Always Ask Stupid Questions

What do you mean always ask?

The basic gist of this rule to live by is if you don't understand what someone is saying, ask.  Most people will allow other people to use words or phrases they don't understand without ever asking.

By forcing yourself to always ask the stupid questions you will be surprised at how much you will learn.

How do you apply this to your life?

Living a self taught life is not just about reading books and leaning obscure factoids.  Sometimes its about just asking the simple questions.

I work for a large company in a technical job.  That means we have acronyms for everything, whenever a new system is made our naming practice is basically to come up with a sentence that describes it, then make that into an acronym.

Sometimes its about being honest...

It is intellectually dishonest to not challenge something someone tells you if you do not understand it.

When someone says something complicated or uses words you don't know if you don't ask it is assumed you understood them.  As a long time tech guy I have experienced this far too often, a co-worker will tell me "First shift checked this and that but we need to make sure the connections coming from the ABC cabinet have continuity.".  I then ask "Where is the ABC cabinet?" and they don't know.

But what if I look stupid!

This is going to happen; you will sometimes look stupid for asking what something means.  A hazard of being self taught is asking allot of questions.  My practice of always asking is so well known people expect it.  When someone is explaining a new process or system and they says something that no one understands my peers often look to me to be the one to ask.  This has helped to foster an environment of more open communication and honesty.

You will end up getting more respect from your co-workers when they understand this is how you operate.  When someone tells me to do something at work and I agree to do it, they know I understand how it is done.  If I don't ask any questions they know I fully understood what they meant.  This is a good feeling, the impact of this minor behavioral change can improve your entire team.

Your not the only one who doesn't know this stuff.

You're not the only one in the dark, I assure you.  People use words and acronyms they don't know more then you may think.  Several acronyms at my work had been used for years without anyone asking what they mean.  In a few cases no one knew what they meant; it was just something they said.  Don't let this happen to you!  Let hearing something you don't know be a chance to learn, not a reason to feel bad about not knowing it.