Why You Need to Ask Questions Without Expecting the Answers

Your brain has its own timetable

Awaiting the answers right away

Have you noticed that when you ask a question, you await an answer right away?

Even if you put one on social media and are aware that it will take time until those you are connected with will discover the question and answer it.

You find yourself opening the window with the respective social media shortly after closing it. Then you check your post for the answers. And you repeat it many times that day until the first answers start arriving. After that day, as well.

You become even more impatient toward yourself when there is a question you need to answer, especially if you pose this question yourself.

“How shall I do that?” you ask yourself often.

And with impatience growing, you might change the question into an order. If you are a writer, then you might recognize this one-sided dialogue:

“Come on, how hard can it be to write a paragraph? Write at least something, for goodness sake!”

But, here is the problem:

“Your brain doesn’t like being barked at. It will, in essence, fold its arms and refuse to budge, much like a stubborn child who doesn’t want to put away his toys.”

— Robert Maurer,The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time

What to do instead

To unblock the bridge to your subconscious and undo its resistance, stop forcing yourself to answer any questions if the answers don’t come effortlessly.

Do this instead:

Ask yourself small questions, but don’t answer them on the spot if the answers don’t flow all by themselves.

What is a small question?

When considering writing as a creative craft, these small questions can be, for example:

• What’s one of the paragraphs in this article could be about?
• How many topics do I want to cover by this story?
• What would be one of them?
• Who from those I know and care about could be one person to benefit by reading this story?

If these questions still appear too big, break them down further.

For more tips on how to do that and other examples of “small” (= effortlessly doable) bullet points that can be distilled to small questions, see this article:

A seemingly counterproductive idea

Your urge to answer a question looming in your head is normal. We’ve all been trained to finish the task that we started before starting another. Hence, the growing impatience with the lack of a definitive answer to one of the many dilemmas we might be facing.

But the more we force ourselves to be creative, the bigger the resistance we experience.

My surprise was immense when I discovered the possibility to pose ourselves questions without expecting the answers.

Dr. Robert Maurer, whom I quoted above and who is the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Family Practice Residency Program at Santa Monica, UCLA Medical Center and a faculty member at the UCLA School of Medicine, says the following about the way our subconscious works:

“Your brain will ‘get’ the idea and will leap into the new patterns on its own timetable, with no additional conscious effort on your part.”

— Robert Maurer, The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time

So, he urges to put a small question several times a day without pressing for an answer.

“Your brain will play with the question and actually enjoy the game.”

— Robert Maurer, The Spirit of Kaizen: Creating Lasting Excellence One Small Step at a Time

How to support and appreciate your brain’s creativity and hard work

The word “game” from the quote above is the keyword here.

Just think about it. What would you do to support your child in doing what he or she has to do? What did you do to entice your toddlers to eat their vegetables?

Yes, you would or did turn the process into a game or play.

You can do the same to support and show appreciation for all the work your brain — both consciously and subconsciously — doing.

Here is how you can do it:

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About the author:

Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.