Episode 38: Ask Better Questions! with Annette Zapp, CSCS*D
No matter how skilled and credentialed the professional is, if you ask a sh***y question, you're likely going to get an equally sh***ty answer (unless, of course, you ask a guru; they are all-knowing and context doesn't matter!) Although there's not supposed to be a bad question, I'm here to tell you that some of them are certainly not good!
So what, now what?
Ask better questions to get better answers.
*Put a 'face' on the question
*Ask the real question
*Be prepared for clarification questions (tell me more, etc.)
*If you're simply asking to confirm your own bias, do everyone a favor and just use google!
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Annette: [00:00:00] Hello podcast listeners. It is AZ back for episode number 38 of the Fire Rescue Wellness Podcast and just yesterday….so, I'm recording on Sunday…Saturday I did a poll in my Instagram stories asking for some feedback from people that listen to the podcast, and a lot of people gave me some really great feedback and I really appreciate it.
But in case you're not on Instagram, and in case you did not respond, even if you are, I was wondering if you might be able to take a couple minutes out of your day and help me out? First of all, my email address is info@firerescuewellness.org and the questions I asked were:
Do you listen to the podcast?
What do you think about the two episodes per week?
Do you like having the relatively short Tuesday episode and the really short Friday episode?
Do you have any feedback for me in general?
[00:01:00] And then the last question I asked is, are you subscribed on any platform?
And so that's my call to action for you today. If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate it so much if you could just give me a little feedback. I would be infinitely grateful.
Okay. Today we're gonna talk about asking better questions and this came up at, I was just presenting last Monday and Tuesday at the AFFI, associated Firefighters of Illinois Health and Wellness Seminar andafew of the people from the AFFI Resiliency Committee, and my guest, Megan, and actually the president of the Rolling Meadows Firefighters local, came out with us for dinner.
And guys, I'm telling you, I haven't laughed that hard in [00:02:00] so long. We had such a good time. But towards the end of the meal, Mike looks at me and he knew that I was gonna be speaking about sleep.
And he said, “melatonin, yes or no”, or he might have said, “melatonin, what are your thoughts?”
And without even so much as putting a filter on my brain and my mouth, I shot back, “ask a better question,” and there was like this collective <gasp>. And then everybody broke out laughing again because if you know me or if you have followed me on social media for any amount of time, you know that periodically I post my picture holding the sign in front of the fire engine that says, ask better questions.
Mow, that picture was originally posted on an account called Strength Coach with a board, and I believe it was during Covid, but it might have been 2019. This account started up on Instagram and it was really funny because [00:03:00] it's all, it was a lot of collegiate strength and conditioning coaches and basically they're holding up a board that says something and there's really no comment about it.
So basically a coach might be holding up a board that says, “Creatine is not a steroid,” and another coach might be holding up a board that says “the warmup isn't optional.”
So I was like, oh, I got this. Hold my beer. And so I made my sign, my strength coach with a board sign to say, “ask better questions.”
There are no stupid questions, right? Well, maybe not, but there are definitely questions that are kind of a waste of time. They're sort of like those: I'm not really gonna ask a question. I'm gonna dance around the subject and hope you tell me what I wanna hear.
And the ask better questions/Strength coach with a board sign originally came from…It was close to bedtime, so [00:04:00] as you might or might not know, my capacity and bandwidth is really small at bedtime, and I got this text from a coworker, good friend of mine, and it was just a zoomed in picture of an anatomical coloring book, basically with one of the rotator cuff muscles colored in.
And his text was “Good exercise for this muscle?” And if it would've been in the middle of the day, I likely would've just called him and talked it out, but it was close to bedtime. So I texted him back really fast and I said, I need context.
And so he sent me right away, another picture, more zoomed in, but actually I think he grabbed the wrong muscle that time.
It was a different muscle, but it was more zoomed in and I was like, bro, I don't need a more zoomed in picture. [00:05:00] I need to know, like, is this you or is it your kid who's an overhead athlete? Is it your grandma? Is it your wife? Is, do you have an injury or a diagnosis from a physical therapist or a doctor?
Um, Is it torn? Is it stretched? Is it tight? Like what do you want from me? And I'm sure on the other end of the phone when he got my text, he was probably screaming like, lady, just answer the question! You have a degree in this stuff. Answer my simple question.
We're gonna go on a tangent for a second because I love me some my cousin Vinny. Do you remember when Marissa Tome is called up to the stand kind of against her will? I actually printed out the script because although I can, I'm pretty good at my cousin Vinny quotes, under pressure of a podcast, I would probably [00:06:00] forget.
So the lawyer says, Ms. Vito, what is your current profession?
And she says, I'm an outta work hairdresser. And the lawyer says, outta work hairdresser. Now, in what way does that qualify you as an expert in automobiles? And she says, it doesn't. And the lawyer says, well, in what way are you qualified?
And she says, well, my father was a mechanic. His brother was a mechanic. My mother's father was a mechanic. My three brothers are mechanics. Four uncles on my father's side are mechanics. Ms. Vito, your family is obviously qualified, but have you ever worked as a mechanic? And she says, (she looks at her nails) and she says, yeah, in my father's garage. And the lawyer says, as a mechanic, what did you do in your father's garage?
Well, she starts naming 'em off on her fingers.
Tuneups, Oil [00:07:00] changes, brake relining, engine rebuilds. Rebuilt some trannies, rear end.
Okay, but does being an ex-mechanic necessarily qualify you as being an expert on tire marks? And she says, no thank you. Goodbye. And she starts to leave and the judge tells her to sit her, you know what down, and stay there till she can leave.
And, the Joe Pesci character says, your honor, Ms. Vito's expertise is in general automobile knowledge. It is in this area that her testimony will be applicable. Now if Mr. Trotter wishes to continue harassing the witness as to the extent of her expertise in this area. I'm sure he's gonna be more than satisfied.
So the judge says, okay…and Mr. Trotter, the attorney says, all right. All right. Now, Ms. Vito being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me what would be the correct ignition timing on [00:08:00] a 1955 Belaire Chevrolet with a 327 cubic engine and a four barrel carburetor, and she says: it’s a bullshit question to which she says, does that mean you can't answer it?
And she says, it's a bullshit question, it's impossible to answer. And the attorney says, it's impossible because you don't know the answer! And she says, nobody could answer that question. And the attorney says, your Honor, I move to disqualify Ms. Vito as an expert witness. And the judge says, can you answer the question?
And Marissa’s character says: No. It's a trick question because Chevy didn't make a 327 in 1955, the 327 didn't come out until ‘62, and it wasn't offered in the bell air with the four barrel carburetor till ‘64. However, in [00:09:00] 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees below tap dead center.
So my friends…Unless you are asking a guru who always knows everything, and I will refer you back to the episode where I talked about the Dunning Kruger effect, where the people that tend to know the least about a topic tend to portray that they have the most expertise. And so unless you're asking a guru who will always give you an answer without context and probably charge you a lot of money for it, these questions of health and wellness, they're really nuanced and you need to ask better questions.
And the person answering your questions is probably gonna come back with, tell me more. Can you clarify and elaborate? And it depends. Stuff [00:10:00] is nuanced, so I'm gonna give you some examples of some somewhat poorly worded questions that you might hear in general.
My first example is a mechanic, and would you go to your mechanic and simply say, is diesel good? I wish I had crickets because I would use my cricket soundtrack. Right now is diesel good? Maybe if you have a diesel engine, if you have a gasoline engine, diesel is definitely bad if you're looking for miles per gallon. And efficiency. And how much fuel is gonna cost you? It depends. Diesel used to be way cheaper than gas, but now it's pretty much the same.
So is diesel good? Is a terrible question. How about this one?
Would you ask your financial planner, Hey, do you think I should [00:11:00] start a business? Well, that planner might wanna know, do you have time? Do you have an actual plan and a skillset? Do you have investors if you need them or seed money to get started?
These are all things that you would probably want to ask before that general question. Should I start a business.
How about this one? Would you go to a doctor and say, should someone take Synthroid? Well, if that someone is me, definitely, because it keeps me alive. I had thyroid cancer. If I don't take Synthroid or something like Synthroid, I will die.
There are other people that their thyroids don't work as efficiently as they could and Synthroid might help them. But if you are a normal person with good thyroid function, taking Synthroid might be a huge problem. So just asking should [00:12:00] someone take Synthroid, is another bullshit question.
So those are some basic run of the mill situations. Let's get into some health and wellness situations or questions that people have asked me. They have said to me before without context, is whey protein good? Well, maybe, but I have to ask a lot of questions. First of all, can you tolerate whey protein? Do you have food allergies? Um, do you have GI upset with whey protein?
What are you trying to do with the whey protein? Are you simply trying to get more protein in your diet and that is your means to an end? Are you trying to gain muscle mass? What are you trying to do? I need perspective.
Here's another great one. Our bananas fattening. [00:13:00] First of all, this word fattening. What does fattening even mean?
I remember being told as a child in the 1970s that I should or should not eat things based on whether they were fattening or not, but really what does that mean? Are you asking if eating a banana directly contributes to gaining body fat? or are you asking, does eating a banana make the number on the scale go up?
What are you actually asking me? Here's what I know. An average banana has around a hundred calories. They have fiber and micronutrients. They're a great alternative for other things like candy cake and cookies. But are you going to eat five bananas a day or 10? In theory, all things being equal, if you don't change your exercise and your sleep and your daily movement and your caloric consumption, if you added five bananas to your diet, you would probably start to [00:14:00] gain weight.
Also, the back to this word fattening. Fattening is compared to what? If you're having a banana as opposed to like a triple hot fudge sundae with an order of fries. The banana is definitely a better choice. Again, it contains the dietary fiber and the micronutrients and the minerals. So just ask a better question.
Oh, this is a good one too. What is the best exercise for, or what is the best exercise program? I can't answer that question without some perspective. Do you have injuries that you're trying to work around? Do you despise swimming? Do you have 30 minutes? Do you have two hours total per week? I need a lot more perspective than what's the best exercise program.
So I could go on and on with examples, but let's, let's start with some solutions. First things first. Put a [00:15:00] face on the question. Say, who are you asking the question for? My mother or my brother, or my friend or me? I'm feeling tired. I'm feeling lethargic. I read online that that could possibly be a thyroid issue.
Is Synthroid something that might be a treatment? I can answer that question. It certainly might be a treatment, but you should go to a physician and get a lot of tests done to find out why you're tired and lethargic. Also, how much do you sleep every night? Also, a really good thing to know. So put a face on the question.
Next thing, ask the real question. Not the question behind the question behind the question. I'm nearing retirement and I'm afraid I will be short on living money and potentially bored. What would it look like for me to start a home-based business fixing small [00:16:00] engines in my garage?
I have a background in fixing small engines, and I know that I would need liability insurance. But financial planner, what would that look like for me?
Next tip, be prepared for follow up questions and don't get frustrated if you're just asking me about bananas. I don't know a lot about you, your caloric and dietary intake, and what you're trying to do with the bananas.
I just need some follow up information, so don't be frustrated with me.
And then the fourth one, which I really hate: avoid going into that conversation just wanting an answer to reinforce your current bias. So if you've already convinced yourself that diesel is better than gas, if you've already convinced yourself that HIT training is better than low intensity steady state training, if you've already convinced yourself that you can't eat bananas because they're [00:17:00] fattening, You just want me to confirm your bias.
You're gonna be frustrated and I'm gonna be frustrated. So head over to the Google machine and confirm your own bias without asking the question. So back to my dinner companions at the AFFI again, I think they almost died laughing when I told Mike, ask a better question, but truly when you're looking at his question was about melatonin.,,
When you're looking at melatonin, there's a lot of things to consider and there's a lot of things that you can do to hopefully optimize your sleep before taking something like melatonin. And the research is kind of in both camps. There's some research that concludes it doesn't even work. There's some research that says, you know, you can take it and a short time is fine.
There's other research that says you [00:18:00] really shouldn't take it cuz you can shut off your endogenous production of your own melatonin. But, what I told Mike is that I would try to optimize going to bed at the same time each night, attempting to get seven to nine hours of sleep, trying to get some early morning sunshine, when he wakes up.
Trying to wind down with turning off as many lights as possible, getting rid of the screens, the TVs, the phones, potentially using blue blocking glasses. Potentially some dietary interventions prior to bedtime before he even moved on to the melatonin. And everyone was happy with that answer, but that is my perspective when we're talking about asking a better question.
Okay. Just a reminder, please, if you have five minutes, email me info@firerescuewellness.org [00:19:00] Let me know some feedback on the podcast. And if you are enjoying the podcast, it really does make a difference when you subscribe to it. It makes it more visible for other people to find it. So this has been AZ, and I'm gonna ask you to ask better questions.
