Technique 04 · Metacognitive control

Self-inquiry.

Use questions as instruments of thought.

What it is

Self-inquiry is the systematic practice of asking yourself questions before, during, and after a cognitive task. Questions before, during and after a task are the practical form of what Flavell called metacognitive regulation: a question moves thinking from reactive to proactive.

Why it works

The quality of your decisions equals the quality of your questions. Most people think in answers (“I know what to do”). Masters of thinking think in questions (“what else haven't I considered?”).

The protocol

Three phases. Five steps.

Before the task — planning

“What do I already know about this?” “What am I missing?” “Which approach should I choose?”

During — monitoring

“Am I still moving toward the goal?” “What's going off?” “Do I need to change course?”

After — evaluation

“What worked?” “What would I do differently?” “What does this tell me about my thinking?”

Build a personal question bank

Write down the questions that turned out to be especially useful for you.

Practice question-before-answer

On any problem — ask five questions first, and only then look for the answer.

Note

The best question starts with “What if I'm completely wrong about…”. It's the most uncomfortable — and the most valuable.

Exercise

Five questions to a current problem.

Pick any problem or task you have right now. Don't solve it. First, ask five questions — different ones, non-obvious. That will change how you see it.

ENTRY 01

Problem / task:

Question 1 (what?)

Question 2 (why?)

Question 3 (what if?)

Question 4 (who / for whom?)

Question 5 (what am I missing?)

A question reframes what a decision can't.

Start by mapping the ground self-inquiry runs on — your interests, dreams and contradictions. The questionnaire builds the interests node of your map; self-inquiry then sharpens every branch growing from it.

Build my map — free →Pair with belief mapping