How to answer difficult questions quickly

Questions... Sometimes they are completely harmless. And sometimes they make our hearts pound and us stutter.

To be human means to be able to improvise. This is a skill that includes the ability to make timely comments as well as answer difficult and unexpected questions.

People ask these questions to get information, but there are often other reasons behind their questions. Sometimes they want to know your attitude towards a particular subject and see how calm and confident you look while doing so.

The ability to answer difficult questions is built on two principles:

it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge that provides the necessary information;
You must be able to communicate this information confidently and calmly.

The big picture: always give yourself more time

When someone asks us a difficult question, we try to answer it immediately. We are afraid that even a brief moment of silence will be interpreted as hesitation or as a desire to avoid answering altogether.

Even a few extra nanoseconds will allow your brain to process more information and then formulate it into the right words.

The answer you impulsively say is unlikely to be the best, and later, when you think about it, you will probably regret what you said in a hurry. So the most helpful thing you can do to improve the quality of your answers to difficult questions is to give yourself more time to think about those answers.

Even a few extra nanoseconds will allow your brain to process more information and then put it into the right words.

Allowing ourselves to take tiny pauses helps us collect our thoughts. Just don’t fill these pauses with all sorts of “Uh-uh...” or “M-mmmm...”. They will make you look insecure. You can also repeat the question before answering, which will also give you extra seconds.

There are other methods to buy time to think. The most effective way is to clarify the question as much as possible (and essentially get a new question) before answering it. There are several ways to force your opponent to give you a better and less complex version of the question:

How to learn to think quickly: speed up your brain!

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Hello friends! Yuri Okunev is with you.

Are you familiar with the situation: you need to quickly make a decision or answer a question, but you just can’t gather your thoughts? But sometimes it’s the other way around – you answer quickly, but after a couple of seconds you realize that you said the wrong thing and didn’t choose the best option. What to do in this situation? Let's talk about how to learn to think quickly and make the right decisions.

State of mind

First of all, let's think about what components does the speed of thinking depend on? Does it depend, for example, on the general level of intelligence development?

Highly developed intelligence implies

ability to solve mathematical problems in one's head;
out-of-the-box thinking;
broad erudition;
well developed memory.

One can have all these qualities and still think slowly.

Let's take a situation. A young man, a high-level programmer and a great chess player, who beat opponents not only from his city, but also many grandees from the Internet, got up on the wrong foot this morning. Well, let’s say he spent half the night watching an interesting action movie, new this year, and went to bed only in the morning. Will he be able to win another blitz game? Or quickly react to some non-standard work situation?

It is possible that he can. Only this will be much more difficult for him.

The speed of your thinking is largely determined by the state of your brain. When he is able or unable to give 100%.

It’s easy to guess that in order to think quickly, you must follow a daily routine, rest on time and get a good night’s sleep. What else can you do?

Tips for speeding up

How to develop speed of thinking? Here are some recipe tips.

Warm up your facial muscles

It has been scientifically established that when our face is constrained and practically does not change its expression, and our gaze is fixed on one point, this does not have the best effect on our thoughts. They also become tense and constrained. To avoid this, massage your face, move your eyes left and right, stretch out your lips and smile from ear to ear;

Develop fine motor skills

The speed and amplitude of movement of the fingers are interconnected with the functioning of the brain. Playing musical instruments, ten-finger typing, tying sea knots - all these activities make us think faster and better.

Acceleration of personal internal pace

It turns out that we are able to consciously control our physiological processes, including the speed of our brain. Psychologists have a concept - “internal motor”. Give yourself the command to do everything faster - and your brain will immediately react to it.

Teamwork

Accustom yourself to work in a team, participate in disputes and debates. During a conversation with several interlocutors at once, the brain begins to quickly switch, due to this it works more reactively. Very soon you will feel that you have begun to think faster.

Development of attention

Train your attention outside and in your free time. Notice all the details: how many cars are passing by, how people passing by are dressed, what expression is on their face. Make sure your gaze is quick and vivid, and your memory is all-consuming.

Service for developing speed of thinking

Finally, you can develop your ability to think quickly by using the Brainapps service. Here you will be asked to undergo initial testing and further improve your reactive thinking, adhering to an individual program.

Fateful decision

There are often times in our lives when we need to make an important decision, make a life choice, but there is absolutely no time. For example, the boss at work gave me a choice: agree to work after hours or quit and gave me only a few hours to think about it. What should I do? There are two approaches to solving current and urgent issues:

The first is based on logic and existing experience and knowledge. It is used when there are enough facts on hand to analyze the situation. This approach is appropriate when the decision concerns business or business issues.
The second is based on intuition. In personal life and in communicating with people, when we are faced with an unfamiliar situation and our experience cannot tell us anything, we have to listen to the choice of our heart.

The following recommendations will help you quickly make the right decision in difficult situations:

Always set yourself time limits. This forces the brain to work quickly and clearly, in this case the most correct decisions are made;
There is no need to wait until it “resolves on its own” - this is a path to failure. You need to develop the habit of taking responsibility on your shoulders and making important decisions personally.
If you are prevented from thinking quickly by emotions - fear of failure, anxiety, severe stress, anger, rage, in this case it is almost impossible to adequately resolve the situation. Try to give yourself some time to calm down and collect your thoughts.
The more facts you have on hand, the better. Collect all useful information. Consult with experienced people, leaving the last word for yourself. When analyzing, figure out which of the facts are currently more significant and influential, and which are less.
Once you have made a decision, act without wasting time.

Conclusion

We have looked at the main ways to develop quick thinking. Is it possible to say that there are people who are naturally slow and cannot increase their speed, but there are people who are “jet planes” and do everything quickly and decide quickly?

I think no. The brain of any person is plastic and prone to development, regardless of age. Everything is controlled only by our desires.

That's all.

I wish you success in making quick decisions. If you liked the article, leave your feedback in the comments, write what difficulties you encounter and how you can further improve the speed. Subscribe to blog news.

Bye everyone. Yours, Yuri Okunev.

Ask for clarification

If a question is too vague, answer it with a counter question that should clarify and define what your opponent is trying to achieve.

“Now there are several types of insurance. Which one are you really interested in?

“Motivation is a broad concept. Do you need advice on a specific aspect of it?

And you can specify the question especially effectively by presenting the questioner with a choice:

“Are you worried about the number of sales in 2012 or 2014?”

Dealing with Inappropriate Issues: The Art of Avoidance

Sometimes the questions are quite clear, but irrelevant, and you, for a variety of reasons, do not want to answer them in full. Then you will have to avoid a direct answer.

Avoiding direct answers has a very dubious reputation because it is associated with insincerity and manipulation. But sometimes you really can't give someone a straight answer because the information is confidential, touches on very sensitive topics, or is simply not intended for that audience. Here are the techniques we recommend using to successfully give evasive answers.

How to answer the question “why, explain” in an original way?

If you don’t want to resort to boring explanations, it’s quite possible to “hush everything up” with certain phrases. How to answer the question “why, explain” in an original way? Here are the options:

Why? A head of cabbage and a cabbage.
Because it ends in "y".
Becauze I whant so.
Because gladiolus.
Because I'm Batman.
Because Spartak lost.
Because the GDP ordered so.
Because!
Do you want to know why? Go to the Mausoleum, ask Lenin!
Because the horses you came across are picky.
On the battery!
For fun!
Because if you are too curious, aliens will pick you up and deport you forever to a distant galaxy.
Because Chuck Norris said so.
I'd better not say anything. Because my explanations will make your eyes widen and your heart may skip a beat.
Because the Earth is round (the sky is blue, the grass is green, etc.).
Because dinosaurs became extinct.
Because a person has 32 teeth.
Because dogs wag their tails.

The main thing is that the comic options are witty and relatively harmless. Otherwise, a curious person will be very uncomfortable and unpleasant. If he hears a tactful joke, he will simply understand that he does not need to know this information. And he will stop asking questions.

Answer only one part of the question

If the issue is complex and there are several aspects to it that you do not want to touch upon, and there is at least one aspect that does not cause problems, it is recommended to focus on it:

— I heard that there will be a new series of layoffs soon. I also heard that the issue of salary reduction is being considered. And I noticed that the free soda was missing from the break room. Is this due to a decrease in company profits? — I can assure you that there will be no layoffs in the next six months. I don't know what you heard, but the company is quite strong, and our revenue was a quarter higher than expected.

— How do you like your new job? How much do they pay you? - It's really good there. It's amazing how different office culture can be. Every Friday we finish work early, drink beer and play softball. Have you played a lot this spring?

(If you end your answer with a counter question, this will help move the conversation away from the question you don’t want to answer).

Refocus the question

If there is any part of the question that you do not want to talk about, focus on the aspect that is not problematic to discuss. This can be done by taking one phrase from the question (which is usually not the main topic of this question) and drawing maximum attention to it.

— Are they considering me for this position? I feel that I demonstrated enough confidence in myself during those interviews. - Exactly. Frank said he was very impressed with your confidence and level of preparation.

(Here you are emphasizing the confidence aspect and avoiding the title issue.)

- Why do you think I’m not moving forward? I feel like I'm stuck in life, that my boss just doesn't appreciate me. I don't want to sound boastful, but I'm very smart. - Yes, you are a really smart person. And when you use your mind for its intended purpose, you truly succeed. Are there any ways to implement the things you have started more consistently? (Instead of listing the other person's shortcomings, you focus his attention on the fact that he is really smart, thereby positioning your answer in a positive way.)

How to increase intelligence?

Many factors influence ingenuity. A smart person reacts less well when exposed to constant stress. During serious situations, the human body produces cortisol. It has a detrimental effect on brain cells, destroying them. If your day starts actively, you solve a thousand problems from the very morning, then try to slow down the pace of life. Start your day not by jumping out of bed, but give yourself 15-30 minutes to relax in bed and dream.

How to increase intelligence?

Listen to music. Any will do for a good mood. But to activate your brain, listen to classical music. Scientists have proven the connection between increasing the speed of thinking and listening to Mozart's works. Don't do a hundred things at once. To solve a specific problem, it is important to concentrate. If you simultaneously read email, answer calls, or listen to an audiobook, then your attention is scattered across several sources of information. As a result, concentration and IQ levels decrease. Even the use of drugs or alcoholic beverages does not reduce the IQ as much as a change in focus. Allow yourself positive emotions. Company managers have long known that a good mood affects the performance of employees. That’s why they organize corporate parties, joint holidays, and outings. A cohesive team works better than employees who barely know each other. Mental acuity directly depends on positive emotions. Develop your memory and vocabulary. Unexpected solutions will not come if you have a poor vocabulary and nothing in your head. To develop your memory, memorize songs, memorize a long piece, for example, “Eugene Onegin.” To expand your vocabulary, learn 1-2 new words a day.

The brain needs constant training. Therefore, give him interesting problems. Take intelligence tests, logic exercises, learn foreign languages. Reading books helps improve your intellectual level and memory. Brain gymnastics stops age-related changes. To increase your level of intelligence, increase the load. Try doing two things at once, one difficult and the other instinctive. For example, listen to specialized literature and brush your teeth at the same time.

Discuss the issue

Sometimes it seems that people are looking for a specific answer to a question, but in reality they just want their question to be discussed. They want to hear different points of view about their idea, or they just want to know that you are thinking about it too, to understand that their question is something that makes you think deeply. In most cases, questions like these are best answered with an attempt to delve deeper into the topic at hand:

— Why doesn’t the school board strive to reach a larger audience so that feedback from students’ parents becomes better? — We work with people more than you think. We sent messages to 500 families. But the situation is complicated: parents of older children do not want the same things that parents of toddlers want. We carefully consider all opinions and options and try to find ways to compromise.

- Why doesn’t our relationship make you happy? - Why did you decide that I’m unhappy?

Build a bridge

With this technique, you build a bridge from the question you asked to what you really want to talk about. This technique is similar to the question redirection technique, but the difference between the content of the question and the topic of your answer is much more significant.

If you've ever watched politicians debate on television, this method will seem familiar. The politician is asked about his position on the war, to which he will answer: “War, of course, is an important problem that must be solved. But what I really want to talk about is the issue of tax increases that my opponent raised.”

An answer constructed according to the “bridge” scheme can infuriate the opponent. So it is not recommended to use this technique to avoid really important questions.

The Art of Hip Shooting

Sometimes the best way to answer an awkward question is to give a completely straight answer. This directness can be refreshing and overwhelming.

You may think that this is the best way to answer difficult questions. Indeed, it sounds good.

But in life we still have to avoid direct answers. Otherwise, every time someone asks, “How are you?”, you have to answer, “Well, I had a heated battle with my wife last night, and my truck needs new brakes...”

One way or another, we answer most questions only partially. To know how to do this correctly, you need to master the art of improvisation.

Use a funnel

Using the bridge technique, you can completely avoid questions about the main topic. But sometimes you just need to narrow the discussion and also encourage your opponent to ask follow-up questions and continue to discuss one aspect. Using a funnel is all about recognizing a big problem and then directing your audience's attention to the part of that problem you want to focus on.

— What kind of work experience makes you a good candidate for this position? — I have experience in the hotel industry, experience in customer service, but the best experience that most matches what you are looking for is the five years I worked in social media management, and I worked for one of your competitors.

— Have you already planned how you will carry out this project? — Yes, and the most important step will be to secure funding for it. As you can see on this graph, we have already received half of the money.