Ask a Better Question, Get a Better Answer

Ask better questions, get better answers.

Several months before Albert Einstein’s death, a young man (a freshman at Harvard) visited Einstein in his small home without an appointment and asked, “Does experience give us truth?”?

Einstein responded,

“This is a difficult question. One is always seeing things without being sure that one does see them. Truth is a verbal concept, which cannot be submitted to mathematical proof.”?

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Einstein “was wearing sandals, baggy slacks and a gray woolen pullover sweater, a tieless shirt open at the neck [and] . . . the lucid windows of his eyes seemed to reveal not a man but an embodiment of pure thought.”?

After some conversation, Einstein gave this profound advice.

“A child with great intuition could not grow up to become something worthwhile in life without some knowledge. However, there comes a point in everyone’s life where only intuition can make the leap ahead, without knowing precisely how.”

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Professor Hermanns, a longtime friend from Germany who had “volunteered for World War I, lived through the indescribable carnage of the Battle of Verdun, been captured and imprisoned for three years by the French . . . then a fugitive from Hitler,” prompted Einstein and said, “You do believe in a soul.”?

Einstein replied, “Yes, if by this you mean the living spirit that makes us long to do worthy things for humanity.”

Einstein turned to the student and said, “Does not the question of the undulation of light arouse your curiosity?” (The student’s father later commented, “The nicest thing about the question was his simple assumption that the boy would understand it.”)?

Einstein further questioned, “Is not this enough to occupy your whole curiosity for a lifetime?” The student replied, “Why, yes. I guess it is.”

Then these questions prompted one of the most beautiful and profound statements.

“Then do not stop to think about the reasons for what you are doing, about why you are questioning. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence,” Einstein shared.

“One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.”?

Never lose a holy curiosity.

In parting, the student pointed to a tree in Einstein’s yard and asked “whether one could truthfully say it was a tree.” Einstein said, “This could all be a dream. You may not be seeing it at all.”

The student replied, “If I assume that I can see it, how do I know exactly that the tree exists and where it is?”?

Einstein then imparted this wisdom: “You have to assume something. Be glad that you have some little knowledge of something that you cannot penetrate. Don’t stop to marvel.”

Not every question has an answer, but every question can keep you curious.?

Do you want to stay open to learning, doing, and knowing new things you haven’t experienced yet??        

?Experience isn’t everything in creating—intuition, assumptions, and a little extra knowledge help you make the leap when you don’t know exactly what to do.?

The traditional ladder climb keeps people from asking questions and reaching for dreams outside their limited experience.

Ladder climbers shy away from looking for answers outside their laddered experience for fear of being wrong or appearing naive.?

When you don’t know what you’re seeing, keep asking questions. Be curious. Don’t stop to marvel.        

Stop setting goals from your experience.

Goals inside experience are tasks.

Goals outside experience are growth.

ASK BETTER QUESTIONS, GET BETTER ANSWERS

Why are you asking one dollar questions when you could be asking million dollar questions?

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Click here to download the Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers worksheet.

TRY THIS:

1. Instead of saying you can’t do it because of those barriers, ask how you can.?
2. By leveraging the principles learned in Time Tipping, you’ll find a creative answer.?
3. Start asking questions that help you think differently with something like this:?

What can I do to make ABC happen, without XYZ happening, by UNREALISTIC DATE??

Who can do? ABC, without XYZ happening, by UNREALISTIC DATE??

Does it need to be done at all??

— Remember, you don’t have to be the one who does everything. You’re the architect of how you spend your time on your projects. When you don’t know how to do something, ask who can do it, what can make it happen, where can it be done, and why it needs to be done. This way, you’ll find the how for it to be done.?

— Many people don’t find answers simply because they are scared of what the answer will mean or what it might take to get the job done. Successful people, however, are more scared of not trying (and the regretful consequences of not doing it) than they are of failing. Make your move by making your better questions bigger than the answers you’re afraid of.

Go to Chapter 10 in Anti-Time Management for deets, sources and more.

Rock this,

Richie

P.S. In relation to your possible addiction to managing time, ask yourself these Anti-Time Management, Time Tipping questions:

LESSONS LEARNED:

Don’t build your life around a job.

• You could spend your whole life managing time and never have anything to show for it.
• Spending your life on time has a negative ROI.
• Spending your time on life has a positive ROI.
• Don’t spend your life on time, spend your time on life.

What about a "Dream Job?"

• Dream job?
• A dream job protects your life’s dreams like a mote around a castle.
• Don’t build your life around a job.
• Dream jobs empower dreams lived, not endless stone-stepping.
• The job of a dream is to set you free.
• Don’t turn dreams into jobs.

RICHIE NORTON ?is an award-winning author and serial entrepreneur.?An executive coach to CEOs, he is featured in?Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc., Entrepreneur,?and?Huffington Post.?Pacific Business News?recognized Richie as one of the Top Forty Under 40 “best and brightest young businessmen” in Hawaii. Richie is one of the world’s leading thinkers and Top 100 coaches as honored by MG100. He is the CEO and Cofounder of?PROUDUCT —an INC. 5000 company—a global entrepreneurship solution helping businesses go from idea to market with full-service sourcing, product strategy, and end-to-end supply chain. He is the author of several books including?Anti-Time Management, ?The Power of Starting Something Stupid ?and?Résumés Are Dead and What to Do About It . Richie was born and raised in San Diego before moving to Brazil and then Hawaii. Richie is happily married to Natalie. They have four boys (one son already made his way to Heaven) and they have cared for three beloved foster children. They live on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, with their little dog, Velzy.