? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ——?選自 DariusForoux 網站（吉瑪譯）
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from reading books,?interviewing?smart people, and having conversations with my mentors is that questions are more important than answers.
從讀書、面試智者以及與導師交談中獲得的最重要的經驗之一就是，問題比答案更重要。
But that goes against everything you learn in school where you’re rewarded for the quality of your answers.
但這與你在學校里學到的不懂就問背道而馳。
However, that’s not what you should judge a person on. Instead, look at the quality of a person’s questions, like Voltaire famously said:
然而，這不是你判斷一個人的準則。相反，而是通過這個人提出問題的質量，如伏爾泰的名言:
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
“通過一個人提出的問題來判斷一個人，而不是他的答案?！?/p>
And one of my friends who’s a consultant at one of the big three management consultancies, once told me that, “my job is to be ignorant.” He was referring to Peter Drucker, arguably one of the greatest management consultants of all time, who said:
我的一個朋友是三大管理咨詢公司之一的顧問，曾經告訴我，“我的工作就是無知。”他認為彼得?德魯克，可以說是史上最偉大的管理顧問之一，他說:
“My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.”
“作為一名顧問，我最大的優點是無知，問一些問題。”
The right question at the right time can spark the right answer that changes your life. I’ve experienced that myself over the last few years.
在適當的時候，正確的問題可以激發正確的答案，從而改變你的生活。在過去的幾年里，我自己也經歷過這樣的事情。
And I’ve formed a habit of asking myself?questions all the time. In this article, I want to share 21 questions across four areas that have the potential to change everything about what you do. Let’s get started.
我養成了一直問自己問題的習慣。在這篇文章中，我想從四個方面分享21個問題，這些問題有可能改變你所做的一切。讓我們開始吧。
Life In?General日常生活
Let’s start with a few yes/no questions to assess how you feel. Like all the questions in this article, I answer them in my journal. I have simply made a note in my note-taking app with these 21 questions.
讓我們以一些是/否問題，開始來評估你的感受。像這篇文章里的所有問題一樣，我在日記中回答了這些問題。我在我的筆記應用程序中簡單地記下了這21個問題。
A few times a month, I open the note and look at the questions (I have added the note to my shortcuts in Evernote?so I’m frequently reminded by the questions). I randomly answer a few at a time. I challenge you to use it in the same way. But you can also answer everything chronologically if you prefer.
在一個月內，我打開筆記幾次，看看問題(我在Evernote中添加了我的快捷鍵，經常提醒我這些問題)。我一次隨機地回答幾個問題。我要求你用同樣的方法使用。但如果你愿意的話，你也可以按時間順序來回答問題。
1. Am I happy? 我快樂嗎？
2. Am I grateful? 我慶幸嗎？
3. Do I like my job? 我熱愛工作嗎？
4.?Do I feel good??我感覺良好嗎？
5. Do I spend enough time on my education?我在教育上花足夠的時間了嗎？
The reason why these quick questions are important is that you want to adjust your strategy if you answer no?to any one of them.
這些快速問答之所以重要是因為如果你的任一答案是“不”，你要調整你的策略。
Often, we go through life unhappy, ungrateful, and feeling bad for way too long. If something is wrong in your life, acknowledge it quickly, and then find a solution.
通常，我們過著不快樂、不感恩的生活，并且感覺很糟糕。如果你的生活中出現了問題，迅速地接受它，然后找到解決辦法。
These questions are not only about yourself. When you’re happy and in a good mood, you can lift the spirits of the people in your life. That’s why I focus on fixing my own happiness first. Otherwise, you can’t make your spouse, family, or others happy.
這些問題不僅僅是關于你自己。當你心情愉快的時候，你就能讓生活中的人振奮起來。這就是為什么我優先專注于解決自己的幸福問題。否則，你不能讓你的配偶、家人或其他人高興。
See those first five questions as a quick assessment. Be honest. There’s no one to impress. Think about how youfeel.把前五個問題作為快速評估。要誠實。別人無話可說。想想你的感受。
Recently I read a comment from someone who said that people who think about themselves are selfish — and that we get a selfish world if everyone behaves that way. That’s a very limited and ignorant perspective.
最近，我讀到一則評論，有人說，只考慮自己的人是自私的，如果每個人都這樣，那么我們會生活在一個自私的世界。這是一個非常狹隘和無知的觀點。
When you take care of yourself and make sure you’re happy, you’ll have a good life. You won’t be jealous of others. You’ll smile every day. And most importantly, you’ll have the resources and time to help others.
當你照顧好自己，確保自己快樂時，你就會過上美好日子。你不會嫉妒別人。你會每天面帶微笑。最重要的是，你會有資源和時間去幫助別人。
That’s how the world works. Success breeds success. Misery breeds misery.
這就是世界的運作方式。成功孕育成功。痛苦產生痛苦。
Career事業
Let’s move to an important area of our lives. You spend most of your waking hours at work. So it’s crucial that you get satisfaction from it.讓我們進入生活的一個重要領域。你醒著的大部分時間都花在工作上。所以從中得到滿足是很重要的。
In fact, doing work that you enjoy is more important than “hygiene” factors like income, job safety, resources, location, etc. It’s one of the lessons I’ve learned from Clayton Christensen’s book, How Will You Measure Your Life?
事實上，做你喜歡的工作比“保健”因素更重要，比如收入、工作安全、資源、位置等等。這是我從克萊頓·克里斯坦森的《生命該如何衡量》書中學到的一課。
That’s why I regularly ask myself:
這就是我經常問自己的原因:
6. What new things am I learning? This is the most important thing for me. When I learn, I feel like I’m moving forward. When I’m moving forward, I feel good.
我學到了什么新東西?這對我來說是最重要的。當我學習的時候，我覺得我在進步。當我進步的時候，我感覺良好。
7. Where is my career going? You need a vision. If you don’t have one — create one.
我的職業生涯將走向何方?你需要一個愿景。如果你沒有，那就創建一個。
8.How meaningful is my work? I want to feel satisfied with my work at the end of the day.
我的工作有什么意義?我希望在一天結束的時候對我的工作感到滿意。
9. What can I do that I’m currently not doing? I’m always looking for things to do around the office and at home. That’s how you learn new things.
有什么是我現在能做但是沒有做的?我總是在辦公室和家里找事情做。這就是你學習新事物的方式。
10. How can I get better at what I do? When you get better at what you do, you can make a bigger impact and solve bigger problems. That gives you more satisfaction. And also more income.我怎樣才能做得更好呢?當你做的更好的時候，你可以產生更大的影響，解決更大的問題。這會讓你更滿意。擁有更多的收入。
Business買賣
As an entrepreneur, I need to take care of my business. Without it, there will be no income and no money to pay our team.
作為一名企業家，我需要照顧好自己的買賣。沒有它，就沒有收入，也沒有錢支付給我們的團隊。
Sure, you can raise capital or take out a loan. But I believe that you should always be able to make?money as a business.
當然，你可以籌集資金或貸款。但我相信，你應該始終能夠以商業的方式賺錢。
It’s simple: If your business doesn’t generate money, it’s not a business — it’s a hobby.
這很簡單:如果你的買賣不賺錢，那就不是買賣——這是一種愛好。
To make sure we generate income, we ask:
為了確保我們的收入，我們問:
11. What is the biggest pain point that our clients/customers have? We only solve actual problems that other people or businesses have.
我們的客戶/客戶最大的痛點是什么?我們只解決了其他人或企業的實際問題。
12.What is the ideal solution in the eyes of our clients/customers? Give people what they truly want.
在我們的客戶/顧客眼中，理想的解決方案是什么?給予他們真正想要的東西。
13.How can we give away more value without charging more? Over-deliver.
我們怎樣才能在不增加收費的情況下賣出更高的價格呢?超值服務。
14.Where can we reach our potential clients/customers?Go where your audience is instead of trying it the other way around.
我們在哪里可以找到潛在的客戶/客戶?去一個有你的聽眾的地方，而不是去當聽眾。
15. How can we decrease our costs? We always operate our business with low costs. We negotiate prices of everything?— even simple things like office supplies. That’s better for us and our customers.
我們怎樣才能降低成本呢?我們總是以低成本經營我們的業務。我們討論與價格有關的一切——甚至包括辦公用品等簡單的東西。這對我們和我們的客戶來說都是好事。
Productivity生產力
All the above things sound great on paper, right? But they are nothing without execution. You and I both know that.
字面上來說，上述所有的東西都很好，對吧?但是，如果沒有執行，他們什么也不是。我們都知道這個道理。
16.But there’s still a difference between how effective we are. That comes down to one thing: How GOOD are you at executing?
但我們之間的效率是有差距的。歸結為一件事:你在執行方面有多出色?
These questions can help you to figure that out:
這些問題可以幫助你找到答案:
17. How can I achieve my #1 priority faster? It’s not about being impatient. It’s about pushing yourself to think of creative ways to get faster results.
我怎樣才能更快地達到我的第一優先級?與沒有耐心無關。而是促使你自己想出創造性的方法來獲得更快的結果。
18.What tasks should I stop doing? We all waste time. Identify those tasks and stop doing them.
我應該停止做什么任務?我們都浪費時間。確定那些浪費時間任務并停止做它們。
19.What tasks am I procrastinating? Use the time you’re saving by answering the previous question for this. We all avoid important tasks — things that we should be doing. Things that we avoid.
我在拖延什么任務?通過回答前面的問題來節省時間。我們都逃避重要的任務——我們應該做的事情。我們避免的事情。
20. What questions am I not asking myself? There are a lot of things in the universe that we don’t know that we don’t know. So always try to look for the unknown. Keep an open mind.
什么問題是我沒有問自己?宇宙中有很多我們不知道的東西。所以一定要試著去尋找未知的事物。保持開放的心態。
There are a lot of questions that I’m not?asking myself. That’s why I will keep questioning everything — all the time.
很多問題我都沒有問自己。這就是為什么我會一直質疑一切的原因。
One thing I do know is that life has more meaning when you give more. That’s why I want to close with this:
我所知道的一件事是，付出更多，生命更有意義。這就是我想要接受的原因:
21. How can I help one person today?
現在我可以如何幫助一個人?
A simple gesture is enough. Give your family member a call. Cheer your friend up. Start by helping the people in your life. And then ask?them to pay it forward.
一個簡單的動作就足夠了。給你的家人打電話。使你的朋友振作起來。從幫助你生活中的人開始。然后得以回報。
You see, it all starts with questions. Just don’t be surprised if you receive everything you ask for like Maya Angelou once said:
你看，一切都是從問題開始的。如果你得到了你所有問題的答案，不要驚訝，就像瑪雅·安吉羅曾經說過的.
