If you were to sum up everything I've learned about humanity over the course of my own lifetime, it would be this: humans forget how often common wisdom has been wrong.
Although the course of human civilization includes one innovation and discovery after another, we have a tendency to believe that everything we believe at this moment in time is true.
The Earth is flat.
The Earth is round.
Earth is the only planet capable of supporting life.
Pluto is a planet.
Pluto isn't a planet.
God created the universe.
The Big Bang created the universe.
All I know for sure is that most of what we believe to be true is a mere fraction of the truth, and much of it is wrong. I know this because across hundreds of generations, subsequent generations discovered that many of their ancestors' beliefs were wrong. Why should our experience be any different?
For that reason, history rewards those among us who can balance curiosity with disciplined validation.
That is, it pays to ask, "I wonder if... ______?"
But it also pays to transform your curiosity into a hypothesis that you can test and hopefully validate.
In business, this often amounts to something along the lines of, "I wonder if people would (pay $11 a month to be able to watch any TV show anytime they want)?
In science, it often equals, "I wonder what triggers the onset of (this disease) in otherwise healthy people?"
In your career and life, it means asking what would happen if you changed one or more of your beliefs or actions?
The way I figure it, when you stop being curious, you stop learning. When this happens, you start to plateau. One of the things that pains me is watching my friends and peers fall into this trap.
(It pains me even more when I fall into it.)
Unfortunately, it's easy to not realize that curiosity has disappeared from your daily life. You probably think you are being disciplined, or focused, or highly efficient.
Not really.
The people we admire the most - entrepreneurs, great leaders, social innovators, talented artists, learned scholars - are highly curious.
And yet it remains so easy to slip into Anti-Curious Mode.
So now that I have your attention, let me ask you this:
Are you an actively curious person? If yes, how does this manifest itself in your daily actions? If no, what can you do to change this?
Always curious, healthy appetitie for learning, reading, interacting with peeps, and I try to stay in the "beginner's mindset" when looking at the old and new.
Thank you, Bruce for this great article. I thought I was a curious person, but after reading your artcle, I will try not to fall into the traps that you mention.