I used to be surprised, but am no longer, at how few people – family members, students, acquaintances – ask me or others questions.

I’m not talking about what I would characterize as “transactional” questions – questions about issues/topics that they might be very interested in learning about – gardening tips, video game cheat codes, the kinds of sheds people purchase for their backyards, how fix something.  Many people will ask questions about issues where they have an immediate need for answers.  And, because of that, they are likely to characterize themselves as curious people.

It’s the deeper questions I’m talking about: “What’s bringing you the most joy these days?” “Is you life now what you thought it would be ten years ago?”  “What’s frustrating you these days?” “Where do you want to be ten years from now?”

These are the types of questions that I think are not only gifts to the people being asked them, but can also bring unexpected gems of wisdom and insight to the person asking the questions.

I’m sad for the people not asking those questions – they “don’t know what they don’t know” and they don’t know what they’re missing (see The Best Resources On The Importance Of Knowing What You Don’t Know).

I tried- with varying degrees of success – to help my students learn about this during the many years we did peer mentoring (see The Best Resources On The Value & Practice Of Having Older Students Mentoring Younger Ones).

I learned about its importance during my nineteen years as a community organizer.

I wonder, though, how do most people who understand this “superpower” learn it?

I’m adding this info to The Best Posts On Curiosity.

“Extra Credit” Reading: In Uncertain Times, Get Curious is from The Behavioral Scientist.