Questioning Assumptions Increases Creativity - Interesting Big Think Video
I've never really thought about creativity exactly in this way before, but it makes sense. The bigger your space of possibility is, the more mental connections you can make. The more you can question your assumptions, the more room you make in your possibility space.
Everything you do is grounded in assumptions.
Over the years I've come to the assumption that being able to say, "I don't know" is a very powerful attitude. Not assuming that you have to make assumptions allows you to live better with uncertainty, using new ideas as tools to think differently, rather than categorizing things as true or untrue. This doesn't mean you shouldn't have assumptions. Rather, it's more useful (and fun!) to leave your assumptions open to inquiry and change.
Nothing interesting begins with knowing, it begins with not knowing.
I don't know if nothing interesting begins with knowing, but it certainly seems like many interesting things begin with not knowing.
Check out the video if you're open to that sort of thing ;)
However, asking questions all the time can be extremely time-consuming. If we have a task at hand and we keep questioning the validity of each and every detail, we'll never ever complete our work. The real difficulty is asking the right question.
Then again, what is the right question........?
Yes, that can be true. But I'm not necessarily talking about questioning things while working on a specific task. Nor questioning the validity of every detail explicitly. It's more a process of general open-mindedness in which the questions naturally arise while working on something, or often for me, while taking a break from work and letting my mind "rest."
It's often during these times that questions, or "answers," just pop into my head. I'm not making any effort to come up with them logically. They just arise from my subconscious. Even as I write this.
So for me it's not about purposefully questioning, but allowing my ideas to be open to question and change. If I just take that attitude, it happens naturally.
But consciously directing yourself to question your own assumptions can be useful too. Just don't wear yourself out with it, as you were saying.