How to ask good questions
The art of asking good questions is a skill you must learn if you want to improve an area of your life. Asking the right questions to the right people can unlock new doors and bring new opportunities for you.
Questioning the world around you is essential to developing effective critical thinking skills. The skill is rare among people today. But since you’re here, you’ll be able to acquire the skill. You’ll avoid the traps people fall into, where their ignorance blinds them to reality. You’ll have the tools to make your own decisions.
So, without further ado, let’s start learning how to ask good questions…
Why would you want to ask good questions?
Good questions help you:
-Learn
-Understand
-Develop connections
-Create new ideas
-Solve problems
-Make conclusions
-Ask more questions
In other words, good questions help you make sense of the world around you. And you’ll learn about yourself, too.
How to ask good questions
The key to asking good questions is to ask open-ended questions.
Open-ended questions allow the other person to elaborate on their answer.
You often will hear their thought process, and experiences, and get a more nuanced answer to your question.
Close-ended questions can be good in small doses.
Asking a few "Yes/No" style questions can help you cut through meaningless answers.
Sometimes a simple answer is all that's required to help you understand the complete picture. And that's where close-ended questions thrive.
Get straight to the heart of what you're interested in learning.
Save the time of the person you're asking questions. And don't waste your own time either.
Just because a question is open-ended, doesn't mean it's good.
Open-ended questions facilitate conversation.
This conversation is relevant to what you want to learn. They help you deepen your understanding of the topic, which can also lead you to develop new questions mid-conversation.
Don't ask random questions that serve no purpose.
Good questions are specific.
They should lead the person answering them towards giving an interesting answer for you.
Open-ended questions can be specific.
The more specific you make the question, the better the answer you'll receive.
Final thoughts
Asking good questions is essential to leveling up your life. Now that you know how to ask good questions, you’ll be able to learn with confidence. You know the power you’ve gained. Use it to improve your life and the world around you.
So, good questions are:
-Open-ended (most of the time)
-Relevant
-Specific