Resist the shame of not-knowing . Instead of seeing what you don’t know as a dead end, treat it as an entry point. Every gap in your knowledge is a chance for you to learn something new. It’s normal to feel self-conscious around people who know more than you. But expertise isn’t a wall between you and them, it’s more of a map of questions they’ve... See more

It’s not that every “smart” person you admire is innately smarter than you. What they’ve preserved is the willingness to keep asking questions—the obvious ones, the inconvenient ones, the ones that risk making them look naïve. The difference isn’t raw intelligence, but the permission they give themselves to stay in constant motion.

Curiosity is like... See more

The “stupid” surface-level question is often our doorway to the deeper, “smarter” ones.

Smart small . Ask one “dumb” question a day and follow it somewhere inconvenient. Don’t search it up immediately, don’t try to shortcut to the neat answer. But let it hang there in your mind, try to determine the answer for yourself and then go deeper into the... See more

Stop framing your life around answers or goals. And start framing it around questions . Instead of I want to be fit , ask: How would I mentally and physically feel like if I moved more? Instead of I should write more , ask: What am I noticing that no one else is? Questions have less commitment than goals. They keep you in motion, they make becoming... See more

The quality of your questions determines the quality of your curiosity trail.

The easiest way to start is by reframing boredom . Most of us kill these moments with our phones, but boredom is basically unused attention. Instead of trying to move on from it too quickly, pick something around you and ask a question about it. Why did they decide to make... See more

Build a question journal . We’re trained to only collect the answers—we highlight passages, write neat summaries with the key takeaways. But the real archive of thought is in the questions you haven’t answered. Try keeping a small notebook or even a page in your notes app where you only write down questions. Don’t pressure yourself to answer them,... See more