The Secret to Living a Remarkable Life

'If you want to accomplish remarkable things,' a well-placed acquaintance had said to me, 'be curious.' I had asked for the secret to his success and I could sense disappointment swell within me from being told that the secret to success was to go about asking questions. The reason for my disappointment was twofold:  

1. Everyone is know is curious, they ask questions all the time. 
2. Not everyone I know is successful, or what I like to call remarkable. 

The logical step forward was to quip for the factor separating remarkable people from everyone else. I explored this query in a recent BasicPulse entry, highlighting one trait as a possible distinguishing feature for the separation: The ability to effectuate a specific set of behaviors required to bring about needed change. 

To zero in on the role of curiosity in accomplishing remarkable things let's consider one question that has been at the heart of BasicPulse: How can I live a remarkable life? The question seems simple enough, one that can be thought of as a problem worthy of attention. The thing is, it is not. And the reason for why it fails as a good question is the reason at the heart of the difference between the remarkable and everyone else. 

One helpful thing to do when attacking a problem set in form of a question is to define the terms that make up the question. To this end Timothy Ferris offers a useful template. In his book Four Hour Work Week he writes: 

Before spending time on a stress-inducing question, big or otherwise, ensure that the answer is "yes" to the following questions:

  1. Have I decided on a single meaning for each term in this question?

  2. Can an answer to this question be acted upon to improve things?

[...] If you can't define it or act upon it, forget about it. 

In applying the question, how can I live a remarkable life, to this template, deciding on the meaning of 'life' proved particularly problematic (eating up enormous pages of thought). And things became even more cumbersome in teasing out meaning for the expression 'a remarkable life.' As I argued in a previous BasicPulse entry, it makes little sense to think in terms of 'a remarkable life', because (I believe) every life (including non-human life) is remarkable. Without appropriate context, the expression falls short of needed clarity required to carve out appropriate parameters. 

One saying goes, 'You don't need to know all the answers, you just need to ask the right questions.' And herein lies one key distinguishing feature separating those who are remarkable from everyone else: Remarkable people ask the right questions, and delve into them to bring forth suitable answers. Put another way, while everyone can and often exercise the ability to ask questions, not everyone exercises effort to ask the right ones, and fewer still delve into the pursuit of unfolding suitable answers to the right questions. This pursuit of suitable answers often require that questions need be made clear and lacking in ambiguity. 

Let's bring to fore the BasicPulse question again - how can I live a remarkable life? Terms like 'can' and 'life' make this a watery question ( I won't delve into how). However, let's consider a version of this question reworded to entertain clarity and specificity. It goes: How do I do remarkable things with the life I am living? A simple response could be, find the things that are remarkable and do them (regardless of arguments that can be raised about the ugliness of the question it does a wonderful job of saving us from philosophical distress induced by the former question.) 

Just like advice from well-meaning people often need to be nuanced so as to pick at their inherent value, questions too need to be made clear and lacking in ambiguity so as to pick at their inherent value. To entertain vague questions is to entertain more stress than necessary in picking at such value. An interest in living a remarkable life requires curiosity - asking questions. Everyone might be able to ask questions, but like remarkable people attest, doing so needs to be done with an inclination towards removing the vague and needless questions so as to be left with ones that shine with clarity and are therefore worthy of attention. This, perhaps, is the secret to living a life devoid of (existential) disappointments. A life I am happy with, a remarkable life.

Enjoy!

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Post Author: P. W. Uduk 
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