PERSONAL GROWTH
The Hidden Benefits of Questioning Your Own Advice
Strengthening our belief system is in our hands. And heads.
In August, I asked a college friend for money. The discussion went in another direction, and he told me he would never read my blog if I lie about my finances all the time.
It turns out not every tactic is universal. What solution you have for a problem right now will not work all the time. The same goes with soliciting advice or giving your opinion too. That’s why my finances are not set all the time.
Questioning is a lost art in the present world where you’re criticized or outcasted for putting a finger at the system. But what if questioning your own methods can be beneficial to you. It’s silent and you’re not answerable to anyone.
I follow this in my daily routine when it gets boring or in money management when I try a less risky alternative.
Here are four benefits I’ve found in questioning my advice because change is continuous, and adaptability is the skill of 2021.
#1. It strengthens our belief system.
Whether we get the correct answer or not, asking questions is the first step in clarifying the validity of our method.
For example, last year, I wrote a lot about controlling impulsive shopping because I could finally do it after three years. I wrote similar articles too because the old methods didn’t work anymore.
When you question your methods, you start seeing its strength and weakness.
#2. It makes you a superfast learner.
Doubting ourselves is the last thing we want to break us. But being a learner and pretending to be an expert simultaneously is a tough job. Which hat you put on is determined by what position you’re in.
The ability to see through the redundancies and move on before the damage is severe is what fast learners do.
I have taken multiple writing breaks since I started writing last year. After every creativity ditch, writing became more manageable because I learned why I stopped writing last time and what changes I needed to make in my habit to work the new time perfectly.
#3. It makes you a people person.
No one likes a wiseacre. Or definitely, the one who pretends like it. We’ve all seen the later kind.
Even I pretended to be a know-it-all if it meant being friends with the people I wanted to be around, even if they didn’t give me the spotlight at all.
Respecting other people’s experiences before blurting out advice is what makes your words heard because they come from a place of empathy. And if you look around, empathy is easier to spell but harder to act.
#4. Questioning is an important skill.
The human brain is shaped like a question mark. Without curiosity, we will die of boredom.
The benefit of finding loopholes in our method is an underrated way out of our heads and looking at our process from a third-person view.
The easier it sounds, the harder it is to put into practice. It involves leaving an area of doubt that not everybody is perfect even after years of hard work. The sooner we admit it, the quicker we take ourselves lightly.
Final words
Extroverts like me love to talk. Especially when it is with the right person.
Until last year, I was the youngest person in every social circle, so I had to listen silently to most of the discussions without voicing my opinion.
Now that I am not the youngest anymore because my group changed, I have to pay attention to what I say and mentally running mini-questionnaires like the ones mentioned above help me to craft my words carefully.
I hope it will do the same for you too.
