What do you see in the image above?

(Note: If you can’t see anything meaningful in that image, that’s okay. The clue to this image lies somewhere in the middle of the article.)

I am a big fan of Videos, Music, Books, podcasts, Art or anything that is thought-provoking. If you are in my circle of friends who fancy this hobby, we might have exchanged links to different materials on or off the internet.

I wrote this article once, and I forgot about it, until last month when I started a blank page and named the document #QuestionsoverAnswers that’s when two documents appeared on my screen and realise it already exists.

Whenever I watch or listen to people sharing knowledge and insight-driven from passion, research or simply curiosity about different subject matters, the common theme is “Questions over Answers”. Most of the content I liked comes from regular people asking themselves good or hard questions about different subject matters. Everything from What, When How and Why? They faithfully peruse these questions and some state that the journey might be more fulfilling than having the answer.

Hint: There is a cow in the above image

I learnt from some of the interesting speakers that questions will not necessarily lead to a right answer but will spark the level of curiosity, creativity, and commitment to peruse the answer. I feel, most times, we are obsessed with answers more than asking ourselves the right questions. There are everyday questions, and then there are powerful questions.

What questions do you ask yourself?

The kind of questions we ask ourselves determines the kind of life we have; that is because questions trigger their own set of answers, and the answers determine the reasons behind our actions or inactions. If you ask yourself limiting questions, you will get limited answers.

Now pause: What questions did/do you ask yourself to find out if there is actually a cow in that image.

1: No questions at all; keep on reading

2: Limiting Questions; There is no way a cow is in that image.

3: Thought-provoking question: How is it possible to see a cow in that image?

I read somewhere that if you would like to maximise the benefits of self-reflection, ask yourself questions that provoke your mind and force you to reconsider the way you live and the way you look at the world. Questions provide us with a new perspective and remind us of who we are and who we aspire to be.

I believe questions are a key to self-awareness and personal growth. Reflecting on my line of work (consulting /training/coaching), sometimes the best solution we give our clients is not answering the questions they come forth with. Through guiding questions, we empower them to discover themselves by asking the right questions catered to their situation and realities.

Looking at how fast the world evolved, we have means and tools that allow us to look for an answer very fast or very cheap; “Just Google it”. With this, when life throws to us some tough questions that we cannot google, we get stumped very easily and eventually stressed because we don’t know the answers at first. Just because you don’t get an answer immediately, it doesn’t mean there are no answers; keep asking - The more you ask, the clearer your mind will be.

Remember, there is no one final answer. It’s a continuous discovery process. Your answers to the questions today will be different from your answers one month, three months, six months, and one year down the road. The usefulness of the knowledge we acquire and the effectiveness of the actions we take depend on the quality of the questions we ask.

Keep asking!

But if it’s too much, just google it

Now if you still can’t see the cow, just google “visual intelligence cow” go to images. You should be able to find the answer.