Core Questions
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- Friday Linky Love | Small Hands, Big Ideas
- September 25, 2009 at 9:46 am
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
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September 25, 2009 at 7:55 am
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Los,
I have been thinking a lot about core values/core influence and life purpose, etc. I honestly never took the time to get it all out until I got a business coach that really forced me to think about what I was doing. He started questioning me “why” I was really doing things. I thought it was silly/goofy/whatever and when I actually thought about it, I was quite surprised about what came out and what I couldn’t answer.
I agree with you 100% that questioning is the key to knowledge. Questioning in sales leads to better product recommendations. Questioning other entrepreneurs will give you insight into your own business. Questioning yourself makes sure that you aren’t being short with yourself. Very solid stuff man.
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September 25, 2009 at 9:40 am
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Most people don’t like to use their brains. That’s why the majority of people love to play video games and waste their lives away in front of a TV. To be honest, it’s so easy to do that I get tempted to do it as well.
Writing a blog post, studying for GMATs, and leading a team takes tremendous brain power and at times I feel overwhelmed because I can only think of one thing at a time.
I like your approach. Questioning is proactive while thinking is Reactive. Now I can see why they call you the “tiny Seth”
I would have to argue that some people are just more intelligent than others. Just like some people are born more athletic, some people are leaders, some people are followers, and some people just get all the women.
- Jun
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September 25, 2009 at 9:48 am
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I like how you differentiate thinking from questioning. They’re two distinct actions, separate for sure. I think the two go hand in hand and you must probe or think, to begin to question. Those who constantly question have a thirst to learn more and not settle for what is in front of them. I love questioners. Just like kids always ask, “Why?” Why do we stop asking “why” as we grow older?
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September 26, 2009 at 5:25 am
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Been thinking about kids and their attitude as well. Have you seen those dancing babies that love Beyonce’s song? Their energy, it’s amazing. We lose so many things while growing up…
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Ha, I have seen it. I love it! Kids say and do the darnedest things
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September 25, 2009 at 10:42 am
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I actually just synthesized my core values and dreams and built an action plan the other day. Seriously. Perfect timing
I think it’s a great process to go through. -
September 25, 2009 at 1:04 pm
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I had to do this during the summer when I started mapping out my goals for a big change/venture I had to make. One of the biggest parts of determining truly what your core questions are is even more important that proactive vs. reactive behavior. If you don’t have a solid, thought out, deep in your CORE reason for setting out to do something, then the first time you HAVE questions/fears/concerns/gas you’ll be more tempted to give up. If you don’t believe deep down inside in what you are doing it’s much harder to be passionately devoted to it.
And while there are lots of motions in life we go through that we aren’t passionately devoted to but we somehow still feel we need to do them to “get by,” isn’t that just a sad existence to have to live?
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September 25, 2009 at 1:14 pm
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I question. It’s why I don’t work well in a corporate environment. Monkeys react and when someone questions them, they fire you, or throw poop in your direction. Cause they suck at life.
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September 25, 2009 at 1:30 pm
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Carlos,
What I enjoy most about the subject you tackle is that are universally applicable to different situations in people’s lives.
For example, this issue of core values is applicable in everything from relationships to personal finance. I gave up a long time ago the ‘fear’ of asking questions. Our brains are insanely powerful and something just asking the questions puts us in the answer mode. It’s been there the whole time, but if we never ask, we never find it.
Love it!
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September 25, 2009 at 2:02 pm
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The distinctions made here seem arbitrary. They only work if you define “question” to mean “think proactively” and “think” to mean “think reactively”. That’s not how these words are used in real life.
Contrarian Examples:
Proactive thinking:
I’m planning a trip. Let me think of some problems that may occur, and ways to avoid them.Reactive Questioning:
The police just pulled me over. Everything seemed fine. Why did they do this?I may even argue that there is no such thing as “proactive thinking” (aka “questioning” as defined in the post). The reason you asked “is the elevator the best choice?” was a reaction to being presented with both an elevator and a stairwell. You wouldn’t have asked it given only an elevator or a stairwell.
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September 25, 2009 at 9:29 pm
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Josh Kaufman of personalMBA.com has a great list of questions.
http://personalmba.com/49-questions-better-results/
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Saw that, had it bookmarked
Great post.
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David commented a while ago:
Very few David, and here’s why:
People believe that thinking is the same as questioning (we need a better word but like Joseph Epstein said, “the language is incompetent”, questioning will have to do for now).
Thinking is reactive. You get stuck in an elevator, and so you think how you’re going to get out.
Questioning is proactive. You wonder if taking the elevator is the best choice.
The thing is that they’re both skills, and like any other skill you can get better at them depending on how much you practice. Sadly, most people only think and rarely question.
This has nothing to do with capactity. Intelligence is crap. As usual, we prefer to believe in “smart people” because it’s easier for us to think that they’re gifted and we’re not. Otherwise we’d have to work harder.
It’s not that there really are smart people, it’s just that people who question a lot, get smarter, while those who don’t, get more reactive.
To answer your question David, it takes time and exploration to understand one’s core values, and most people don’t go through that questioning process. Chances are that even when they try, most fail because they haven’t been practicing long enough.