The Questioner Archtype

The Questioner

“I just need a little more information before I decide.”

The Questioner likes to understand things. She doesn't automatically accept advice because someone says it's the right thing to do. She wants to know why. She researches, compares, asks questions and looks for information that makes sense to her.

That's a strength. Questioners tend to be thoughtful decision-makers, and their curiosity often keeps them from blindly following what everyone else is doing.

I know this one well because I'm a Questioner too.

When Curiosity Turns Into Overthinking

The tricky part is knowing when you've gathered enough information. Sometimes researching really is helping you make a decision. Other times, you're on your 14th Google search, asking three more people what they think and looking for one more piece of information that will finally make the answer feel obvious. I've done this plenty of times.

It can look like we're searching for information when what we're actually searching for is certainty.

And that's harder to find. There are decisions where we simply can't know exactly how things will turn out. We can gather good information, think it through and make the best decision we can with what we know at the time.

What If You Make the Wrong Decision?

I think this is often what's underneath all that questioning.

We don't want to get it wrong.

So we keep thinking because it feels safer than deciding. If we haven't decided yet, we haven't made a mistake yet either.

But I've started looking at decisions differently. A decision doesn't have to turn out exactly as planned for it to have been a reasonable decision at the time.

Sometimes we choose something and it works beautifully. Sometimes we choose something and realize pretty quickly that it isn't what we expected. Then we have new information. Now we know more. We can adjust, change our minds or make another decision. That doesn't mean we failed. It means we learned something we couldn't have learned by thinking about it forever.

You Don't Need to Stop Asking Questions

The answer isn't to become impulsive or stop doing your homework. That's part of who you are, and it's useful.

It's simply worth noticing when your questions are helping you understand something and when they're helping you postpone something that feels uncomfortable. Sometimes you really do need more information. And sometimes you already know enough to decide.

Learning to recognize the difference may be one of the most useful things a Questioner can understand about herself.

A Question to Think About

Is there something you're still researching because you truly need more information—or because making the decision feels uncomfortable?