Information is power ¼ - How asking simple questions unlocks valuable information & help solve many problems in life
Ask & you shall receive
Table of contents
The Question: Why is asking a fundamental skill to master to collect information?
The Daily scene:
— On the surface: Bastien does not have enough money to pay his income tax return
— Beneath the surface: His twin brother Arthur always knows about everything
The Why:
— Our logic: We wait for people to tell us what we need to know
— Another logic: Successful people seize every opportunity to collect information
The Tool: How to ask for what you want
The Question
"We now create more information in a single day than we did in all of human history up to 2003." This sentence is commonly attributed to Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google (2001-2011), who wanted to highlight how the volume of data creation has dramatically exploded in our recent years.
Historically, information was mostly oral (through stories & songs) or handmade by painting, sculpting, or writing on any kind of format: stones, papyruses, papers… and therefore was limited by the ability of humans to remember it, write it down, and store it. Between the 1940s and the 1980s, human beings entered the digital era where information was now created, stored, and shared primarily in electronic formats such as documents, spreadsheets, pictures, audios, videos, and web pages. Adding to that, the internet boom and the creation of social networks made it incredibly easy and cheap for billions of people to produce, share, and store any data. Therefore, we are now exposed to information continuously through 24/7 news, social media, and marketing.
However, there is one thing that has never changed throughout history: it is how important it is to have the right information at the right time. Indeed, it is collecting the right information and applying it that leads us to be successful in any area of our life. Especially in our societies, where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find the truth from the fake news, the useful from the less useful, and even the right from the wrong. How successful people use information differently, how they collect it and apply it, will be the topic of this month’s discussion. We will begin this discussion by bringing out a subject so trivial, yet so important: asking. Indeed, without asking people to share what they know, we'll never be able to collect the right information. Yet, most people are terrible at finding the information they need. Why is asking a fundamental skill to master to collect information? That will be the topic of today's discussion.
It’s not possible to subscribe with the discount through the Substack app—it must be done via the website. Here’s the link to subscribe for only $2 a month in a single step on your phone (just enter your email and select a plan): SUBSCRIBE
The Daily Scene
On the surface