Asking Better Questions

what distinguishes you from anyone else when we all have the same infinite access to information?

The questions you ask.

How to ask better questions:

Don’t ask questions that you think you should ask or that you think the person wants to hear. Ask questions that your highest self needs the answer to rise to that version.

Also, know exactly what you’re asking to hear? What is the single thing you want to be revealed to you? Is it confirmation, is it raw factual information, is it a vibe check, is it actionable steps?

But if you don’t know and you’re unsure, just get to baseline by clarifying some ground facts. Like even agreeing on what certain words mean.

To go deeper, ask for the thinking and reasoning behind the question, and evidence.

With AI reasoning models like o3 or Claude with extended thinking on, you can actually see this thinking process transparently. Although o3-Pro doesn’t seem to be as transparent with its thinking process and sources.

Or my personal favorite, ask if the opposite could be true. Try to argue against a point to uncover deeper truths.

Then once you get an answer try to speak it back so that you learn again through repetition and you get confirmation on your understanding.

Shouldn’t we all instantly rise as a collective since Intelligence of anything is instantly accessible to any of us through AI?

I believe, No.

because the wise phrase goes

“Ask, and you shall receive”

It is quite impossible to get an answer to a question you have not even thought to ask.

Yet the quality of your life is determined by the questions you ask.

So we do not collectively rise with access to information because not everyone is asking the right questions.

And Prompting is just question asking.

As part of the “Win Friends and Influence People” era, I was taught to ask questions that made others believe I was curious in them.

“To be fascinating — be fascinated.”

But it is a new era.

Simply having information is no longer fascinating. And relationships built on empty questions are empty relationships.

What is the purpose now of asking a human being a question that could be asked to AI?

What questions are human’s uniquely positioned to have an answer for?

And how do you become one of these humans with answers that cannot be answered by an AI?