Everyone as a baby was interested in exploring the environment around, everything was new and unexplored for us. Nobody asked for this because at that time we had a very natural characteristic – curiosity. With time we started to narrow down our interests and hobbies so we closed our eyes for exploring. But the world is a place with too many fascinating things to don’t be aware of.

This is the second article from Change your mindset in 2021 series. Curiosity is very important in many life’s areas and has a significant role in changes.

What is it?
To begin, it’s good to know what it means. In the Cambridge Dictionary we can find the following definition:

Curiosity is an eager wish to know or learn about something.

Very straightforward, isn’t it? I would like to add few words to that definition and present my own:

Curiosity is a state of mind where we are able to explore new things with passion and determination and we are constantly hungry for what the world can offer.

I can also say that everybody has their own meaning. In addition – we cannot measure it, there are no units for that, we cannot say that person A has greater curiosity than person B (maybe we can but I think that we shouldn’t compare people in this). However, each of us has the ability to develop it and make it useful.

The advantages
People with curiosity tend to be happier, easily adaptable to shifts, and looking with a wider perspective for problems and challenges. The main advantages are:

• New opportunities – New opportunities – as a curious person you are not waiting for those opportunities to come to you themselves – you are actively looking for them. They are lying and waiting for someone who will pick them up, and curiosity is a key player in that.
• Increase in creativity and agility – as more curious you are more likely to think “outside of the box”. In other words, you can play a key role in situations and places where innovations are needed.
• Motivation – curiosity brings a childlike spirit into your life, so you are less likely to be bored or lazy. Because it’s easier for you to explore new things you have satisfaction from it and more motivation.
• Ability to change faster – change, no matter if in your personal or professional life – is all about looking for solutions rather than problems. Curiosity helps you to find these solutions and to reduce the time it takes for a change.
• Increase of empathy –  being curious also means that you are more interested in what people say. You are able to better understand their lives, experiences, and problems. As a consequence, you build stronger relationships with others.
• Being a better leader – if you are a people manager you are used to having regular meetings with your team members and you have a duty to care about them in many ways. Curiosity allows you to know more about these individuals, their needs and goals but also their problems. With that knowledge and approach, you can build trust and long term relationships.
• Letting go – thanks to curiosity we are able to have fewer problems and we don’t create new ones – because we wouldn’t like to waste time for that and easier to let go of unnecessary thoughts and things that we cannot control.
  

The turning point in learning
When we have in mind to acquire new skills – language, the field of study, new tools,s and so on, at the beginning we usually have a lot of motivation and enthusiasm to realize it. However, there is a point where we feel that this is too much for us, that it will take a lot of time and we find many other excuses. This is the point also where curiosity comes on the stage.

Curiosity keeps us on track, and doesn’t allow us to give up. It shows the beauty of what we are learning and sustains us in moments of doubt. Why is this happening? Because with that skill we want more and more and with time we are more engaged rather than overwhelmed.

Learning, in this case, is like connecting the dots – once we meet the first one we would like to find the next and another one to the point when we can connect them into line.

How to get it out of you
In the beginning, I mentioned that curiosity could disappear from us when we get older. But this is not entirely true. The fact is that we always have this characteristic, but most of the time hidden inside us. So our work here is to bring out and allow it to work for us.

This is how it can be done:

• Ask questions – Colin Powell said that there is no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid answers. It’s totally true when it comes to exploring the world and developing our curiosity. If you are uncertain about something, ask. Question everything, it’s a perfect way to go deeper into a particular topic and awaken your creativity.
• Do usual things differently – there are things which we have to do every day or very often – like driving to work, walking with the dog, exercising, brushing teeth, etc. The point here is to do the same, but a little bit different. Take another route to your work, choose a different place to walk with the dog, use a different gym or different type of exercise, find another toothpaste, and so on. It’s crucial because we used to do many tasks automatically, without significant effort from our brain. By doing them in other ways our brains have to work which also means growing our curiosity.
• Use Wikipedia randomly – on the left-hand side menu of Wikipedia.org there is a link “Random article”. It’s a super useful tool to evolve your hungriness for knowledge and curiosity. You don’t have to read the entire article, which will be the result of using this functionality, but at least one or two paragraphs. Maybe it will be the case that you will get on to the article about a topic which will be your passion in the future? Who knows.
• Visit a bookstore or library – if possible, go to those places and choose books from the areas that you haven’t read or know before. It is not necessary to buy them, because you can read a few pages in these places. If you decide that you would like to read the entire book, of course, you can make a purchase. I think that visit will show you how many interesting things we have around us and also there is a possibility that you will find new hobbies.
• Make a habit of trying something new – by this I mean to have a goal that, for example, every month I will try a new restaurant (or a new type of food) or each year I will seek for 2-3 new sports or interests. It’s a way to widen your horizons and knowledge about the world. I’m talking about habit because it’s a strong fundamental to make something happen. There is only a short disclaimer – besides that, it’s good to have hobbies which we are doing on a daily basis it also gives us many benefits
• Be open for new connections – there are many ways to do networking and get to know new people – in these times is limited but by using the Internet we can do it as well as in face to face conversations. It’s another approach to have opportunities to get know about people who are living around us or in different countries which is also equal to broaden your mind and pack more knowledge within it.

The above points are of course not the full list of advice that can make your curiosity better. I encourage you to train this skill because it will change your perspective about the fascinating places as the world is and will help you in your development.

Thank you for reading till the end. If you would like to be informed about new articles and receive information about interesting articles you can sign up for my newsletter.