“Everyone has some creative ability, but most people haven’t learned to use it.” – Alex Osborn
What do you find more irritating, people who are always asking questions or people who always have answers? Like most Success-Minded People, many would say that people who always seem to have answers are more irritating to be around. However, you may also say that the constant questioner runs a close second. That is because many who are always asking questions are not really looking for answers, they, like the answer person, like to hear themselves talk. Truly rich questions only have value if the person asking is looking for a truly rich answer.
I believe that the best questions are not so much what you ask others but what you ask yourself. Success-Minded People who have learned the value of curiosity know that there is a reason for everything. They have learned to wonder how things work and why do people react to life the way they do? Why do some with all the advantages fail and others who have nothing going for them succeed? Why does nature function as it does and why do so many people miss all the excitement in life? These are rich questions that are worth asking because they all have answers. The Success-Minded Person learns how to seek out and find the answers to the rich questions of life.
The early American hero Daniel Boone said, “Curiosity is natural to the soul of man and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections.” We were created to be curious and to discover the world we live in. What are the first things we do as children; we explore, discover and ask questions. It is only when we grow up that we stop asking and start answering questions. The problem with that is we don’t know the answers any more than we did when we were children. The time to be curious and to discover the answers to life is when we are old enough to do so and make a difference. This is how Success-Minded People discovered inventions, had breakthroughs in education and medicine or make great achievements in business and the arts. First they ask the richest questions they can and then they do something about it.
Take a few minutes and sit along and write down three questions you always wanted an answer to. Does not matter on what topic or what order. Write them as clearly and simply as you can. Now, go find an answer. Where do you find the answer? Well, that is the first question isn’t it? Once you start the habit of asking rich, value adding questions you will not stop. The more you learn the more you will want to learn. Oliver Wendell Holms said, “Once your mind is stretched by a new idea, it will never again return to its original size.” The mind is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets and the less you use it the weaker it becomes.
Despite the old saying that “Curiosity killed the cat”, the truth is curiosity brings life and discovery. Curiosity gave us electricity, air and space travel, the car, medical breakthroughs, people making it to the top of Mt. Everest, businesses of all kinds, education, science and all else you see. It all starts with a simple “why” and a heart that answers, “why not”.
© 2011 John Patrick Hickey
