Don't let down the Picasso within

We have certainly come a long way in our own respective lives. As a child, the hazy purpose that we had has managed to come to life. The goals we set for ourselves, the milestones we achieved, and the failures that rocked us from within altogether brought immense learning and wisdom.

Some have tasted success, while others might still be hunting for it. Amid all this, the brain works tirelessly to process trillions of bytes of information that nurtures our creativity, our thought process, and our life.

Let's recollect our childhood where most of us bombarded our parents with umpteen questions in an eternal loop. We had an incredibly inquisitive mind which demanded answers at will. Nothing less than a "perfect" answer would satiate our hungry minds. According to research, children ask 107 questions per hour. A child's brain is like a fertile land that, if fed properly, is bound to produce fruitful results. However, as we grow up to be an adult, we stop experimenting and succumb to a routine in our daily lives. This routine lands us into convenient cognitive patterns that prove detrimental to a curious mind.

Why does curiosity decline as we grow?

An author and a psychology lecturer, Susan Engel, conducted research called "episodes of curiosity" to gauge the curiosity levels in children of different age groups. She found that aspects like asking direct questions, manipulating objects, and directed gazing occurred 2.36 times in kindergarten and only 0.48 times in a fifth-grade classroom. For a full-grown adult, this number goes to a minuscule level, and the same pattern continues. As we grow up, the knowledge sphere widens, leading to a longitudinal rise.

We learn about various subjects, pursue different hobbies, and experience social networking in our education years. When we enter the workforce, we understand survival and winning in a competitive scenario and gain expertise in our job functions. Learning is mandatory and critical up to a certain point, but once we reach there, it becomes optional. We realize we have gained sufficient knowledge to survive, and hence, the path of no new learning is opted for. This exact juncture subsides the gap between what we know and what we want to know, which begins to inhibit the curiosity level.

When we stop learning, it is tough to get that area of our brain in motion again. Learning new things with age is slightly more challenging, but what makes it completely undoable is the conscious decision to stop learning after a certain point in our lives.

Why it's good to ask "why"

According to a recent report, only 24% of employees reported feeling curious about their jobs, and about 70% said they faced barriers while asking questions at work. Organizations are conditioned in a way to sustain profitability and relevance. They work in a minimal risk environment to maximize output through efficiency and productivity. Curiosity helps to conceive bold ideas that challenge the status quo. But it comes with an element of risk and inefficiency that many profit-driven leaders can't afford. Hence the "why" is always looked down upon and criticised.

However, we must remember that all path-breaking innovations were born out of a curious mind. Nurturing curiosity needs to prioritise above enterprise performances. It's the most crucial weapon in your armor. It helps deal with the dynamic market changes by encouraging people to think creatively and come up with out-of-the-box solutions.

How to nurture creativity

In 2011, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover was named "Curiosity". The panel selected the name from a student contest with more than 90,000 proposals. Clara Ma, a sixth-grader, who had proposed this name, was invited to sign her name directly on the rover.

"Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day," Ma wrote in her winning essay.

Nurturing curiosity may sound like a gruelling process at the outset. Our mature minds are conditioned to perform in a certain way and pursuing what intrigues us may not be practically possible for most of us. So, what can we do?

Sow in the seeds of curiosity in the learning path for your kids. It is key to making them understand that finding out things is essential rather than understanding things. Instead of asking, "What did you learn today?" try to ask, "What good questions did you ask today?"

Isidor Rabi, the noble prize winner in Physics, attributed his success to this simple question his mother asked him every day. This slight modification helped him differentiate between process and content, which made all the difference.

We all step into the world with an innate gift called curiosity, which keeps arousing as we look around, searching for answers. The key is to keep the fire within burning, keep digging up deeper on things that intrigue you.

Picasso once said, "All children are artists," but how we remain that way as an adult is the challenge that we need to address.

Did you feel “unlensed” after reading this story from?The Unlensing. You can follow my writings at www.karanbhatia.substack.com