A Love Letter to Basic Questions 💌
When people are learning something new or breaking into an unfamiliar area, they often hesitate to ask questions because they don’t want to look stupid.
But let me tell you the amazing thing about “stupid,” “basic,” “naive” questions.
“Basic” questions reveal ground-level, foundational structures and assumptions that experts often become blind to because they've gotten so used to them.
A fish that is born in water, lives in water, and dies in water has no idea what water is.
For you to come in and ask that fish: “Hey, so are you guys just like…wet all the time? Is that how this works?”
is not a stupid question.
It’s an incredibly insightful question.
Because you have revealed something the experts would have struggled to articulate themselves.
And what you just revealed may be incredibly important to you.
You may not want to be wet all the time!
And the people you’re talking to wouldn’t have been able to tell you that they actually ARE wet all the time because they’ve never known life any other way.
If the new job or situation you’re scoping out actually requires you to be “underwater” all the time…
I’d rather have you figure that out upfront through a few awkward minutes of basic questions…
…than have you make a commitment, show up on Day 1, and be surprised when they (metaphorically) hand you scuba gear and tell you to jump into the ocean.
By having the courage to ask a few “basic questions,” you can save yourself years of learning through painful experience.
Those basic, ground-level assumptions will shape your entire experience.
The people who are steeped in it will struggle to articulate them – calling out what seems obvious to you is incredibly challenging.
So ask the basic question. Let the weird look and the awkward silence happen.
You’re not being stupid. Your intuition has picked up on something.
And you’re about to learn way more, way faster than you ever could have any other way.
📸 Instagram | 💌 Newsletter | 👋🏽 New? Start here