The Most Important Question

What is the most important question? The inquiry that, if we knew the answer to, would unlock a trove of clarity so crystallizing that we would become unstoppable. Every day we ask plenty of questions:

What is for dinner?

That’s a question we could all agree is trivial — the answer changes little about our reality and even less about our priorities. The reason questions like these are so mundane, we would say, is because the outcome of the question means little in terms of actionable information: we know that we are eating either way, it’s simply a matter of which specific food it is going to be.

Questions like “what is for dinner?” are necessary to ask, but if we spend every waking moment focusing on them, our precious decision-making energy becomes consumed with menial issues holding minimal significance. What questions, nonetheless, are still interesting. When we answer them, we are forced to choose one thing above another. What questions require conscious exclusion.

Yet, are there reasons we have chosen to exclude one thing while embracing another? Choosing a healthy salmon fillet over an unhealthy cheeseburger probably isn’t arbitrary — it was motivated by an underlying intention.

Why eat healthy foods?

This one is a bit more interesting. Instead of concerning itself with a simple action, it hints at the underpinnings of the reason it took place. When asking why, we get a glimpse of intention, motivation, and action. If I choose to spend more money and invest more time in indulging in a healthy meal, then I probably believe the healthy benefit is more valuable than the opportunity cost of time and money.

Why questions establish priority.

As soon as we discover the reason we have done something, we have done an interesting thing — we have extracted a general principle from a specific inquiry. This is why, even if the what question isn’t important, we can move up a dimension by simply asking why.

What’s and Whys

So, why ask the most important question in the first place? To know which questions not to ask, we should figure out the most important things to look for in a question. In other words, we have to consciously exclude many questions through refining our priorities.

Interestingly, it’s possible that we could know the answer to why before knowing the answer to what. In fact, the answer to the why was in the first sentence of the answer to what!

Specifically, we know that by asking the right questions, we can hone our focus and establish insight. By repeatedly excluding the unimportant questions through focusing on the ones which are, we redefine our priorities. We create a positive feedback loop of attention, clarity, and momentum.

The answer becomes — what is the most important question?