Explaining why something is interesting requires having a pretty intimate knowledge of both your own perspective and the other person’s. The more you know about both, the easier it gets. If there’s a lot of overlap, you don’t even have to explain
Explaining your perspective to friends can be joyful, affirming and productive, explaining it to anonymous strangers is often harder and can be exhausting - but in both cases people can surprise you
The right questions can turn strangers into friends
The right questions can turn strangers into friends
There’s this quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn I think about a lot: “who do you think you are” is a question often asked with anger - but if you think about it, it actually has the potential to be an extremely intimate, wholesome question, if asked from a place of love
I am actually really bad and incompetent at a lot of things, and I’m good at maybe 10 things. I think near the top of my list is the ability to ask good questions. Anybody can do it, it doesn’t take a genius. Geniuses are people who keep asking questions
So... how does one ask good questions? What is a good question to begin with? How do you tell if a question is not-good? 🤔
Yup! This is also related to why I’m often hesitant to make global recommendations - what’s perfect for one person with a given background and context is often very likely a bad fit for someone else
This is not exhaustive, but:
I think a good question is a sort of inviting challenge.
It’s not too open (“how do I become successful?”)
and it’s not too closed (googleable facts, eg “what is electromagnetism?”)
I think a good question is a sort of inviting challenge.
It’s not too open (“how do I become successful?”)
and it’s not too closed (googleable facts, eg “what is electromagnetism?”)
If you watch videos of interviews, you’ll notice that sometimes when an interviewer asks a good question, the interviewee lights up. “Wow, nobody ever asked me that before. I’ve never thought of that. Huh. Let’s see...”
A good question can actually be a gift you give someone
A good question can actually be a gift you give someone
I keep digressing because it’s actually really hard to articulate how to ask a good question 😅 word vomit incoming
ok here's a start, but really it just led me to even more questions. i'll have to think about this one for a while before I get to some nice-and-tidy answers
