Why questions are more important than answers

[2 minute read] Questions are more important than answers because questions allow us to frame and guide our thinking and thus help us understand.

Answers, of course, are also important, but they are only temporary responses to current challenges. Answers must be re-evaluated regularly because their quality decays over time as our situation and the world around us change.

Questions to ask regularly

For instance, the quality of the following questions will not change over time, while the answers to the questions will change as your situation changes.

– What is going well?

– What am I grateful for?

– What do I want more in my life?

– What could I do more?

– What should I do less?

– What should I start doing?

– What should I stop doing?

These are examples of time-tested questions which are worth asking regularly. Their value does not decrease over time. On the contrary, the more frequently we ask them, the more they will help us grow.

However, the answers to these questions will change as we grow and evolve.

Question your questions

That said, sometimes asking the same questions over and over again is not helpful either.

As Edwin H. Friedman said: “perpetually seeking new answers to established questions rather than reframing the basic question itself […] prevents obtaining the distance necessary for being able even to think, much less go, in new directions. Changing the questions enables one to step off.”

 

 

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

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