Though it was only a week ago, I can’t quite recall where I came across a link to Ozan Varol’s post, “Stop asking children these seven questions (and ask these instead)”
I was barely past the first one when I started thinking these ideas were applicable to adults as well. And sure enough, the last line of the piece was,
“It may have occurred to some of you that this post is a Trojan Horse. These questions are as much for you as they are for children.”
Most of the seven questions are pretty much cornerstones of arts and creativity dealing with failure, curiosity, experimentation and imagination. While he expounds upon what he means for each, I figured I would just list the questions themselves without comments.
Withholding the easy answer in favor of letting people engage in the process of exploring and synthesizing their own answers is a core element of his post. Sure you can easily click the link, but hopefully your brain will already be churning as you seek the answer.
I assure you, even the question about choosing a kindergarten has broader applications.
1. “What did you learn today?” vs. “What did you disagree with today?”
2. “What did you accomplish this week?” vs. “What did you fail at this week?”
3. “Here’s how you do that.” vs. “How would you solve this problem?”
4. “Here’s your new kindergarten” vs. “What kindergarten do you want to attend?”
5. “That’s just the way it is.” vs. “Great question. Why don’t you figure out the answer?”
6. “You can’t do that.” vs. “What would it take to do that?”
7. “Did you make a new friend today?” vs. “How did you help someone today?”