There is a fantastic opportunity for high school students in my area to learn about business, put their own business plan in place as well as jump start it, and be mentored by some of the best business leaders in the area. I’m always so excited to hear when students I know get into the program. It requires some sacrifice of time and even sleep, as they meet early before school, but the potential to grow through the experience is great.

The commitment and quality of students is high. After they recently toured the business where I work, I asked one of the owners how it went. Part of his response was about how impressed he was with their questions. He said, “They have the maturity to develop really good questions and the lack of inhibition to ask just about anything, even the simplest questions.”

I know that stage. It’s not just for older teens. It can happen at any age, especially when coming in contact with new experiences and information. But something can happen as we get older. We can hesitate to ask questions because we don’t want to seem dumb for not knowing the answer already. We can hesitate because we’re not even sure how to formulate the right question for the answer. We don’t explore as much. We get more comfortable with having answers and being willing to share what we know than embracing our lacks and letting others share with us.

We miss out when we’re not willing to ask good questions. 

It would be great to challenge ourselves to ask at least three well-thought out questions a day. I think it would make us more attentive and curious. While we can ask as many questions as needed, if we set the bar too high, I think we let the quality of questions deteriorate. We would just begin to ask unimportant questions and not really listen to the answers. Instead, we can be intentional. We can observe what’s happening around us. We can listen to what people are sharing and discussing, and we can express our curiosities and uncertainties. 

We’re not going to like or understand every answer. That’s okay. We’re not asking questions to simply confirm ourselves. That wastes time—ours and others’. There’s too much God invites us to explore and enjoy to miss out.

Perhaps just try it one day and see what you learn.