http://jakelacaze.com/ Jake LaCaze

    “Before the age of the Internet”? There was such a time? Blasphemy!

    I wanted to clarify that I wasn't endorsing him because, no matter how inspirational a quote may be, people will consider the source and link you to it. If I had a great quote that said something like: “Follow your visions and do all in your power to make them your reality”, people would think that was great and inspirational. But if that quote could be credited to Adolf Hitler, I'd be branded a Nazi! So, I just wanted to cover my own ass, just in case…

    Curiosity and questions make the world so much more interesting. Imagine if we just went through the motions like mindless zombies. I hope I never do that, I really, really do…

  • City Sylvester

    lol, at the Tony Robbins bit. It is impossible to search for anything motivational without his name popping up. You're right about how important asking great questions is. It is far more complicated to form an intelligent question, then it is to come up with an answer.

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  • http://jakelacaze.com/ Jake LaCaze

    Your response to the Tony Robbins bit made me think of something I've recently realized: it's funny how many people don't know about something that you think everyone knows or should know about. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Growing up in rural Louisiana, where the DJ's have no budget or imagination, you hear a lot of the same songs over and over and over. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the same songs by bands like Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Guns 'N' Roses, Pink Floyd, etc. If I hear someone say that he's not familiar with one of the bands, I instantly think, How the hell can someone not know those bands? And then I realize that we all go through different paths in life and are exposed to different things.

    You and Jean make me feel out as if I missed out one of those things that everyone seems to know. By the way, I'm not preaching to you; I'm just saying that your response reminded me of something.

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