Question around what, how and why
In the past year (also in July) I posted an article which bring my opinion regarding the Why questions. The magic of why questions which triggers a stop and think again mode into alert. Also in that article, I said that why question could become a bad question too, when we don’t have an adequate passion to know the answer behind the why.
So, in this article I want to add up my opinion around the other question word which are how and what. Recently, I feel so many people using the why question in a bad manner, questioning the why but doesn’t have the passion to seek the answer behind it, alas, they just questioning the why and have no follows up for that question. In that sense, a lot of why hanging in my thoughts without anyone wanna follow those questions and it become an unfinished questions, I hate this situation.
Quickly I think that why just become a question to challenge someone in a bad way, so when why question just become a tools to refute someone arguments, I don’t think it will carry us somewhere, but rather just sit around and rant a lot of things that surround us. And suddenly, I remember about a short course that tells us “How to communicate in a better way?” A bit content of that course, I remember that the lecturer tells us about we need to construct a framework of communication in order to freed us to talk to people. For example, we could start a communication in this way, construct the what — so-what — now-what framework.
What: I think we need to revise this document into a more accessible form
So What: So people could read this document more clearly
Now What: Lets figure it out what the more accessible form and change this document into it.
By remember those lecture, I start to realize that, when we ask only why, why and why things happened in our life, we don’t try to communicate the problem in a good way but we’re just try to add more problem into the existing.
The other tools called How
For me, these words are similar with the invention of numbers. Have you ever thought that without these question word, we can’t ask the questions properly and communicate properly with our peers? How could this word was invented in this world? And I think, each type of question that we offer triggers a different reaction in our brain. So, what so special with the word how. For me, when we ask how, we triggers our brain to figuring things out and to collecting more data to prove the concept that we need to communicate. Like, if we ever questioning this life for example, why humans live on earth? the how question makes our brain mode to figure it out the remaining facts, collects it and complete the why question. For example, how to figure out that there are another form of life outside the earth? or, how to figure out what the meaning of our live as humans on earth? or, how to figure out the origin of earth that makes us could live on it? The fact is, the how question makes me more motivated to do things rather than using the why question over and over.
Naval Ravikant said when we ask over things that we don’t know, like why we live on this earth? the answer could trap you on the why loop over and over or you could answer it with a kind of axiom like God, Big Bang, any particular planetary event.
So what matters?
Look, I also trying to makes this article the way what — so-what — now-what framework that I learned. What matters from the other question besides why, is we could change the way we think in a flash just by changing the way we ask on things. The past me was really curious person and can’t stop asking why for every event that just happened, and it makes me worry in a couple times. I think, by change the proportion of our question like you could ask why but lets get to work by figuring out that why and ask how to know the answer, and maybe we could also ponder about what kind of the answer that could be, rather than put a machine gun and fill it with a lot of why questions as a bullet. If we wonder as to why do we live in this way or why we need to work like this? It is important to think and ask the question how, how can we figure it out my calling in this life? Is starting a business good for us? how do we start the business?
And, for me personally, what, how and why sounds like a trifecta that has their own functionality. By asking what, you are focus in describing things and try to reason thing that correlate with our reality. By asking how, we are focused to search things, to become more curious about things that formed the answer, and the why will become a handy tools to makes us stop and think, pondering and start thinking whether the answer is fit with our expectation or do we lose the focus in searching of the answer.
Happy questioning and Happy searching!
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