Being curious is the base of our existence —and why you should be curious too.
Curiosity: noun
interest leading to inquiry.
The week that I’m starting to write this, I got introduced to the mindset of curiosity by TKS. For a long time, I never thought that being curious could be a mindset or something that you could try and be. Before when I used to think of curiosity, I thought of it as a semi-bad thing. And not for no reason.
Some things I’ve heard throughout my life:
- “She’s just curious, don’t mind her.”
- “Oh, you’re too curious for your age.”
- “Curiosity killed the cat.”
(Okay, maybe I didn’t hear that last one all the time, but you get my point.)
I’m sure the people who told me these didn’t mean any harm — in fact, they probably grew up hearing the same thing. So, when my wonderful TKS directors brought up this mindset, I was mind-blown 🤯. We literally wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today without our ancestors being curious.
Why should I be curious?
Curiosity didn’t kill the cat. In fact, it might have made it more popular.
Your problem-solving skills thrive 🤗
When you’re curious about something, you have to dig deep and problem solve. All the answers aren’t going to be in one article with perfect formatting and all the definitions at the bottom for you. So when something isn’t being understood or isn’t explained well, you figure it out. When you start to get used to problem-solving, it gets applied to other areas of your life as well. As simple as that.
Action Item: Write down past conflicts that you’ve had. Reflect on what you did before to resolve this problem, and what you would do now. You can train your brain to solve conflicts more effectively this way, as well as put your new-found skill to use.
Becoming hella open-minded 👐
Sure, you can be curious about Artificial Intelligence or have a deep yearning to know what flavour of gum came first, but it doesn’t end there. Being curious challenges what you already know and understand, thus giving you practice on being open-minded to new ideas and explanations.
Action Item: Before looking into something, write down all the things that you think about the subject beforehand. This will help you realize what biases you have, and you can be mindful of when you’re falling into that bias.
Having better relationships 🧑🤝🧑
This one is sort of mixing everything that was mentioned above into one. When you’re curious about someone, you tend to listen and learn about them. When you have a conflict with a friend, you have your handy-dandy problem-solving skills at hand. It also makes it easier to make more relationships, because you don’t have a closed mindset about a person or prejudices of something in the past.
Action Item: Explain or tell someone what you learned through your curiosity every week. This will bring up interesting discussions and help you be actively curious.
And there it is! All the reasons why you should have a curious mindset. Now excuse me, I have a meeting with a certain cat to get to.
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