82 questions to ask other than “what do you do for work?”

The room is crowded. You lean in to hear your new friend over the din of a hundred other people jockeying for attention, leads, prospects, new converts. “So what do you do for work?” she yells. You suppress an eye roll.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of this question. We have so much more to offer as human beings than our labor. The next time you’re meeting someone new and want to dive in deep (or at least want to mix it up a bit), ask one of these questions instead.

82 questions to ask someone other than “what do you do for work?”

1. How do you spend your time?
2. If money were no object, what would you do?
3. What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
4. What hobby do you want to try that you haven’t yet?
5. What’s an interesting fact you learned recently?
6. If you could wake up tomorrow with one superpower, what would it be?
7. What do you want to be an expert on?
8. How do you spend a rainy Saturday morning?
9. What would you start a podcast on?
10. What type of work do you love so much that you’d do it for free?
11. How would your friends describe you?
12. What internet rabbit hole have you gone down recently?
13. Who are you outside of work?
14. You have 4 hours of free time: How do you spend it?
15. Who are the three people you’d bring (and the three you wouldn’t bring) with you on a multi-day adventure in the wilderness? 
16. What about your life and where you are now has been a welcome surprise? Something you couldn’t have predicted.
17. If you could only eat one dish for the rest of your life, what is it? (Variations on ‘burrito’, for example, are welcome.)
18. What’s your favorite movie right now?
19. What are you obsessed with?
20. What new skill are you learning?
21. What indulgence do you spend time or money on right now?
22. How would your cat / dog describe you to another hooman?
23. What’s your ‘Roman Empire’? (That one thing you think about every week.)
24. What’s the silliest name you’ve heard of for a pet before? (My favorite: Pancakes the cat.)
25. What’s your favorite internet meme?
26. What was your favorite food as a kid? 
27. Tell me about one of your favorite vacations.
28. What are your hobbies?
29. Which fictional character would you want to be?
30. What’s your favorite book?
31. What do you lose track of time doing? (What’s your flow state?)
32. What makes you feel joy? The type of joy that bubbles up in your stomach and threatens to burst out of every pore.
33. What are you looking forward to (personally or professionally) that’s coming up?
34. What do you love to nerd out about?
35. What internet rabbit hole are you down in right now? (I’m talking 10+ videos worth of content you’ve consumed in one go.)
36. Who are you outside of your work, your job?
37. What’s something about you that makes you unique?
38. How do you want to be remembered?
39. Which artist would you love to see live in concert?
40. What three people, dead or alive, are at your imaginary dinner party?
41. What book would you write tomorrow?
42. What do people misunderstand or pre-conceive about you?
43. What did you want to be when you were a kid?
44. What harmless conspiracy theory do you find amusing? (I like the ‘birds aren’t real’ theory)
45. Who do you look up to (someone you actually know)?
46. What’s your favorite podcast right now?
47.  What celebrity would you most like to meet?
48. Is a hotdog a sandwich? (variations include is a cupcake breakfast? Is cereal a soup?)
49. Where would you travel tomorrow? Why and for how long?
50. What are you rabbit-hole obsessed with right now?
51. What’s your Roman Empire? That thing you can’t stop thinking about or think about daily/every week. 
52. What poem sticks to your inner ribs?
53. What’s your favorite yoga posture? (Fill in activity-specific favorite here: favorite sports team, favorite pilates instructor, favorite country.)
54. What random act of kindness did someone do for you that you still think about?
55. If you could be an animal (temporarily), which animal would you be?
56. Who’s your best friend? Why?
57. What qualities do you look for in lasting friendships?
58. What have you done that surprised you in its perseverance?
59. What have you done that you’re really proud of?
60. What matters most to you in life?
61. What’s at the top of your bucket list?
62. Where will you be or what will you be doing in five years?
63. Describe your fashion style for me.
64. If you started a business tomorrow, what problem would you solve?
65. What’s your favorite word?
66. What book changed the way you looked at something or someone?
67. What’s something you love (but don’t admit for fear of seeming silly or too nerdy)?
68. What does it mean to live a good life?
69. What makes life meaningful?
70. What’s your favorite comfort food? What memories do you have of this food?
71. What element do you most identify with and why? (Earth, wind, fire, water)
72. What language would you like to learn?
73. What do you want more of?
74. What do you want less of?
75. How would your parents describe what you do?
76. What’s a card or note you’ve kept that a friend or family member sent you? 
77. What inspires you? 
78. How do you recharge?
79. What are you grateful for right now?
80. What era of history fascinates you?
81. What do you value most in a friend or partner?
82. Which character do you see yourself in the most?
    1. The Sex in the City foursome: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte
    2. The hobbits from the Lord of the Rings: Sam, Frodo, Pippin, Merry
    3. The New Girl cast: Jess, Cici, Schmidt, Nick, Wilson

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