Growth
Overview
Growth is the process by which a person's abilities, knowledge, perspective, and character improve through experience, learning, and challenges. Carol Dweck proposed the concepts of a "growth mindset" and a "fixed mindset." People with a growth mindset believe abilities grow with effort and see failure as a chance to learn. People with a fixed mindset believe abilities are fixed from birth and see failure as proof of their limits.
Running a question box gives you a place to practice a growth mindset. Even if you can't answer well at first, the quality of your answers tends to improve as you gain experience. Feeling that improvement helps strengthen your growth mindset.
How a question box helps you grow
A question box gives the person answering several chances to grow. First, it improves your ability to put things into words. Every question is practice in writing your thoughts in a way others can understand. Second, it develops your ability to think from many angles. To answer unexpected questions, you have to look at things from angles you don't normally consider. Third, your emotional control matures. Handling unpleasant questions calmly trains your ability to manage your feelings.
When you reread your answers from six months ago, you can often feel how much you've grown. Your writing was clumsy, your view was narrow, or you were emotional. Being able to notice that change is itself growth in metacognition. A question box also works as an archive that makes your growth visible.
Hitting a plateau and breaking through
Running a question box has its plateaus too. Day after day, you give similar answers to similar questions. The freshness fades and it starts to feel like a rut. This is what's called a plateau in the growth curve.
To break through a plateau, it helps to bring in change on purpose. Try changing your answering style, take on questions in genres you don't usually answer, or change the length of your answers. Repeat small experiments and look for new discoveries. Growth isn't a straight line. After a plateau, a breakthrough can suddenly come one day.