In this post, we’ll unpack all you need to know about questions, including how they impact us, the science behind their influence, how we can leverage them and more.
The Power Of Inquiry
Questions profoundly impact how we perceive, experience and interact with the world around us. They can bring clarity and perspective and allow us to innovate, solve problems, identify opportunities and create breakthrough insights, all of which propel us forward.
Questions trigger the release of serotonin, in ourselves and in others, which elicits feelings of relaxation and encourages solutions.
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” ― Albert Einstein
Quality Questions Create A Quality Life
The quality of our questions determine the quality of our answers ― ask better questions and you receive better answers and just like any skill, the more you practice, the better you become at it.
Questions have the power to create and the power to destroy. They can either empower us or disempower us. One common denominator among successful people is that they are exceptionally good at asking the right questions.
When used consciously and effectively, they can connect us to the answers necessary for getting us from where we are now to where to want to be ― to our goals and the quality of life we desire.
If you want to know what questions to ask, simply find someone who has already achieved the results you want for in a particular area of your life, find out what they ask themselves and then model them.
“The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions.”
Ask & You Shall Receive
When we ask a question, we activate the part of our brain known as the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which then goes to work in order to provide us with information and evidence that supports our enquiry. Subtle nuances to the way we frame our questions can lead to entirely different answers.
“Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find.”
Your Primary Question
While there are countless questions you ask yourself every day, there is one dominant question that you ask ourselves more than any other ― we call this your Primary Question.
Your Primary Question not only profoundly shapes who you are, what you do and why you do it, but it determines what you consistently notice and experience in life.
“The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions.”
The Science
Your brain is ultimately designed to keep you alive. So when you ask a question, your brain begins to look for things that are relevant to that question.
When the brain finds something that answers a question that we associate with pain, it triggers pain hormones to signal a threat. When the brain finds something that answers a question that we associate with pleasure, it triggers pleasure hormones to signal an opportunity.
Questions are you speaking to God. Answers are God speaking to you.
How To Leverage Questions
The key to leveraging questions is to ask those that will provide you with the answers necessary to achieve your goals and the life you desire.
However, to achieve success, you can’t just ask a question once. You have to become obsessed with finding the greatest answers. In doing so, we become the Masters of our Destiny instead of Slaves to our Fate.
The more we practice asking quality questions, the more we rewire and retrain our brain to instinctively find quality answers as we approach life in a manner that encourages problem-solving and empowers growth.
“We all live in a world our questions create.”
Summary (TL;DR)
Questions transform the filter through which we perceive, experience and interact with the world around us. They influence the way we think, the way we feel, the actions we take and ultimately our destiny.
The key to leveraging questions is to formulate them in a way that will provide you with the answers necessary to achieve your goals and the life you desire.
