“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
Albert Einstein
I recently finished reading a biography on Einstein, (Einstein: His Life & Universe by Walter Isaacson) that was a fascinating look inside the mind and accomplishments of one of histories great thinkers. He had an insatiable curiosity and hated conformity throughout his life which framed his ability to question everything. He was flawed as a human, as we all are, but is a truly fascinating study and this book is a very worthwhile read.
I tend to think about the world in a slightly different order than outlined in the quote above. For me it is Future, Past, Present. For example, taking some time regularly to think about questions framed out in this way:
Questions for tomorrow: What is truly important? What do I hope and dream about? Why does this stir my soul? What is my purpose? How can I live that authentically?
Questions for the past: What did I learn? Why did this happen? What could/should I have done differently? What was my greatest regret? Greatest joy?
Questions for today: What should I be doing differently right now? Given what I know about the past, and where I want to go in the future, what is my focus for today? How am I actually living versus how I desire to live? What will I need to do today to make this happen?
There are tons of other questions to ask yourself in each of these buckets. Ultimately our ability to grow is based on asking great questions, learning from the answers, and implementing changes today based on those answers.
I firmly believe that if we ever stop asking questions, we stop growing. The potential future self that is locked inside all of us dies with those unasked questions…
