Curious about Curiosity?

"But Why?" - My son's favorite line when I ask him to do something.

Like every great authoritarian parent.... I say "because I said so. Don't argue with me".

Maybe curiosity killed the cat.... but sometimes authoritarian me is killing my sons curiosity.

And if you like go down random rabbit holes like me... I was curious to look up where the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" came from. And like most phrases we use... it has no basis in actual truth... it was a line from a play written in the 16th century.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I was reading one of the BEST books I've ever read on Learning and Development- the author postulated that "curiosity" is one of the top POWER Skills.

Here's an excerpt from the book:

Curiosity begs us to ask questions, dig deeper, and seek understanding. It engages our mind leads us into the territory of new possibilities. Curiosity is the first real step towards change. - Keith Keating

I want you to pause with that statement.

Curiosity is the first real step towards change.

This phrase has been rolling around in my head for the last 24 hours.

And the more I unpack it, the more powerful it becomes... and leads me into today's lesson.

KICKSTART GROWTH AND LEARNING BY ASKING "CURIOUS" QUESTIONS.

On a daily basis, I hear from leaders that they can't get their learners engaged in training.

What if we could completely solve that issue with just a few simple questions?

Ah....

See what I did there?

I asked a question to peak your curiosity.

ASKING QUESTIONS is one of the BEST tactical approaches to demonstrating and developing curiosity.

Lets explore some possible curious questions that we can ask ourselves (and our teams):

• What if I could learn one skill that gives me back 10% of my time every day?
• What if I could learn one skill that helps me earn $5k more a year for the next 20 years?
• What are the people in the top 10% of my field doing differently than I am?
• What will happen if I just set aside 5 to 10 minutes a day for the next 90 days to grow myself professionally?
• How can I have a greater impact can I make on the people around me?

These are such powerful questions.... and can certainly inspire growth.... but they could also unleash some negative self talk too. My personal strategy to overcome negative self talk is just to take quick action. I do one small step to prove that voice wrong. And learning something new is literally the easiest and best way.

For example.... if negative voice Dan tells me I'm going to fail... I just pick up a book or read a quick article for 5 minutes. It gets me curious. It gets me off the self-doubt train and into growth and expansion.

Now a days.... I LOVE asking questions. I'm VERY curious. I seek to understand people better. I seek to understand processes better. I seek to understand theories better.

The moment when we stop being curious and "think" we know it all... is the moment we start going backwards.

Let's get into action.

ACTION STEPS:

1. What are you curious about? Take a moment right now to look up an article on the topic.
2. What are you curious about specifically about your career? Write it down. Start exploring that curiosity.
3. How can you spark more curiosity in the people around you? Instead of just telling them what to do (like I do with my son sometimes hahaha).... why not ask questions that get them thinking critically and curiously?

What a fun topic today, thank you for taking a moment to read through this article. I appreciate you, and promise to provide fresh actionable content week after week on the topic of growth and learning. We as leaders need to inspire growth and learning now more than ever, and curiosity is a fantastic way to get the gears turning! Share your curious thoughts and questions!

Your Friend,

Dan