“There are no stupid questions” is a popular saying that we use to encourage people to ask questions that they might be afraid of asking, and used in that context it’s a perfectly nice and helpful thing to say. But, the truth is, there are lots of stupid questions, and I’ve asked most of them.

I like to think that over time, and with some experience born out of failure, the questions that I’ve asked have become less stupid. Consider some ways that you can transform stupid, heat of the moment questions, into questions that get much better answers.