The Question That Changed How I Think About Life, Leadership, and Growth

If I had an hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes understanding the problem and only 5 minutes solving it. - Einstein

Whether Einstein actually said it or not, the idea has stayed with me.

For most of my life, I focused on answers. As a leader, CPA, consultant, and lifelong

problem-solver, that seemed logical. Answers move things forward. Answers get things

done.

What I've come to appreciate, however, is that the quality of the answer is often limited by

the quality of the question.

Many of the most important shifts in my life didn't come from finding an answer.

They came from asking a diJerent question.

A few years ago, I found myself wrestling with a deceptively simple one:

What do I actually want?

Not what should I want.

Not what comes next.

Not the next promotion, project, milestone, or challenge.

What did I want?

I assumed the answer would reveal itself quickly. Instead, I spent months—and honestly,

years—sitting with that question.

What surprised me was that the question itself turned out to be more valuable than any

immediate answer.

It forced me to examine assumptions I hadn't questioned in decades.

It made me notice how much of my life had been organized around achievement,

responsibility, and expectations.

It challenged me to think diJerently about success, fulfillment, and what makes a

meaningful life.

Over time, I've started to notice that many of the most transformative moments in life begin

this way.

Not with answers.

With questions.

Questions like:

• What am I postponing?

• What assumption am I making?

• What am I avoiding?

• What would I do if I weren't afraid?

• Whose expectations am I trying to meet?

• What matters most to me now?

A good question has a way of staying with us.

It follows us into our walks, our commutes, our quiet moments. It changes what we notice.

It changes what we pay attention to.

And when our attention changes, new possibilities often emerge.

This idea shows up everywhere—from leadership and learning to personal growth and

relationships.

We often rush toward solutions because solutions feel productive.

Questions feel uncertain.

Yet sometimes the fastest way forward is to slow down long enough to make sure we're

solving the right problem.

I've learned that answers tend to close a conversation.

Questions open one.

Answers tell us where we are.

Questions help us discover where we might go next.

Today, when I feel stuck, I try to resist the urge to immediately solve the problem in front of

me.

Instead, I ask myself:

Am I working with the right question?

More often than not, that question changes everything.

Because sometimes the breakthrough isn't finding a better answer.

It's finding a better question.