Find Out Anything From Anyone, Anytime

Chapter 1Changing the Way You Think

I know you won’t believe me but the highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.

—Socrates

What do you know that I don’t know, that I wouldn’t know if I didn’t ask?

—Jim Pyle

“Changing the way you think” has a number of different meanings in the context of learning to excel in the art of questioning. The structure and flow of effective questions probably won’t come naturally to you. You will rewire your brain a bit as you refine the art. The most important change is to make questioning a discovery, to see it as an expression of open-minded curiosity.

Some people hesitate to ask questions because they see it as probing or prying, an intrusive act that makes others uncomfortable. In reality, ...