There is a line in the novel Dune where Duke Leto, referring to a man who always has a quote for at the ready, says, “Someday I’ll catch that man without a quotation and he’ll look undressed.”
Many of us can be referred to in this regard. Perhaps not in the intellectual sense, but in our day-to-day interactions. We say a line from a TV show or movie that perfectly captures the mood and it gains a big laugh or agreement. It isn’t exactly an original thought, but the application is uniquely ours. And we can get by wonderfully, because quotes provide an answer to all our questions. We can associate them with whatever context we see fit. The trouble is, quotes are not always the answer.
Depending on the context, a quote can cause people to do things that are inappropriate for the situation. Say, for someone who lives by something like, “Always strive to reach higher,” they will struggle to be content, because the quote insinuates that they is always something just out of reach. While helpful at times, it can be debilitating down the road. As the old saying goes, “To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
A quote to live our lives by is that hammer. But is it not better to be handy than simply a man with a hammer? Because a handy person has far more than a hammer in their belt loop, no, they’ve got a belt full of tools, ready for the task at hand.
One of the best things to keep in our mental tool belts are questions. They don’t always need to be profound, they can be as simple as “What do I think about that?”, because questions, as James Clear outlined during his conversation with Tim Ferriss, meet your where you are at the moment of asking. The same question posed multiple times throughout a lifetime, a year, or even a day may render different answers. And, should a comparison be conducted across those answers, a course of action may change. Or, at the very least, you will learn something along the way.
Questions are a great source of reflection and there are a plethora out there. Asking yourself each night, “Were you better today than you were yesterday?” or “What did I learn from today?” are a great place to start. And even though, like quotes, questions can be drawn from other sources, the answers are entirely our own.
But just like the person with all the brand new tools in their belt but no actual ability to use them, it is not enough to simply know the questions to ask yourself. One must be be willing to take the questions seriously and provide honest, well-thought answers. It takes time and effort, yes, but just as fixing something around the house takes more than banging on it with a hammer, improving your mind takes more than repeating a quote. And with practice, as your answers improve, so to will your life.
scott ironmonger 