Let Your Career Be a Curious Adventure

Is it possible to nurture and develop our curiosity throughout our careers, instead of suppressing it? Yes, but it takes the right mindset-and a little encouragement from others along the way.

I interviewed my friend Peter Metsopoulos as someone I admire for centering his curiosity, to share with me about his career journey and how he has led with curiosity over the years to shape his decisions and experiences. From our conversation, I share here some key insights I gained from Peter that are helpful for everyone-whether you are just starting out in your career or you’re in the second half. After all, curiosity doesn’t care about age-just enthusiasm.

Peter made a great connection between what interested him as a child and teenager and what he does now: that as a child, he got satisfaction out of “figuring out how something works, putting it together.” He recounts playing with LEGOS and then fixing stereos as a teenager. “That’s also present in the work I do now as an educational consultant: that people have created amazing things but not all the wires are connected; that not everything works from mission to implementation; that’s a throughline for me.”

In this way, our curiosity is like the single enduring thread underneath an entire woven quilt: the quilter may not yet know how she will use that thread, but she will weave it throughout and it will contribute to beautiful and varied patterns that not even the quilter could anticipate upon first beginning the project.

Insight #1: Pay attention to what interests you, including what interested you as a child, for clues about what you like to do. Sometimes we ignore what we think may be just hobbies or something frivolous, when they are in fact important clues about what we will enjoy doing in our careers.

After college, Peter got a job as an Office Manager for a film production company, driven both by his interest in film and his awareness that this role would give him a broad understanding of the entire operations of the company. Following that role, he became a producer at a place that did special effects and broadcast design, an industry and role he acknowledged he didn’t know a lot about, but was really interested in and wanted to learn about and master.

Insight #2: As Peter said, “Choose roles that allow you to learn and grow, observe, and see the entire process. Find places that welcome that conversation, about what you can learn and how you can grow.” Additionally, choose roles that stretch you beyond what you know, and know how to do, in that current moment. If you go for comfortable roles, you will get bored quickly and not grow, even if they are secure, well-paid, and come with other trappings. It’s only through stretching ourselves that we will grow, and our curiosity along with us.

Peter then shared about a major life event: becoming a father. This experience led him to change cities and realize he wanted to “go from making mostly 30-second commercials to something more meaningful-I wanted to reinvent myself.” He again spotted clues to inform his course, realizing that he loved learning and was interested in teaching, partly based on his experience teaching interns about his prior companies. So he started out as a GRE tutor to get in front of classrooms and get experience with students, and learn the skills required of the job. He also called schools and arranged informational interviews to ask people, “What could someone like me with my experience do as it relates to teaching?” He got great insight from these conversations, especially in how he approached them as a way to inform his journey rather than just trying to land a job.

Insight #3: Get out there and field-test yourself and your ideas. Just as Peter did with becoming a GRE tutor, go and try something small-scale, like seeing if you like working with young people, to help you decide if you want to dive deeper and become a full-time teacher. Additionally, ask people for their insights and crowd-source your curiosity. Ask people, what are some things I could do with my experience and interests? As Peter indicated, these conversations can be really helpful and even point out options you didn’t know about or weren’t considering.

For the next several years, Peter served as a classroom teacher, then department chair, then co-founded a charter school, then designed a leadership and entrepreneurship program for high school students to create positive change in their communities. Following these experiences, Peter transitioned into educational consulting where he is now, as a self-described “practitioner of theory of change.” He helps his clients grapple with the gap between theory and implementation, mission and reality, and to explore questions like “How could we/how might we/how can we?”

Insight #4: Eventually, you will come to a point in your career, as Peter has, where you are teaching and coaching others what you have learned in your career-whether you realize you are doing so, or are doing it in the most informal way possible. And this is the magic of enriching others’ lives and work while still centering and pursuing one’s own curiosity.

In addition to these insights, I’d like to highlight the conversations and experiences Peter noted were really helpful throughout his career to stay true to his curiosity. These are things we can be open to or even seek out, as well as aim to model ourselves to help others, especially teenagers and young adults just starting out in their careers. These include:

• A college admissions officer asking Peter in his interview what he liked to do, which was an invitation for him to share about his love of fixing stereos and building things. This may seem like a simple, unimportant question, but it’s almost radical in light of the achievement culture our country has created. So, instead of asking someone, “What do you do?” or “What do you plan to do?” or “What do you want to be?” simply ask them, “What do you like/love to do?”. This brings the focus from the uncertain future (especially for young people) back to the present of what they enjoy now, and gives people permission, and an invitation, to view their curiosity as a viable career path, albeit still formative and messy-but a powerful signal of encouragement nonetheless.
• Peter’s Mom reassuring him, when he was slightly freaking out about not knowing what he would do with an English degree from college, that it was OK, and he didn’t need to know right then what he was going to do long-term; that he had time to figure it out. (As a fellow English major, I feel seen!) Again, in our capitalistic culture that measures everything by its ROI, declaring any humanities major can feel like an act of rebellion. But having people in our lives to reassure us when we are doubting ourselves, and to encourage us to stay the course of our curiosity, is so important.
• When Peter interviewed for the producer role, he admitted to the Executive Director who interviewed him that he didn’t know how to do all that she did, to which she said, “You’ll figure it out, it’s not rocket science.” This person, who became his boss, modeled the belief that Marie Forleo has popularized with her book, “Everything is Figure Outable.”? This phrase and associated approach liberates us from the perfectionism myth and recognizes that we’re all beginners sometimes and with some things, and we can figure things out, if only we give ourselves the space and mindset to do so. As Peter recounted, and what helped him get the job: “What she saw in me was the curiosity to figure it out, be honest about what I didn’t know; and my desire to learn and grow and turn that into mastery.”
• The generosity of the people who said “yes” to Peter’s ask for a conversation and informational interview to learn about the world of teaching, and how he could contribute given his background and skills. Peter noted these conversations as incredibly helpful and insightful to inform his next steps, and affirm his own strengths he had to offer. Be that person who says “yes” to others, especially young adults, who want to learn about your work, and are curious about your field. They will benefit from your wisdom and insight, and you will benefit from clarifying to yourself why you do what you do, and what you love most about it. (Or, you may realize that you no longer love or even like what you do, and it can motivate you to get curious yourself about what is next for you.)

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When we stay true to our curiosity throughout our careers, we will realize a sense of fulfillment that can’t be measured by titles or paychecks. And when we model this approach for others, and even help them find their own way, then for many of us, our “work” can turn into something we truly enjoy doing (most of the time). ??

I’m thinking of starting a podcast on this topic-namely, on how people have followed their curiosity in their careers, to gain inspiration, insights, and strategies. Take this quick poll to tell me if you would listen to this podcast (yes, no, or maybe). OR add a comment here to share your suggestions for a podcast-for example, should I consider expanding the focus beyond careers to how people have pursued their curiosity in their lives in general, including careers? Let me know your thoughts! And thank you!