12 Tips to Learn How to Be Curious

Wikipedia defines curiosity as:

“any natural inquisitive behavior, evident by observation in many animal species, and is the emotional aspect of living beings that engenders exploration, investigation, and learning.”

Some people are born curious like Leonardo da Vinci. For others, curiosity just “kicked in” over time. Like anything else, curiosity can be learned. It’s never too late to learn how be curious. Finding your passion in work gets easier and the journey more interesting if you develop curiosity. So how can you learn it?

... so? how can you become curious? ... easy:

1. Don’t accept Spin: often what we’re exposed to is only the tip of the iceberg. Scratch the surface by digging a little deeper. Look at it from another perspective, then investigate any or all new information that you find.

2. Ask Questions: just like a little kid, think about “how?” or “why.” Asking more questions is like turning over more rocks. You never know what you’ll find.

3. Ask ‘What if…’: Think in the three possible scenarios: default to worst, most likely, and best-case scenario. Or think in terms of Sci-Fi like “what if, in a parallel universe” or “what if, in another life time, it had turned out like this?” Try the “what if…” approach.

4. ‘Turn Questions into Quests’: The first thing I could do when I get curious about something is go to Amazon.com or Google.com and do a search. There is always an answer to a question. Look for it!

5. Dig deeper than the RSS feed: breadth is nice, but depth is better. Taking a deep dive into the object of your curiosity is more satisfying than only looking at the high-level or macro view. Think verticals, not horizontals, unless your 360 view has you motivated to research breadth and depth.

6. Use available Tools: Amazon.com is a great resource for finding the books for your research. If you’re brainstorming, then mindmapping is always effective. Use note cards or all the usual ways you collect information so you can easily organize your thoughts later.

7. Put disconnected ideas together: over time, you learn how to see disparate things, realizing that they may be related.

8. Play: Find a way of incorporating what you like to do for play?

9. Get Proactive: it’s easy to accept things as they are, but we have take initiative if we want to be curious. When we’re learning how to be curious, you’re actually going out of your way to do it so it becomes a habit.

10. Network: talk or e-mail other who you respect on the thing you’re curious about.

11. Find a ‘Curiosity Buddy’: it’s more fun when we get curious with a buddy. It will make for lively discussions and more field trips to the bookstore!

12. Slow Down: Just sit. Reflect. Once you find great information, then sit down. Do nothing. Let the thoughts come to you, and then reflect on it.

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