Interesting Questions Lead to Interesting Conversations

"So, what do you do?"

That's the most common question that people ask each other when they first meet. To be honest, I find myself asking the same question quite often. Sometimes even without realizing it.

But is it genuinely an interesting question to ask someone? The most you'll learn about is someone's current job or occupation.

Isn't that boring? Maybe we should become better at asking questions that truly spark interesting conversations.

Maybe we should ask about what they do to live their lives to the fullest. Or what makes them come alive. Or what activities they enjoyed as a kid that made the time fly.

I truly believe that the quality of the questions that you ask someone directly influences the quality of answers you'll get.

Asking only about what people do doesn't uncover intrinsic motivations. By choosing to ask alternative questions instead of the usual, dreaded ones, you'll get a deeper understanding of people's genuine motivations.

Their actions and skills are simply tools to achieve a broad vision or goal.