Like any three year old, my niece Jules is a big fan of the question why?
Can you please share the book with your sister? Why?
Because she might enjoy it too. Why?
She likes a lot of the same things you like. Why?
…and it goes on…
Even “I love you, Jules,” has gotten a response of...Why?
After taking a weeklong trip to West Virginia with my nieces this summer, which included 14+ hours round trip in the car, I heard Jules ask why countless times. Though her incessant questioning did get annoying at times, her curiosity got me thinking. What if I were to start asking why more often in my own life? What if I were to more frequently embrace curiosity? Jules learns by asking questions. Couldn’t I also learn by asking more questions?
Consider this quote: “Curiosity is the compass that leads us to our passions. Follow it and you won’t be disappointed. The future belongs to the curious.”
If we started asking more questions in our own lives, could it perhaps help drive us to find what we love to do? Increase our happiness? Open new doors? Reveal exciting new paths?
And what about at work? It isn’t just the company’s veterans who can get in the cycle of not asking why and simply rolling with things the way they’ve been done. Heck, I’ve only been in my current position for 2 years and I can still think of many occasions where I could have, and probably should have, questioned what and how we were doing something.
We tend to fall into 3 situations…
- We ask why and accept an answer such as: that’s the way we’ve always done it, that’s how so-and-so told me to do it, that’s what we did last year;
- We don’t ask the question because we’re anticipating one of the above responses; OR
- We don’t even think about asking the question.
Consider situation #2. My niece often knows an answer to the question before she asks. But she asks anyways. Likewise, we generally know an answer...but do we keep asking? Hardly.
There is some science behind this behavior. A child’s brain is wired differently than ours. Part of the reason they keep asking is because their brain is developing connections. Even if they hear the answer once or twice, they might still ask several more times to truly make the connection.
Warren Berger, author of A More Beautiful Question, tells us that kids begin by asking hundreds of questions every day. Between the ages of 2 and 5, kids are asking an average of 40,000 questions. Wow!
But at some point in our lives we’re taught to stop asking so many questions. Our curiosity seems to plummet. It could be when we’re told our questions are getting annoying, inconsiderate, or irreverent. Or it may be as simple as when our parents stop taking the time to answer, so we gradually refrain from asking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still learn from being curious. It just means it will take more effort. We need to consciously retrain our brain to ask more questions.
Why is it worth the effort?
If we were to not assume the answer and keep asking; if we were to question processes, tasks, or situations more often, what could we discover? Perhaps a way to make a process more efficient? Methods for improvement and growth? Opportunities for innovation? Walt Disney says it best: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
And this quest of curiosity does expand beyond why - the question can take different forms. How might we make this better? What if we changed the way we do this?
What’s The Risk?
What are we missing out on by not asking why? Opportunities for...growth, innovation, improvement, efficiencies, engagement. The list goes on. By sticking to the status quo we aren’t doing ourselves any favors.
Now this isn’t a profound concept. You’ve heard references to the curiosity of a child before and the benefits adults may enjoy from asking more questions. But have you truly been taking those suggestions to heart? I think it is worth the reminder. So today I challenge you to find at least 1 thing to ask why about - be it at work or in your personal life. Embrace a little more curiosity in your life. Remember, the future belongs to the curious!
