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1. “Can you help me think, not just answer?” Asking this explores trade-offs, reasoning, and how to decide rather than just a quick fact.
2. “What am I missing?” Inviting blind spots, assumptions, and second-order effects is where conversations really get interesting.
3. “Can you challenge my idea?” People often want validation. This question stress-tests your ideas to make them stronger.
4. “How would this look from a completely different perspective?” Ethical, cultural, historical, or systems-level reframing like this unlocks new insights.
5. “What’s the boring but important part of this?” The unsexy details usually matter most, including maintenance, constraints, and sustainability.
6. “How would you explain this to a beginner, child, or skeptic?” This forces clarity and exposes what actually matters.
7. “What would you do if you were me?” Asking this can surface priorities, values, and trade-offs.

May your queries always result in greater intelligence.