“I do not teach anyone I only provide the environment in which they can learn” — Albert Einstein

We tell. We instruct. We command. Children love to learn. Allow them to explore and you’ll find they end up learning better on their own. They’ll find something that fascinates them and asks a million questions about it. Leaving their environment open-ended and allowing them to come to you makes for learning without friction.

Somewhere along the line, we lose that thirst for exploration. Some of us keep it intact or rediscover it, but most of us have it beaten out of us by the time we reach adulthood.

As adults, we look for signs and guidelines. If it’s not in the rubric, we don’t study it. If it’s not in the job description, we don’t do it. If our dreams aren’t immediately apparent, we give up and stick with what we know.

Don’t write about what you know. Write about what fascinates you - The advice rings true for life. Don’t let your knowledge guide your life, let your curiosity do it.

I think you’ll find quite a few things that fascinate you if you’d just let go a little bit and explore.

If you sit back for a minute and start to notice, you’ll have new avenues to follow.

Look into your past. Did you like to write? Were you fascinated by marine animals? Did you endlessly play with your easy-bake oven?

All of these faint memories of what used to fascinate you can become the inspiration for what you pursue now. Once you tap into that, wonder and experiment without judgment.

I didn’t make a proclamation to become a writer. I wrote one article. Then I wrote another, and another, and another. A few posts turned into dozens of posts. Dozens of posts turned to hundreds of posts. Hundreds of posts turned into a book, then a second book and the exploration continues.

Once I got serious about my writing, I started looking for specific resources to help me improve — books, courses, mentors, etc. — but the curiosity led to the pursuit of the dream. I wasn’t sold the dream.

When someone hands you a dream you weren’t meant for it’ll never work, even if it’s attractive.

Some people aren’t meant to start businesses.

Some people are meant to be artists.

We’re all meant for a number of different things.

It’s our job to wander and find them.

Will you remain in your mental and societal box today or will you explore?

Learn, Do, Repeat

After you allow yourself room to explore, you’ll discover your interests. Once you discover your interests, it’s your job to not only devour as much information as possible but act on that information.

Find a section in the library where you want to read every book, then read every book. While you read, take the information given to you and test it in the real world.

This is what I do with my personal path and career.

Most people half try. They don’t follow directions explicitly. They follow directions minus the hard parts, so they can say they tried.

The right way to experiment involves giving it your all then analyzing the results. There will be times where you find the advice was bad and that you should go in a different direction. But you’ll never truly know that if you half-assed it.

First, you learn, then you do, then you repeat. You take what works for you and leave what doesn’t behind.

You do this…forever. There is no end. You have no ceiling on your growth.

But, these are all just suggestions. You don’t have to do anything.

Hope you do, though.

"Creativity is intelligence having fun"