Curiosity is not something we hear a lot about. There are thousands of books and articles on creativity and innovation. But curiosity; no. The only time you hear about curiosity is in relation to children.
What is curiosity?
Curiosity is creating a mindset of childlike wonder, or as leadership author John Maxwell likes to say, “beginner’s mindset” when referring to curiosity.
Children
Children have a natural curiosity. Watch any two-year-old and they will explore every single item in the room. They will push and pull items all day long. They want to see how something reacts when they poke it, push it, sit on it, feel it, taste it, put in their ear, put it in their nose. Their fasciation is endless.
Unfortunately, we got told no some many times by our parents, that the curiosity for world is stifled. When we are adults we ignore the majority of input the comes through seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting.
Entrepreneur’s Need Curiosity
That is most unfortunate, because as entrepreneur’s we need to have that fascination, that curiosity, to thrive in today’s business world.
“If you are an entrepreneur there’s one characteristic, one trait that separates successful entrepreneurs from all the rest. It’s not resilience, it’s not smarts and it’s not perseverance . . . its curiosity, says author and executive coach, Jeff Boss.
Benefits of Curiosity
Being curious and acquiring new knowledge, new ways of doing things provides multiple benefits.
Curiosity can Motivate
We all have problems to resolve and issues to deal with. Utilizing curiosity allows us to step away from our problem and simply learn something new that may or may not be applicable to the problem at hand, but will be invaluable later.
Curiosity is what makes business and life fun. “It’s inquisitiveness which made people do great things and we have people like the Wright brothers, [and their curiosity, so that today] “we have aircrafts” says Sanchita Dash, Entrepreneur Magazine. Our subconscious will absorb this new material and sometime later connect A to C to J and suddenly provide an answer from something learned 6 months ago and 18 months ago and 5 years ago. Any given day, you could receive information from someone that becomes a million-dollar idea 5 years later. That’s exciting! That’s motivating!
Curiosity give you the skills to try things in a new way
Ever had a moment when taking a shower that a unique idea comes to you? An idea strikes you to take a different approach. Being curious about unrelated areas provides a breath of knowledge that can be utilized.
Adds to Self-Confidence
It provides the acquiree (you), self-confidence. Self-Confidence that you will be able to find the answer to any problem. This self-confidence occurs on different fronts.
First, by consistently acquiring new knowledge, there is a vast storeroom of information and ideas in your head that can be accessed at any time. Even more importantly, this information can be recorded in an accessible area, in your journal or in some electronic format.
Two, by acquiring new information on a consistent basis, you have confidence that if you don’t know something today, you’ll know it tomorrow or the next day. Someday soon you will acquire it.
Disparate Information may be just what you Need
Brian Glazer says, “The results have always been surprising, and the connections I’ve made from the curiosity conversations have cascaded . . . in the most unexpected ways. My conversation with the astronaut Jim Lowell certainly started me on the path to telling the story of Apollo 13.” But it wasn’t until he talked with Veronica de Negri, a Chilean activist, that was tortured for months by her on country, did the Apollo 13 story really come together says Brian, (as told in A Curious Mind).
Curiosity Approach
So how do we develop curiosity and keep being curious? Below is an approach for being curious.
Check your Ego at the Door
Why is it that young children are very curiosity, but adults are not? In one word, it is ego. We fear embarrassment over asking a “stupid” question or not knowing something. That fear can even manifest itself into a fear of rejection by the other person. So, we don’t ask.
To be curious, we need to check our ego at the door. Neither you nor I know everything. It is okay to ask questions in a subject we know nothing about otherwise, how do we learn about it?
Get Input from New Sources
Get input from new sources. Interact with people that are in radically different fields from your own. Ask them what they do.
Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning”
As you talk to others and come across interesting ideas or content, record it. But take this a step further. Don’t wait for chance encounters for new and unusual conversations. Be proactive. Decide to seek out new ideas, new information.
John says in, 15 Invaluable Law of Growth, “learn something new every day. First, wake up with an attitude of openness to something new. You must see the day as having multiple opportunities to learn. Second, keep your eyes and ears open through the day. Third, reflection.”
Capture this New Information
Decide how you will store this information so it can be retrieved later. It can be captured in Excel or Word or any number of electronic tools. And if electronic methods are not your thing; a journal works just fine. The key is to record it in such a way that you can readily retrieve it later. John Maxwell keeps a filing system of topics for his books and talks that has over 1600 categories.
Be Consistent in Curiosity
If you are trying to find an answer to an immediate problem and present methods or solutions aren’t providing the needed answers, we will scoff at the idea of spending time on something that has no relevance to our current problem. It is important to have to mindset, that acquiring this new information, is for information sake. The information may never be used, or if may never be used by itself, but it is still important to gather and retain it.
Brian Glazer, producer of movies such as Splash, Apollo 13, American Gangster, Friday Night Lights and A Beautiful Mind, makes it a point to talk to someone interesting at least once every 2 weeks and often does it more frequently. He actively seeks out curiosity conversations.
Be Patient
Be patient in the acquisition of knowledge. The more information that is gathered, the more substance the mind has to work with to come up with new ideas and new solutions. It will be frustrating and many will give up. You never know when you will learn something valuable.
Learn Something New
Use down time to learn something new. Instead of watching mindless TV, use that time to watch videos on YouTube, learning something new. Instead of eating lunch at your desk, meet someone for lunch that has nothing to do with your business.
As you meet with someone, take notes on what they say. While it may be difficult to do while eating, at the very least take the time to record your thoughts and the information right after the meal. But if you tell your lunch mate that you plan to make a few notes during lunch, they will relish the idea. You are recording what they have to say and everyone loves to be listened to. By recording their thoughts, you have taken listening up a notch. While a one-time meeting (and I encourage you to have more than one), these discussions can turn into life-long friendships. What can be more exciting than talking with a dynamic, motivated, successful person? I can’t think of anything else I would rather do.
Review this Information on a Periodic Basis
It’s important to keep this information fresh in your mind. Review it on a regular basis. This helps on a couple of fronts,
- By re-reading information, new insights will come to you. You will read something you wrote 11 months ago and new ideas will pop in your head from it. It will seem like you are reading it for the first time.
- By re-reading the information your subconscious will work on it at night while you sleep. This is where A to D to J is connected and you wake up with a Eureka.
So how do you get started?
Actions:
- Start with who you know; friends, relatives, colleagues. Tell them you’re curious about their work, what they do. You’re not looking for anything other than a good conversation.
- Ask for about 20 minutes and prepare some questions before hand. The questions could be: 1) describe what you do. 2) Why did you choose this work 3) What is a challenge you faced and how did you resolve it? What was your first professional success?
- Use these questions as a guideline, but go with the flow of the conversation for follow-up questions.
- Be a bit formal, dress nice, this is a serious conversation, you really want to know what they do. Don’t talk about yourself and let them control the conversation. And remember it is a conversation, not an interrogation.
- Keep to the time, but if they want to extend it for a period, let them.
- Thank them at the end and point out something they said that you found interesting.
- Ask yourself, “what did I learn? at the end of the conversation. Record your thoughts.
- Send a quick email afterwards, thanking they for their time.
- Once you have talked to those you know, go further afield. Let your curiosity lead you. If you are interested in geology, search your Linked In. If there is no first line connection, search 2nd and 3rd connections and ask for an introduction. Make sure you tell all involved, you are not looking for a job or business connection.
I’d love to hear about who you’ve interviewed in this manner and what you found most interesting about the conversation. You can leave a comment on the blog or send me a personal note at alan@babyboomercashnow.com