Einstein once said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”. There is not just a business need to remain curious, interested in diverse topics and learning (or improving upon) expertise areas – it is a fundamental human condition too.
As humans, we need to be curious in our everyday lives. It becomes very simple to fall into the trick of comfortability – just going through our daily routines and not discovering new avenues or ideas. This is especially true when we are in periods of grinding through a major project or any time-consuming long- or short-term activity. It helps to have tools, prompts and reminders to explore…. again, in a business sense and in non-business.
Reading, watching or listening to interesting talks, presentations or discussions whether in person or virtually, brings endless resources to inspire and expand your curiosity and leads to learning. The best part is that it is all starts right at our fingertips now.
Honestly, the answer is very personalized for each of us on how to find what will encourage our curiosity – whatever works for you is the avenue that you should pursue. But finding an avenue is the first and arguably the most important step. Find time each day (or close to it as times of crisis change our focus) to think and wonder. Now, some will say that is a waste of time when we need to maximize our hours and minutes for work, school or family, but I disagree. I believe that even a few minutes a day or week can trigger a wide range of productive needs from solving a contemporary or ongoing problem to spurring creativity. Or both!
In addition to individual exploration, learning and thinking – conversation can spur a tremendous volume of solutions, creativity and everything in between. I meet with my team, usually in an informal environment and we openly discuss opportunities, current projects, desired projects and every single time: we have a better track to success than we did beforehand.
The common factor: being curious. Be curious alone with your own mind or with another person or many people. Talk through ideas and explore them. Learn something new. Improve or change on something old. Think about how to implement your newly formed opinions, lessons or solutions into your business. But don’t stop there. Be a diverse person. Explore different cultural activities, cultures, sciences and don’t restrict yourself on anything: if you are curious you will want to at least have a cursory understanding of nearly everything that you can.
By Chris Sinclair
Founder, The Anthem Group