Curiosity dies every minute if you don’t read this article!
“What is that?”
“Why is it happening this way?”
“Where does that come from?”
And here comes the most important question of it all, “when was the last time you had questions like this?”
The world is fortunately not monothematic. There is always room for innovation and plenty of unanswered questions waiting for us to open doors to. But unfortunately, our appetite to look beneath the surface of things to open up to new possibilities and to find answers to what lays beyond our understanding is only decreasing as we grow up.
This right here is the gap we are trying to address through this week’s superpower- ‘Curiosity’!
It is stated that kids ask about 40,000 questions by the time they age between 2 and 5. Not surprising right? It is also not new that this urgency and desire to know more just stagnates as we grow. You might associate this with the curse of knowledge that over time the world becomes ‘known’ to you and this right here is the reason why your curious nature organically disappears into thin air. If this was the case, most of what we have today wouldn’t have come to existence in the first place.
I mean, think about it. What if Newton just continued to nap without questioning about the apple that fell calling it ‘perfectly natural’ or what if Edison stopped wondering about the light bulb after multiple failures? Not one, not two but he kept his curiosity run high through 999 failed attempts. If only he had not been that persistent, we’d all be doomed with the dark, quite literally.
Curiosity thus remains the trait of a genius and no great intellectual giant in history has been an exception to this important skill.
‘It’s all asked and answered, there’s nothing new waiting under covers.’
If you’re one of these people, you’re nothing much more than the flat earthers that existed back in the day who were not ready to alter their perceptions to see the world for what it is, for what is new to their original ideologies. You’ve turned stubborn to new possibilities, closed doors on creativity, shut down your imaginations and you’re fooled by what lays in front of you. But rest assured, you’re not the only one. Globally, 75% of people think they are not curious enough or tapping their creative potential right.
So, why did this happen?
As kids grow up, their questions tap the sensitive side of things like ‘why do we have to pray?’ ‘where do babies come from?’ ‘why does dad smoke?’ among others. In order to escape the awkwardness of these confrontations, parents rather force their kids with ‘act according to your age’ or ‘one shouldn’t question such things’ as their standard responses.
On the other hand, the education system has completely oppressed the culture of asking questions, and classrooms are channeled to just remain a one-way conversation. The society has thus stagnated us to remain confined within our boxes.
It’s time to change ourselves for the better, we don’t want this for our next generation of learners, right?
Here’s a snippet from our webinar with Dr. Sona Abraham, a creative solutions seeker and a curious parent.
Let’s break it down further for you to get going.
1. Never let go of the child within
When you’re a kid, life looks nothing but an exciting playground for you. But as you enter adult life, the burden of responsibility takes over and we tend to lose that spark of curiosity. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Learning is endless. Even with all the answers one Google search away, we still don’t know the answers to many of the obvious questions. Do you remember why the sky is blue and the ocean has waves? Even if you don’t know it anymore, go find the answer now. It might be basic, but this can get you to restart on your journey of curiosity nevertheless.
2. Be the supportive parent
Create a home environment where your kids feel natural and comfortable to question everything. If there are any sensitive topics that they come up with, take your time, compose yourself, and frame the answer in a way they can understand. Make it a point that they have their freedom to question anything within reach. Your answers need not always be accurate, but craft and present them with answers nevertheless.
3. Keep wondering
There is a life outside politics and sports which are the only two things that the adults today are at least a little curious about. Watch a different sport sometime. Tap into global politics. Compare different strategies of two businesses that belong to the same vertical. Take a step out of your routine and keep wondering about existence, time travel, the afterlife, start-ups, business monopoly, future of education, and all that there is. Make all the muscles of your brain actively involved with the continuous exercise of active learning and a curious mindset.
4. If you can’t find an answer, create one
Being curious is a lifestyle adaptation and it happens only by making a choice that counts. You can either be one other person in a herd that blindly grasps what’s told and follows the path of the ordinary or you can stand out by refusing to accept any statement without analyzing the underlying meaning.
Be a person that is always at awe of the things around you and the things that are greater than life itself. Be someone who comprehends the mysteries of existence and contemplates the structures of the realities around you. Makeup stories to the questions you can find answers to and become a storyteller that is proactively curious.
5. Never stop reading
The world however vast still has its own limitations. Take a break and explore the worlds that philosophers, fiction writers, or business leaders created through their words. Don’t limit yourself to one genre or a specific author. That being said, inspire your children to also look beyond conventional education or their textbooks. Feed them with motivational comics or short stories and cultivate the habit of reading in them from their young age.
The more curious you are, the more interesting the world around you would seem to be. Keep your eyes open and look around. No more blind assumptions or missed opportunities. For you might be the next revolution that the world needs, no matter your age. One idea is all it’s gonna take and one answer is all you’ll ever need.
It starts with a single question. What are you curious about today?
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