As you might have deduced; we are students. We often stay late working on our projects and are generally having a good time. Like other students, we have dreams, hopes and ambitions, and we are constantly searching for ways to realize those dreams.

“Wisdom begins in wonder.” — Socrates

As history should have taught us, studying our past and learning from great minds saves us the work of rediscovering truths and can tell us about what the future might bring. (Predicting the future, awesome right?) There’s lots of advice buzzing around on how to this and how to that, and if you are like me; you’d want to remember everything because everything sounds important. So if I were to ask you:

What do you feel is most important for becoming successful?

Chances are that you would have a difficult time making up your mind because there are so many factors involved.

It happened on a roof

We stayed late working on our projects as usual. When the time for a break approached, my roommate drew his newly acquired fiddle from seemingly out of nowhere. His idea of a break is practising his violin skills, so you might imagine what my ears was preparing for. (Hint: he is not studying music.) But it was almost midnight, so I figured it might be a good idea to walk home and make some “dinner”.

The next morning I decided to use my day off to catch up with my deadline. Just as I arrived at the college, I got a phone call. It was my roommate asking if I wanted to play some game with him and our neighbours. I told him that I didn’t want to walk back home, but he replied: “No, not our neighbours at home, our neighbours here.”

It appears that we have some awesome neighbours at our college! What had happened was that after I left, he had walked out on the roof to practise, and then one of our neighbours was curious enough to ask him what he was doing. She happens to be holding violin classes, and offered to teach him when she could find time to spare. He was also invited over for a cup of coffee the next day.

Another student who lives there is playing drums and studies music. We naturally talked about music, a topic that most people have some opinion on, and it occurred to me how little I know about jazz. I listen to some myself, but I have never immersed myself in the world of jazz. He showed us the structures the musicians were playing in and how they interacted with each other in improvised sections.

In after thought, I realize that most of what I have learned throughout my life has been through interacting with people like this.

“An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't.” — Anatole France

If you were to remember only one thing, remember this: you can’t remember everything. I’m saying this not as an insult to the human memory, but as an invitation to acknowledge when your memory fails or when you’re lacking required knowledge. Which sort of leads to my main point:

What does all this got to do with coming back to Medium?

Let me retrace my logic: our memory is for the most part unable to remember everything. That’s why filling those holes becomes important. The curious nature of our neighbours, and ourselves, made it possible for us to get to know each other. Being curious and interested in people that can fill out my lacking knowledge and spark new conversations and perspectives is very powerful. With people like that I don’t need to remember everything all the time.

Everything you have read so far is probably because of your curiosity. Cherish it, because in my opinion it is the single thing that will ensure you get to the knowledge you need to know, when you need to know it. Take comfort in this and you might find yourself relaxing more and learning more (at least I do.) You can’t always know what a day might bring, so stay curious and open to change.

When immersing myself in other people’s thoughts and past actions, I’m putting my mind in their footsteps and learning from their experiences. Coming to Medium, I discovered many texts written in high quality from great minds, sharing their thoughts and stories. My curiosity just can’t resist, and I find myself coming back to see what value I can possibly take with me to realize my own dreams.