From the course: How to Ask Productive Questions

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What additional questions can you ask?

What additional questions can you ask?

From the course: How to Ask Productive Questions

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What additional questions can you ask?

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- One of my favorite movies is "Inception" by Christopher Nolan. The climax of the movie takes place, not within one dream, but a dream within a dream within a dream, three levels deep. I think that's a good minimum rule of thumb to follow for productive questions, a question within a question within a question, at least three layers deep. Yet many people only ask one question on the surface and then immediately jump to fixing what they see as the problem. Additional questions help the person you're talking to feel more validated. They also help you get closer to the truth and action, and that's the point of productive questions. Comparing your productive questions to those of a doctor can help illustrate this principle. If you went to a doctor and said, "Doctor, I'm feeling sick," she might ask questions like, "When did this start to occur? And what are your symptoms and what changed in the last week?" She might ask…

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