What is This?

The Philosophy Behind DBIQ
Paper of Choice: BaronFig notebooks have been my goto notebooks since college.
About
Mark McKinney
Hey there, I'm Mark. I'm a graduated Master's student from High Point University in North Carolina where I studied Entrepreneurship and Strategic Communication. I'm currently a Technical Solutions Engineer at Permutive, a privacy-first ad-tech startup.
I have a question for you: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? A few months ago, I was also thinking about this question, so I began reviewing all the notebooks I had kept over the past decade. These notebooks spanned from High School to college, from launching a startup to my Master’s degree, and now to my new career in advertisement tech.

Nearly every single idea, observation, quote, principle, and finding I thought was useful I wrote down — a process which had become a life staple. But in all this information gathering, I realized that some of the most important information I had ever recorded had not been pithy remarks or wise one-liners. Instead, they had the form of well-timed questions.

Right now answers are typically valued over the pursuit of the answer — the conclusion is prioritized over the developmental process. Yet, the best discoveries come from constant, unassuming inquisitiveness.

I built The Database of Important Questions as a central way for anyone to start that discovery, whatever point in life they find themselves. Every question in it has meaningfully helped me stop, think, and readjust my course in life for a better end. Of course, just like our personal development, it's not static. More questions will be added, existing questions will be made more insightful, and old questions will take on new meanings. But, at whatever stage you find DBIQ, I hope it helps you in your endeavors!

Get to Asking!