💭 The Assumptions Inside Our Questions

Empower GRIT · 2026-10-14T12:02:26.168Z

Have you ever asked someone a question and received a defensive response you weren't expecting? Maybe you were simply curious. Maybe you were frustrated. Maybe you already had an explanation in mind and wanted to know if you were right. Consider these everyday questions: 📱 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬? 🏠 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴? 💼 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱? They may be perfectly reasonable questions. Yet depending on the circumstances, they can also carry assumptions. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥. T𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. T𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬. What happens if we get curious about the situation before settling on an explanation? 📱 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦? 🏠 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺? 💼 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵? These questions aren't automatically better; they simply invite different information. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 🔎 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 Think about a recent conversation where someone's response surprised or frustrated you. 🧩 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗 What were you hoping to learn? What did your question assume was already true? Was there another way to ask that might have helped you understand the situation? 🌱 𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗦𝗘 You might ask a different question next time. You might explain your concern more directly. You might recognize that the original question was appropriate. You don't have to change every conversation into an investigation. Sometimes simply recognizing the assumptions behind our questions gives us a different perspective on the conversation. 💙 Notice. Understand. Choose.

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