* Additionally, a book I’ve added to my book cart to read.
Book — The Power of Questions (by Takashi Saito / translated by Nam So-young).
(Reference: http://story.pxd.co.kr/365)
* And a fitting passage I read on another blog.
(Reference: http://ckdwhwk.egloos.com/10478125)
“Can I use this as an opportunity? Can I help others from this position? You need to set higher standards for yourself. And you need to change your beliefs about what’s possible for you, and set more effective strategies to achieve it. Continuous evaluation can create an exceptional life.
‘Evaluation (analysis) is, ultimately, a question.’ Thinking is, in the end, a process of asking and answering. If you want to improve the quality of your life, you have to change your habitual questions.
Stanislavsky Lech succeeded in escaping from a death camp. He asked, ‘How can I use this chance to escape?’ Through that question he found an appropriate answer, made a decision, and carried out action.
In the end, questions decide the level of thought. ‘What decides how I feel and what I do is not the event itself, but how I interpret and evaluate that event.’
1. Questions instantly change the focus of our thinking, and so change our emotions. Simply by shifting the focus of your thoughts, you can immediately change your feelings. Ask questions that bring vitality. Learning how to ask questions that bring vitality in moments of crisis is the key skill that guided me through the hardest times. “What, right now, would truly make me happy?”
2. Questions have the power to change what we focus on and what we ignore. A question is like the laser of human consciousness. It determines what we focus on, how we feel, and what we do. Questions amplify the “power of assumption.”
3. Questions elevate our latent capacity. “How can I turn this situation into a blessing in disguise?” “Who am I, what capacities do I have, what can I do to realize my dream?” They make us aware of these things. Without belief, you can’t ask positive questions. I kept asking precisely because I firmly believed that any question would yield an answer.
Ask questions aimed at solving the problem. What matters is cultivating the habit of always being able to ask questions that bring us vitality. 1. “What’s good about this problem?” 2. “What’s still incomplete about it?” 3. “What will I do to solve it the way I want?” 4. “What am I going to give up in order to solve it the way I want?” 5. “As I put in the effort to solve it my way, how will I enjoy the process?”
There is one core thing that changes your fate. It is a question. To make progress, there’s a point at which you must stop asking. After you’ve asked to a certain extent, you need to stop evaluating and start acting. If there were one action that could instantly change the way you feel about your daily life, wouldn’t you want to know what it is?
* One step further: the five levels of knowledge.
(Reference: http://ckdwhwk.egloos.com/2217214)
In the Xueji (“Record of Learning”) chapter of the Liji (Book of Rites): “Jade that is not cut will not become a vessel; a person who does not learn will not know the Way. That is why in the old days, kings, upon founding a nation and ruling, put teaching and learning first.”
— Even with good food on the table, if you don’t eat it, you cannot know its taste; — Even if the supreme Way exists, if you don’t learn it, you do not know its goodness. — Therefore only after learning do you know your lack, — and only after teaching do you know where you are blocked. — After knowing your lack you can reflect on yourself, — and after knowing where you are blocked you can push yourself. — That is why it is said that teaching and learning grow together.
If we divide the process of acquiring knowledge into five stages, it goes like this.
The first stage is that of the knowledge consumer, where most ordinary people sit. They read an average amount, read only what they want to read, listen to the lectures their company sends them to, and study only what’s necessary. In culinary terms, this is the stage of eating only the food that’s cooked for you.
The second stage is that of the efficient knowledge consumer. They use speed-reading techniques, read somewhat widely, and read at over 1,500 characters per minute. They read more than 100 books a year. At this point people around them sometimes call them well-informed. This stage is where you proactively go looking for good food, so it’s the stage of a self-acknowledged gourmet.
The third stage is that of the knowledge processor. After reading a book, they turn it into a DB (Database). With this digitization of knowledge, the 1-10 reading method becomes possible. The 1-10 reading method is summarizing a book on one sheet of A4 and organizing it into 10 pages of presentation material. In culinary terms, it’s the stage of learning to cook by securing recipes.
The fourth stage is that of the efficient knowledge processor, who leverages the topic-sorted knowledge DB to give presentations. The 1-10-100 reading method becomes possible: a 1-page summary, 10 pages of slides, and being able to present to about 100 people. In culinary terms, it’s the stage of a home cook; can make simple dishes for family members and, if not for others, at least receive recognition from family.
The fifth stage is that of the knowledge producer. You can think of it as the stage of an author or a lecturer, where one can write books that fit one’s core competence and give persuasive lectures to many people — the peak stage. In culinary terms, it’s the stage of a top chef, one who can satisfy the public palate and is recognized by the public.
